Notice board If iCentres don’t make economic sense, they should shut

● Edinburgh Science festival runs from tomorrow until Sunday, April 14. See www.edinburghscience.co.uk for programme details.

● Free Highlight Talks continue at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway at 2.30pm on Wednesday, April 3. Gordon Wilson of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society will discuss The MacGeorge Collection: Scottish Steamers in the 1930s, covering the variety of vessels, piers and operators in the heyday of Scottish steamers. Booking for free on Eventbrite is advised.

● Lesley Riddoch is touring with her new film Denmark: The State Of Happiness. There are screenings at 6.30pm on Thursday, April 4 at Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh; at 7pm on Friday, April 5 at Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy; and at 7.30pm on Friday, April 26 at Corrie and Sannox Village Hall, Arran. Lesley will be doing Q&A sessions after the screenings. For full tour dates see lesleyriddoch.com/events.

● Brian Bilston and Henry Normal will appear together for the first time to perform "an evening of poems to be enjoyed not endured" at 7.30pm on Friday, April 5 at Tolbooth, Stirling; and 7.30pm on Wednesday, April 10 at Mackintosh Church, Glasgow. For ticket details see www. waterstones.com.

● The Annual Arbroath Rally will be held on Sunday, April 7 at 1pm. Gathering at Kings Gate by the Harbour. March to behind Arbroath Abbey for short speeches. All welcome. Singers, musicians and pipers welcome for pub after.

● A screening of To See Ourselves, Jane McAllister’s documentary about the 2014 independence referendum, will take place at 2pm on Sunday, April 7 at Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh, followed by a Q&A with the director. To buy tickets see toseeourselves. film/see-the-film

IT seems a bit sad that VisitScotland iCentres are to close, but if the concept has had its day then why keep it going? They will surely have statistics regarding visitor numbers, so will know if they have been tailing off dramatically, likely due to the rise in use of personal devices that can access the internet 24 hours a day.

Also the scale of the operations currently in place may be far too big for the service they provide. Maybe this is an opportunity for someone to step in and replace them or be licensed by the parent organisation? There are plenty of non-VisitScotland “visitor centres” all over Scotland, usually selling local produce or doubling as a cafe. These can (and probably do at present) take on the VisitScotland job in places where there is no VisitScotland presence.

Maybe all these venues need is the addition of a dedicated interface? Keypad payment, or tap payment, like a supermarket, would be a way for VisitScotland to earn commission? I imagine the office and building costs are quite high for what they want to appear as a slick up-market operation, and usually in prime locations?

Plus, they close at 4pm or 5pm every day, so are not available in the evenings when folk still need access to tourist information. How many potential customers have arrived at a locked door and simply resorted to a DIY solution using their own mobile phone?

It would be interesting to see how the organisation is structured. Are they suffering from top-heavy staff costs? Bloated salaries at the top eating up the staff budget?

Can 90% of the service be replaced by a smart automated interface with human help on hand if needed? Could travel agents take on some kind of role in this? They have the office spaces already available; they have the web access; they know where to go looking on the internet etc.

The question is how they would monetise it to cover staff costs? How about a pound-a-pop five-minute session for a local search from a tiny booth provided by the local authority? Add the revenue from booking commissions and it could be a reasonable summer job for a little team of savvy internet users.

Can some of the new tourist tax be used to fund/subsidise offices and booths in busy tourist centres? I imagine most of the big hotels will be taking on this role as well.

The few “front aspects” VisitScotland show of their iCentres on the website seem quite large operations. Some seem to have