Earlier this week, I blogged that some people were too stupid to use QR codes. I concluded, by saying You’re not too stupid to understand how to make effective use of QR codes. The “commandments” are mostly just common sense. Use QR codes wherever they seem appropriate – but make sure that they’re scannable, work for everyone who scans them, and lead somewhere useful. Y'see - I don't think peo…
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In one of my previous "day jobs" I used to deal with bug reports for a major application. While there was the odd genuine problem or poorly designed bit of UI, the majority of the "bugs" were PEBCAK - aka people so unbelievably dense they couldn't work out that print button does nothing if you didn't have a printer attached to your machine... We're now seeing the same sort of problems in the QR …
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Another year, another OpenTech. I found last year's OpenTech conference to be awe-inspiring. This year's was equally good. This is a quick rundown of the sessions I attended that I found particularly interesting. (more…) …
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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…
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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 down…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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 …
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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…
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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,…
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