USE CASE #1: QR Codes on a Webpage in general and QR Codes on DokoDare in particular

Why a QR Code on a webpage?
Many people say, that they don't understand why on earth someone should put a QR Code on a website as you are already have it before your eyes.

Well, in general, you are not glued to your PC screen 24 hours and so it makes a lot of sense to scan the QR Code and take the webpage with you when you are leaving the "big screen". Normally you also have more idle time when on the move than before a PC, so a QR Code helps you also to bookmark interesting things which cannot be read right now - as you are probably working.
Also the webpage and the mobile version can significantly diverge in what they offer as both screens have different advantages and disadvantages.

In the case of DokoDare this is even more true. The normal use case of going somewhere unknown was to 1) print the address with phone numbers and all 2) to go to map service 3) to print the map and note down phone numbers 4) to finally head to the place.
Now you find a place on DokoDare (example (web version not yet open to the public)), you scan the QR Code and you have everything with you - address, phone number, map, additional information. And even better, you have not only the place you are going to, but you also see nearby places (like nearest bus or tram station, a café where to wait when you are too early etc.)

Let me know if that has helped you or if you have something to add to it in the comments.

1) September 17, 2007

After reading an article on the Dubai blog about Kufi, architecture combining QR Codes and Kufi's makes a lot of sense for me. I close with:

And imagine the use in architecture, on a middle eastern telecom building full of kufi's and QR Codes.

See: Kufi and QR Code, post from September 17, 2007


2) During #IranElection on Twitter, this idea of Kufi and QR Codes reemerges in my mind
12:49 AM June 15, 2009
@MAMK idea: QR codes to facilitate planned protests. => in England they got around the perimeter rule this way. We'll see and watch
1:10 AM June 15, 2009
Iranian people turn digital smugglers in battle for information - Guardian.co.uk http://bit.ly/2M6sk - Simple Text QR Code could help

After having seen the Kufi on Khamenei's site, I remembered my Kufi post. And I think that this similarity could be well used.

4:43 AM June 16 , 2009
@MAMK @rafik @AugmentedAdvert - Addendum : (old post) Similarity of Kufi and QR Code http://mobile.kaywa.com/p777 and http://bit.ly/mQZtW


3) Today I discover Söhne & Partner's QR Code Building in Dubai (planning begun August 2008)
See Code Unique, Studio City Hotel. There is also an infosheet about Code Unique, Studio City Hotel (L.C.).



The Dubai QR Code meme comes full cercle. Still I continue to think that the combination of Kufi and QR Code is what would be even more interesting. Especially as the QR Code could help to be scanned by people who cannot read well. Somehow I also think about the cathedrals with their paintings which were there for the majority of people who could neither read nor understand latin. And somehow, in another way, this persists in Iran with the use of farsi (persian) and arabic. So imagine, you could either read the Kufi or scan the QR Code and hear the text in your language.

As you can see this post got a bit long and I apologize if not everything is clear and I mix too many things. To make it easy, I continue to call it the Dubai QR Code meme, but it brings up much more questions than this meme's name could express.

The new japanese resident card - the Jukicard - comes now with a QR Code. As Switzerland voted recently about biometric passports (see also NZZ in german), why not adopt this too. Kaywa went already half way (although the nicer part of it).

MobilGlyph: Making Data Tangible

Our research in rural India for our Mobile Literacy project identified the task of entering and saving a contact information as the single most challenging tasks for non-literate users to perform. Yet it was a task identified as one of the most beneficial aspects of owing a mobile device.

[...] We then began to explore creative ways to make text and numeric information physical. Our question became: How might we make a physical representation of person’s name and phone number?

During our ideation sessions we tossed around a lot of ideas about tokens. When we looked across the mobile landscape, we realized QR codes and the QR code reader applications on many phones would be a viable solution for our text entry problem.

Introduction of QR Code Reader Library

Kenichi UENO:

For people who want to use QR Codes within the Flash environment, LOGOSWARE (the company I work for) has released a QR Code Reader into the Spark Project.

It is essentially a library that recognizes and decodes any QR Code from any image source.

Cliffano Subagio speaks about the many good QR Code examples he has seen in Japan.

And adds this video of QR Code Craziness.

The guys from Quickmark just told me about their QR Code Reader in continuous mode. As Kaywa doesn't offer one yet for the iPhone, we think that this is the most interesting QR Code Reader for the iphone yet.


From Quickmark

Smart camera applications at ETH Zurich on Monday April 6, 2009

There’s much more to the camera in a mobile phone than only a device for taking photos. The value of the camera phone above and beyond a digital camera is the result of integration of the camera with other mobile handset hardware and software, and services.

In this meeting we will be describing and discussing the many applications, native and which may be added to the camera phone by the user, that enrich images, extract information from the user’s environment and add to the utility and fun of mobile platforms.

Participants: Christine Perey, Daniel Wagner, Herbert Bay, Roger Fischer, Juha K. Laurila

***

The sticker below is an absolutely inofficial addition to the event, however I think it can work as a good example. I already wrote about Simple Attendance Management in a recent post and naturally this could apply here as well.

DokoDare Sticker for Semper Aula: DokoDare - Semper Aula Sticker (PDF)

Scanning the QR Code of the DokoDare Sticker brings the following benefits:

• Bookmark the address and the room now and don't bother searching for the address later
• Checkout the map when you are nearby
• Read more about the Semper Aula
• See what other places (e.g. transport, bars etc) are in the neighbourhood
• At your arrival check in; see who else already checked in
• Exchange short messages during the event
• Start following people who are interesting

UPDATE (16.3.09):
Interesting: Pattie Maes demos the Sixth Sense at TED Conference

Campaign and Technology: CapLink, Cnoté, Kaywa

ZKB (Zurich's Cantonal Bank) recently made a QR code poster campaign for the StuCard (student's card). Now they continue with the Zürcher Wirtschaftsmagazin (Zurich's Economic Magazine):



Download ZKB's Zürcher Wirtschaftsmagazin (PDF)

And here is the QR Code: