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Webb on the Web: QR Codes and Journalism

Date: 5/12/08

If you're outside of the United States - particularly in Japan - you've likely seen a QR code already. It's a square shaped two-dimensional bar code that might have popped up on a metro poster or inside of a magazine.

QR really stands for "Quick Response" and was created in the early 90's in Japan. It's a two-dimensional bar code that stores data that can be reinterpreted. A Japanese company called Denso Wave filed the original patent and released a Japanese standard for it, but an ISO International Standard was approved and released in 2000.

In order to read QR codes, you need only download a reader for your camera-equipped mobile phone. You simply take a photo of - or "scan" - the barcode, and you'll be taken to a screen with more information, an address or phone number, or even to a new Web site.

Folks in the U.S. are still skeptical about the usefulness of QR codes, but consider this: Google has recently launched an advertising program using them in print publications. Just as you can buy Google ads to run online, you can now buy Google print ads - and include a QR code if you'd like.

In my next column, I'll explain how QR codes might be applied to the business and editorial sides of journalism. But for now, take a look at kaywa, QuickMark and even the Google site, where they explain how to get a QR reader for the iPhone.

 

If you can download a reader to your mobile, give it a shot. And keep on the lookout for those 2D barcodes!

We're doing this now at

Submitted by editor@spektacle.com on 1/26/09.

We're doing this now at www.spektacle.com. Seemingly most companies are choosing not to use QR codes for journalistic reasons, but to instead use QR codes to push things out like phone wallpapers, ringtones, and photos - which in my opinion sort of downgrades QR codes in the minds of readers.

@Ian I don't se

Submitted by amacdowell@bivi... on 5/21/08.

@Ian I don't see how this is a "limitation" of QR Codes, any more than it is a limitation of paper: if I print a URL on paper, I can't change it or else those "links" don't work anymore, or I have to reprint the paper.

One can maintain the URL and have it redirect to a URL, which is again not new -- this has been standard practice on the web for a decade.

You're just providing a tiny-URL-like redirector right? that's a value-add, sure. But the "limitation" is just punted around. Now users rely on your server supporting that URL, etc...

QR codes have o

Submitted by amacdowell@bivi... on 5/14/08.

QR codes have one limitation: The URL is encoded within the QR Code.

If you need to change the destination URL / Web page you need to regenerate the QR code and reprint in. QRme.co.uk has introduced teh concept of Dynamic QR codes. The web address the QR code points to is stored on the QRMe web server. The QRMe QR Code simply contains an profile reference. Once scanned the Webserer will redirect the mobile to the specified URL in the users profile. This means you can point the same QR code to your MySpace account one week and your Facebook profile the next depending what mood your in.

Your account will also show you how many times your QR code has been scanned.

We're also launching a printing service so you can get your QRMe QR Code on T Shirts, Mouse mats and the like.

The Patent legalities of mobile phones scanning barcodes were sorted a while back . From what I've picked up on the web NeoMedia owns the USA patent for scanning a barcodes and retreiving a URL from a server. The Electronic frontier foundation challenged this patent twice but failed on each attempt. The same patent had to be ammended to get it throught the European patent office so it only covers scanning UPC barcodes . This may be an interesting article you may want to further investigate.

Regards Ian

These are certa

Submitted by amacdowell@bivi... on 5/13/08.

These are certainly interesting ways to convey small amounts of data, but the Japan experience shows that very few people bother to use them after the initial attempt. There are two problems:

  1. It's still slow to fire up a phone camera and wait for it to analyze the code.

  2. Marketing junk follows in rivers from greedy companies.

These are, of course, surmountable issues, but the mere prevalence of QR codes being used by shiny new-media firms and publishers doesn't mean people want or need them. Heck, I even stuck one on my own site two years ago just for fun...

Great introduct

Submitted by amacdowell@bivi... on 5/12/08.

Great introduction article on QR codes :)

I highly recommend the NeoReader, which is a universal mobile code reader that can decipher 1 dimensional UPC/EAN codes, and 2 dimensional Data Matrix, Aztec, and QR codes.

Regarding the iPhone ..... Currently in Beta, a public release of the NeoReader iPhone application is anticipated soon.

Best regards