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Month: September 2011

Giant QR codes: If Oreo can do it…

Giant QR codes: If Oreo can do it…

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/29436229 w=400&h=225]

QReo from redpepper on Vimeo.

It’s amazing how flexible QR codes and QR code readers are. We discovered this when putting squished or stretched ones on digital signage; QR code readers seem to be able to parse irregularities in them remarkably well. So I’m not entirely surprised that a QR code made of cookies actually works (it does; I tried it!).

If QR codes were more universally understood and used by our students, it would only be good for the library, from my perspective. I’d love to be able to use QR codes to allow students to navigate our website and digital resources by navigating the physical library. If you’re in women’s studies range in the stacks, shouldn’t you also be able to find the digital materials that fit in that range while you’re standing there? If you need to contact someone, shouldn’t you be able to scan a code on their door and email them? Innovative libraries like (all hail) NCSU have their study room booking system available on study room doors via QR code (as well they should).

QR codes don’t have to be the way we accomplish these kinds of ubiquitous computing goals, but they would be a dead-easy way to do it. I can see how we can get from here to there; not difficult! We can do that! Simple summer project! So I see education around QR codes as a reasonable goal for our library. So naturally I see a QR code made of Oreos and think, yeah, how can I do something like that?

Maybe I can do this with post-it notes.

I mean, it would be cool to do it with books, really, but it would be massive, wouldn’t it.

I say that like it’s a bad thing.

Maybe we should make a giant QR code with discarded journals. That would be kind of awesome, from a distance.