Saturday, October 22, 2011

QR Codes and What They Are Used For

By Mark Boardman


They are a 2 dimensional code that can be scanned by a smartphone to automatically pull up information such as URLs, phone number, videos, photographs, music, text etc. QR stands for 'Quick Response' and were first developed in Japan by a company called Denso-Wave in 1994.

Basically QR codes are usually two dimensional bar codes that are understood both vertically and also horizontally. The codes consist of a control grid of tiny squares. This allows for far more information to be encoded in a much smaller area than a traditional bar coding system. Codes are usually read by smartphones and QR scanners.

Initially they were used to track car parts in Japan, where they are very popular, but now they have a much wider commercial use within the digital world. They can be added to a business card or an email to send someone with a reader directly to your website. So, whereas a bar code pretty much can only identify a product and needs a special device to be scanned, QR codes can embed much more information and trigger an action when read such as downloading a music file or launching a website directly on your phone. Imagine how easy this make it for someone to go to your website, without the bother of actually typing in the url, especially useful if you have a less than memorable or difficult to spell web address.

Some popular uses of these codes: Contact information - add all your contact information including phones numbers, office address, website and email Name tags: Add all your information to your name tag at a conference and colleagues can simply scan it to download all your details. Art: Street artist Banksy has a piece of work in a disused railway tunnel in London which includes QR, when scanned this code takes you directly to his Wikipedia page. Shop Windows: In the US Google is sending out code decals to small businesses on Google Places, to be placed in the shop windows for passers-by to scan.

QR codes are usually still somewhat alien to many persons, so make it a little easier for them by adding something of worth. Don't just deliver them to a page when scanned, maybe send them to a special offer web page, just for registered users of the codes , add something of worth to inspire a person's users.

Whatever you decide to do enjoy using a person's codes and start being creative as they are probably going to become extremely popular as more people surf the internet on their mobile phones.




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