Reflection
By: Stephan Rohatyn
According to Boise State University (2013), QR Codes, or Quick Response Codes, are bar codes that contain data that can be read by a smart phone or an iPad’s camera with a QR code reader app installed. When a camera obtains the QR code, it automatically gives you contact information or other types of information uploaded on your phone from URL. The Codes, according to QR stuff (2013) are “internationally standardized” and have been described as “print based hyperlink text”.
My partners and I went to http://qrstuff.com that allows the creation of QR codes. It asked four questions: “What is your… 1) Data Type 2) Content – Website URL 3) Foreground Colour and 4) Output type.” By completing the four steps this enabled us to create a QR code.
“Young people increasingly live and thrive in the digital environment, comfortable with virtual, screen-to-screen and face-to-face relationships. They take for granted that they can use interactive text, audio and image technologies to observe and participate in world events in real time” (Jordan, 2011). As we continue to evolve in a digital technology world, the use of QR codes will escalate beyond just the retrieval of information.
We can find various examples of where QR codes are positively affecting our everyday lives. A city in China disposes rubbish using QR Code technology. A resident puts their trash into a garbage bag that has a QR Code. Once the bag is filled, the bag is taken to a collection point, and scanned at a trash bin. The right door will open and the rubbish is disposed of. The City rewards residents by allowing them to earn points, with which they can purchase items at an online grocery store. However residents can also lose points if they put the wrong things in the bag or dispose of the refuse bag in the wrong garbage bin (BeQRious.com, 2014).
It is amazing what QR codes can do. Codes are not only simple and straightforward, but are becoming a very valuable tool for today’s society. An additional example of the benefits of QR Codes was the creation of a safety bracelet by a parent of a 2 and a half-year-old autistic child who wandered. The father created a code, which housed the child’s personal information. If the child was ever lost, the bracelet could be scanned to have the child picked up. “The good news is that the identification bracelets are no longer just for autistic kids… (they) are being used by people with epilepsy, diabetes …(and) older people suffering from Alzheimer’s” (BeQRious.com, 2014).
The concept of QR codes will pave the way for expanded digital technology for years to come. As Kathy Jordan (2011) states, “Students demand interactivity in learning, communication, and entertainment,” and I believe that QR Codes are an excellent example and tool to meet these demands. As a person who is deaf, I can envision that ICT and QR Codes will give people with impairments a chance to break down communication barriers through an enhanced assistive device and QR Code technology.
References:
BeQRious. (2014). QR codes help you dispose of garbage properly. Retrieved from: http://beqrious.com/qr-codes-help-you-dispose-of-garbage-properly/
BeQRious. (2014) Keep Me Safe: QR codes for Protecting Children with Autism. Retrieved from: http://beqrious.com/keep-me-safe-qr-codes-for-protecting-children-with-autism/
Jordan, K. (2011). Framing ICT, teachers and learners in Australian school education, ICT policy. The Australian Association for Research in Education, Inc. 38:417–431. DOI 10.1007/s13384-011-0038-4.
QR Stuff. (2013). QR Code Generator. Denso Wave Incorporated, Isle of Man,
Retrieved from: http://qrstuff.com
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