QR codes are an awesome free resource for charities. Sadly, they are often misused. Charities can use them to drive SMS donations - here's a quick example of how this works. Sightsavers Sightsavers is an incredible charity, working hard to combat blindness in developing countries. I'm picking on them only because their poster caught my eye this morning. It's an effective poster with a strong call-to-action; "Text now". They've even included a QR code with it. Due to the proximity of the …
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I recently read Andrew Grill's post about being a QR Code Sceptic. I agree with some of his points about crap QR code adverts - I've blogged about many of them - but I believe the fundamental business case for QR codes is still strong. Many people on the blog and on Twitter have asked for case-studies proving how efficacious QR is. Case-Study comes from the Latin phrase casum stutitius which literally translates to lies told by marketing drones to get you to buy their product. We get the…
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A guest blog by marianne@bamkin.org.uk The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh has QR codes in some places. Level 6 to be exact. This is the story of what happened when I tried to use those QR codes last week. The article in The Guardian gave explicit instructions of how to access the information linked to the QR code. First you have to go on to the website “Tales of Things.com” to download an app that allows you to scan and read the codes. I did that quite successfully the night bef…
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How Popular Are QR Codes? One common complaint I hear is that QR codes are just too obscure. I don't think that's true. Aside from continual use in newspapers and magazines, they're all over the city. Here are a few examples that I snapped while walking around London. …
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I love going to Mobile Monday London - it's a great meeting place for those of us in the mobile industry. It's also one of the few spaces which holds the equivalent of an "Open Mic" night. MoMoLo's Spring Demo Night was crowded with great entrants. So much so that each of us had only three minutes to present! That's quite tight. I'm used to 15-30 minutes. I'm not sure how, but I managed to distil the QRpedia pitch down. QRpedia was received warmly by the crowd. Massive thanks to the…
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As promised earlier this week, I popped over to London's Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology to take a look at what they're doing with QR codes. The staff were very friendly and quite happy to chat about their experiences with the codes. I'd like to thank them for taking the time to talk to me about the installation - and for letting me photograph the exhibits. About The Museum The Petrie is one of London's smallest museums. Nestled within UCL, small but perfectly formed, it contains a…
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It seems that all good ideas are invented simultaneously. Calculus was arrived at by both Leibniz and Netwon, Gray and Bell invented the telephone within days of each other, and the electric car is currenly being pursued by many different manufacturers. Now it looks like sticking QR codes onto museum exhibits is the next big thing! QRpedia is the venture I'm involved it, but I've recently become aware of Edinburgh Museum's Tales of Things project and the QRator project of UCL. Now,…
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It's always an odd experience to watch yourself speak. Everyone - I think - finds the sound of their own voice really odd. I'm no exception! This is the video from the Derby Museum Backstage Pass where we gave the first public demonstration of QRpedia. The Video Video shot by Nick Moyes. The Slides All slides are a work in progress. This is a close approximation of what was presented on the day. Introducing QRpedia at Derby Museum from Terence Eden View more presentations…
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Wow! What a day! I headed over to Derby Museum for the Wikipedia "Backstage Pass" event. I was invited there to talk about QRpedia and how it can improve visitor engagement in GLAM - Galleries Libraries Archives Museums. After the introductions, I had a quick wander around the museum - where I found the first set of QRpedia codes! I was, as this video will attest, very excited! I'll place the slides and video of the talk on the web once they're ready. In the meantime, here's what I…
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My new project - QRpedia - gets its first official outing at Derby Museum's Backstage Pass this Saturday. Do come along if you're in the area. Before then, I thought I'd give you a sneak-peek at what's happening. In February, there was a discussion on this blog about using QR codes in museums to link to Wikipedia pages. Things have rather snow-balled from there. Working with Roger Bamkin, we've created a working prototype which is ready to take over THE WORLD! (more…) …
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RFID is like cold fusion. It will revolutionise everything - and it's only five years away! Terence Eden And, much like cold fusion, NFC will permantently be just around the corner. It's been "The Year of NFC" since 2008. Just like it was in 2009 and in 2010. Today the news came that Google may be abandoning QR codes in favour of NFC for its business places service. I think this is a mistake and that NFC is too far away to be of any real use. Indeed, I think NFC will permanently be too…
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It looks like the Government is to force cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging. QR codes on packets of coffin nails have appeared before as concept advertising. I thought it would be interesting to see if QR codes could be used for good. Here's my attempt (I'm not a graphics designer!) Original image via WeMadeThis. The first QR code goes to Direct.gov.uk's mobile friendly Smoking Calculator. The second goes to a site which lets your enter your postcode to find help near you. The…
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