QR-Code pointing to DLTJ
Tom emphasized the need to have an activity that is relevant to the technology. As he put it, “Use the technology to ampliy the activity.” In this specific case, the 2-D barcodes pointed to text, pictures, and videos that provide additional background to the components depicted in the World War II Memorial. As participants mentioned in the video, it is a way add context to the experience of walking through the memorial.
I had one minor quibble with the execution of the project. The presenters were using EZcodes, a 2-D barcode format licensed exclusively to ScanBuy rather than the emerging de facto QR codes. The problem with EZcodes is that what is encoded is an identifier that is translated by the ScanLife smartphone app to the final destination. By contrast, a QR code has the actual content — a short snippet of text, a URL, a phone number, etc. — actually encoded in the barcode. With an EZcode, the application on one’s smartphone has to look up the value of the identifier at ScanLife’s service before going to the final destination. With a QR code, the smartphone application can go right to the destination website.
The EZcode/Scanbuy scheme has privacy and sustainability issues. First, according to the terms-of-service for the ScanLife reader, each reader application is assigned a unique identifier; because the application must contact the ScanLife with the 2-D barcode identifier to find the value behind the identifier, ScanLife knows everything you scan. Secondly, the ScanLife server is a mandatory intermediary in the process, so if ScanLife goes away all of the barcodes become worthless. This is somewhat similar to the problem with music encumbered with digital rights management; if the server is unavailable, the music file is worthless.1 QR codes, though, since the data is encoded in the barcode itself, does not have either of these problems.
Footnotes
- See, for example, DRM sucks redux: Microsoft to nuke MSN Music DRM keys, and also how Wal-Mart Reverses Decision To Shutdown Digital Music DRM Servers. [↩]
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7 Comments
Whaa? So the session said “QR Codes” but they were these other codes? Sounds fishy to me.
The presenter seemed to be using “QR Codes” as a generic for 2-D barcodes, sort of like the Kleenex-for-facial-tissue problem. I tried to be a little more precise in my reporting in the post.
Recap of a presentation on 2-D Barcodes from @DataG http://ow.ly/13pYq
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Thanks for your post and coming to our presentation. We learn new things every time we give a presentation.
At the time we put this together for Necc 2009, Scanlife was the only one that we could find that let us make codes for videoclips.
Next we will try it again with one of the other QR code generators and readers
Experiential Learning Enhanced with 2-D Barcodes http://bit.ly/9Mcy7I – useful to see someone else talking about this – it’s in our B2B prep
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Did they mention any QR code reader for Windows Mobile? I’d like to start playing with them, but haven’t had the chance.
Hey, Ryan. They did mention a couple of readers: Kaywa (http://reader.kaywa.com/getit); QuickMark (http://www.quickmark.com.tw/En/basic/download.asp); and ScanLife (http://app.scanlife.com/appdownload/dl). I’ve also run across i-nigma (http://www.i-nigma.com/Downloadi-nigmaReader.html). I don’t have any personal experience with any of these, except with QuickMark when I had a Windows Mobile phone a couple years ago. (As I recall, it worked fine.)
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