android codingforkids education schools · 3 comments · 1,200 words · Viewed ~1,439 times
Last night I went to the Coding For Kids Barcamp. This event, organised by Emma Mulqueeny, was designed to bring together geeks, parents, kids, and educators to see if we can improve the woeful state of computer science education in this country. This is the blog version of the discussion I lead. (more…) …
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As regular readers know, I'm a big fan of QR codes. I often castigate advertisers for poor usage, bad placement, and inaccessibility. I can just imagine how the conversation at the offices of Success Appointments went... "Dave, we need a QR code on our advert!" "Righto, Fred!" "It'll be on the tube, so it has to work offline." "How about a VCARD - that way when you scan it, our address will …
Continue reading →languages qr qrpedia wikipedia · 5 comments · 650 words · Viewed ~337 times
Humans have devised hundreds of thousands of languages with which to express themselves. Some, like Cornish are on the verge of extinction. Others, like Catalan and Welsh, are only used by a small number of speakers. Some, like New Norse, are created for political purposes. All these languages are valuable and hugely important to their communities. Many have a Wikipedia version written in their…
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© Caroline Mockett As I stepped onto the stage at OverTheAir 11 to present QRpedia, I was buoyed by the overwhelming reception that it received on the Interwebs over the last few days. Here's a quick roundup. It all started with a blog post on Wikimedia. ReadWriteWeb called QRpedia Probably the Coolest QR Thingy Ever Made! This was syndicated into the New York Times. Gizmodo …
Continue reading →kew national archives qr qrpedia · 5 comments · 300 words · Viewed ~454 times
Yesterday, I paid a visit to the UK National Archives in Kew. Their amazing educational team have recently completed a stunning QRpedia installation. The Domesday Book From their press-release: As part of this project to increase digital engagement we have used the QRpedia service to link some of our museum exhibits to articles on Wikipedia. In the on site museum at Kew, visitors can use their …
Continue reading →airnergy scam technology trust valkee · 17 comments · 2,000 words · Viewed ~4,353 times
Why do some people in the technology community seem so susceptible to snake oil? I suspect it's because of two things. We trust our friends' judgement. We are experts in our fields and, therefore, trust our own judgement in matters we don't fully understand. Compare and contrast the following two statements. On the announcement of the original iPod, one influential pundit…
Continue reading →cv me meta recruitment · 850 words · Viewed ~904 times
I regularly get contacted by recruitment consultants. Even though I'm very happy in my job right now (Hi Boss!) I usually don't mind being contacted. However, after having just had a particularly disturbing encounter with a recruiter, I thought it might be worth stating these rules up front. These are personal to me - but I expect they apply pretty broadly to most people. Don't email my…
Continue reading →awesome jimmy wales qr qrpedia tcmindy wikipedia · 1 comment · 150 words
You know Jimmy Wales, right? He's the guy co-founded Wikipedia - and, possibly, its most prominent face. So, a few days ago, he popped down to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis to see the work the museum is doing with its Wikipedian in Residence - Lori Philips. What else did he do while he was there? Why, scanned some QRpedia codes! You can see all the photos of his visit on…
Continue reading →brighton qr treasure hunt · 150 words · Viewed ~231 times
While at Update Conference, I met the amazing Georgie St Clair who was modelling her spectacular QR code "info dress". She told me about her ambitious plans for a QR Code Treasure Hunt across Brighton. Working with local artists and businesses, the Brighton QR Treasure Hunt offers an interactive experience of the city that is both factual and entertaining. Your team of 2 to 6 people will go…
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One of the great things about QR codes is they have built in error correction. This means if the code gets damaged or dirty, it can still be scanned. This means we can add images into the QR code to make it look prettier without negatively affecting the code's usability. Niteesh Yadav has created some QR portraits which feature famous faces superimposed on a QR code. I'm not overly convinced…
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A quick round up of QRpedia in the news: The New Media Consortium has produced a report entitled Technology Outlook: UK Tertiary Education. The full report (PDF) specifically mentions QRpedia Codes as "smart objects" and predicts a time-to-Adoption of four to five years. I think we can do it sooner than that, though! The report is CC-BY and well worth reading. One of our friend in…
Continue reading →qrpedia wikipedia · 27 comments · 250 words · Viewed ~201 times
QRpedia is designed to offer a single QR code which points to the same article in multiple languages. The most common question about QRpedia is "What does it do if the article doesn't exist in my language?" Consider the following example... A French user is in a German museum. They scan a code - which points to de.qrwp/Nelahozeves Unfortunately, Wikipedia doesn't have the…
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