I’m impressed with Quick Response Codes (QR Codes). They’re 2D barcodes that you can encode with a variety of information including urls, contact details, sms and text. I’d thought they were mainly for asset tracking on a production line until last week. More info at wikipedia
I was at an Edutxt conference at Clydebank College and I noticed Andy Ramsden had QR codes on his PowerPoint Presentation. With the appropriate software on your mobile phone you could have pointed your built-in camera at his presentation and downloaded it (assuming you had a data connection on your phone), added his contact details and filled in an sms message all from pointing your mobile phone camera at his QR codes. Nothing to write down or remember.
I was intrigued by this so did some further research. What do you need to recognise QR codes on your phone? There are various free QR code readers out there including neoreader, kaywa and quickmark. You don’t need a particularly high end phone either. I’ve got it working on my Sony Ericsson k800i. It’s also running on my ASUS P750 phone.
How would you use QR codes yourself? I can imagine them being useful on such thing as posters advertising events, conferences and resources. Students could point their mobile phone cameras at them and have instant access to the information. In a lecture, students could point their mobiles at your PowerPoint presentation to download it or save urls for later use. There are a number of QR code generator sites out there to make your own codes. I used kaywa.
In summary
1. Download the appropriate software for your phone. I’ve used quickmark here.
2. Start the software. Point your camera at a qr code
I did a mock up of one of Craig’s Accessibility and Inclusion posters and put a small QR code at the bottom.
3. Look at the information
I generated the code to have a url address. If you generate the code at kaywa you have 4 options: url, text, sms or phone number. In this case Craig’s Accessibility and Inclusion Blog address. If I click on “Access” on the bottom bar it will take me straight to the blog. I can also save the Url, send it as an email or sms message all without writing anything down or having to remember an address.
Here’s the QR code which will take you directly to Craig’s blog if you have the software installed on your phone.
And if you’re easily amused like me you’ll want to check out your new qr code reader software with all different types of QR codes and Flickr has loads of them 
Finally, I see that Samsung have just hooked up with Scanbuy to install a barcode reader on their phones. The whole 2D barcode thing could become more commonplace in the near future.
Update: Just came across semapedia.org which generates wikipedia qr codes and creates a pdf for you to print out. Also of interest if you scroll down to the bottom of the page it has a 2D barcode reader selector for mobile phones. Select the phone type and model you have and it will show you the software that will run on your phone. Seems pretty comprehensive.
There’s a reason this tech is growing slowly in the US…it’s the double wammy of having to educate on use AND become aware of the benefits of the particular offer being presented.
Look at it this way… in terms of demography say I’m Sarah Palin, the kids are in the mini and I slap open my phone and am presented with a menu of services available. I know email, my camera and how to dial. My snappy new samsung…a gift from my husband Kevin looks so sharp but like my Vista desktop, I might as well be viewing Russia from my window – let alone understanding what my service options are. Scanner Smanner…I want my margarita and I want it now.
Now consider part two of the problem. In terms of demography, this time I’m Tipper Gore and my husband invented the internet. I love my iphone and use my App Store on a daily basis. 2 Months ago, Al told me about this scan thing I can DL and use to get cool stuff. EXCELLENT, Al’s speaking engagements and rubber chickens aren’t what they used to be so it’s time to save money. How about some of those paperless coupons to save the environment. Even EXCELLENTER.
Problem is, no one is promoting the bar codes anywhere or in any consistent fashion. Advertisers are interested but without a clear install-base with the kind of scalability that appeals to our bottom line… this cool tech just can’t gain traction. Intel inside? Sorry…not yet. What’s more…even where the advertiser is willing to test- as for these scary bar code thingies- if you’re a creative director at the DooWee Cheetum and Howe Ad Agency on Madison Avenue…you might as well be adding dooty flop to work of art i just developed.
The double whammy, folks. 18% of the phones and an I-APP amongst thousands of I-Apps doesn’t afford this tech (sexy as it may be) the ubiquity to grow because of both of these factors.
Hey… on a clear day, I can see all the way to Moscow- where’s my camera phone, Kevin? You lent it to the moose, hun.
Great article, I think many people see the potencial of the idea and that there are a few barriers for the end user but what will overcome all these barriers is the killer-must-have-application.
When end users want to access some really useful (to them) information they will jump through fiery hoops to get there.
Incidentally, I think you may have missed a minor point which is when you access many of the phone code reader download sites with your phone browser, they will auto detect which phone you are using and direst you to the correct version.
http://www.mobilestudy.org/ have an amazing educational content qr code mash up site which automates a work flow from writing a simple q&a quiz, saving it in a mobile phone downloadable format and hosts it on their server in a searchable database and even generates a QR Code for you to distribute so that people can scan.
The code takes them straight to your Quiz which they can then download to their phone and work through ‘off line’.
At the end on the quiz there is an option to text back the results to a phone number you specify.
Wow. Now there is a killer app!
==========all the best Dave ===========
Hi Dave, thanks for your comments. Good point about the autodetect feature when browsing on the phone for the reader software.
I’d seen mobile study previously and went back to it when I installed the reader software. No problems recognising the QR Codes but it wouldn’t install any of the sample quizzes on my phone. Something about not being able to find a local Java MIDlet installer file.
Update: Just been back to it and everything seems to be working now. Next step for me is to create some quizzes.
It really has a lot of potential.
If you are looking for a quic kand easy QR-Code generator, try my site.
The most common usage for QR-Codes is acutally to encode VCards and then place them on business cards. Neat huh!
Thanks Michael, you’ve got a good overview of QR Codes on your site. I’ve already got QR codes on the back of my business cards – retrofitted! I’ll need to come up with a better solution than pritt stick to stick them down. Onwards to labels.
pritt stick! – never heard that word for ages. Cheers