06/11  Questions asked, some personal answers regarding 2D Barcodes

Category: QR Code, Data Matrix...    By editor at 09:37
Jafine Schlumberger starts with:
L’utilisation des codes 2D par le grand public ne fonctionnera qu’avec :
* Des téléphones mobiles compatibles (cameraphone)
* Des forfaits data illimitée (via un opérateur de télécommunication 3G, 4G… et/ou un fournisseur d’accès (wifi, wimax).
* Quelques standards (adoption cycle / 10% - détournement de l’usage premier).
Nous avons donc le temps ;)
As I mentioned already in a comment, we do not have time as bad user experiences could harm the entire 2d barcode ecosystem. If users get frustrated, they will turn away from 2d barcodes altogether.
* There are now sufficient compatible phones on the market to start with standard 2D Codes (QR Code, Datamatrix) and Nokia has embraced them. But, as in Japan, you should always offer an SMS possibility as well. This way nobody is left out. Japanese telcos, brands and consumers have figured this out over long time spans - one has just to follow the example.
* It is also not true, that we need 3G or 4G, GPRS already works fine IF there is a mobile site behind the barcode or even better offline text, vcard, email, SMS or a phone number. Why do you think NTTDoCoMo imposed that pages cannot be heavier than 10KB when they launched i-mode? They had a reason;)
* Standards are truely important and I am speaking here of global standards as unless with SMS, 2D Barcodes offer any brand and consumer the possibility to reach a global audience.
Example: If you are Nike and you want people everywhere on this planet to download a football ringtone, you want that the user can download it as easily as possible. If you go the SMS way, you face the problem of having to offer an SMS number for every country, with a standard 2D barcode however, this problem doesn't exist and you don't loose money either.

There are a lot more questions raised by Jafine Schlumberger and I will try to respond to them in a second post. Meanwhile study Flanagan's table from qrcode.es.



06/11  MédiaMorphoses with QR Code (France)

Category: QR Code, Data Matrix...    By editor at 00:33
Mediamorphoses

MédiaMorphoses nº 21 (3/2007)

2.0 ?
Culture numérique, cultures expressives
Dossier coordonné par Laurence Allard, avec la collaboration d’Olivier Blondeau
Edité par l’Ina et Armand Colin
Ce numéro de MédiaMorphoses adapte sa forme à son propos graçe à une expérimentation inédite dans le monde des revues de sciences humaines et sociales. Des QRcodes (sortes de pictogrammes), en lieu et place de la couverture et des signatures des auteurs du dossier, permettront d’accéder, via tout mobile muni d’un appareil photographique (et un QR Code Reader, NDLR blog), a un certain nombre d’informations (couverture, sommaire, bibliographie et présentation du numéro) mais également au téléchargement d’extraits d’articles.
Ce dossier conduit donc le lecteur vers des nouveaux territoires de pratiques expressives articulant le web et le téléphone portable.

See also the latest SPEX Cover