I set up a trial of 2d (QR) barcodes at Manchester Art Gallery early 
this year. It is referred to and illustrated on the MDDA website 
http://www.manchesterdda.com/2008/04/23/manchester-art-gallery-using-2d-barcodes/

It came about from being commissioned by the London Museums Hub to write 
a report on the use of barcodes and RFID tags in collections management 
and visitor access. I was unable to find a suitable example of the use 
of 2d barcodes in the museum environment. This lead me to arranging with 
Manchester Art Gallery to pilot QR (Quick Response) codes in the 
'Revealing Histories: Remembering Slavery' display. The trail provided 
visitors with access to specially designed web pages featuring objects 
on display from their mobile phone. The pages invited visitors to submit 
comments on six works on show, and listen to and read poems and comments 
on some of the objects. Matt Haworth, Revealing Histories Web 
Coordinator produced the codes and created the mobile-friendly web pages.

The Gallery considered the trial successful in terms of testing the 
technology, providing a valuable model for future projects. I didn't see 
any of the visitors use their phone to capture the codes, but some of 
the front of house staff, who were very supportive of the trial, did.

The case study for the trial is part of my report for the London Museums 
Hub published on the Collections Link website
http://www.collectionslink.org.uk/find_a_network/regional_networks/sustainable_storage 


Julian Tomlin
E: [log in to unmask] | W: www.juliantomlin.com

Frankie Roberto wrote:
> James Morley wrote:
>
>
>   
>> Does anyone have any evaluation, advice or just gut feelings about putting
>> URLs on printed signage and in leaflets etc?  I ask this specifically in the
>> context of when you have a lot of in depth information online that people
>> could use to follow up after their visit.
>>     
>
>
> Interesting discussion. My instinct would be that very few people will
> memorize the URL, whether it's to a specific page, to a 'shortcut' like
> /blah, or even if it's just the home URL.  Although this might depend on how
> well-known your website is generally - the BBC for instance probably has a
> greater recall factor for its bbc.co.uk domain than most websites do,
> although they still manage to confuse things by switching branding every few
> years (from BBCi to bbc.co.uk to 'Online' - see blog
> post<http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/12/it_is_a_few_months.html>
> ).
>
> In short, I'm willing to bet that most people will find your website via
> searching (as your web stats probably already show).
>
> This doesn't mean there's no point in putting the URLs anywhere though, as
> the most important thing isn't communicating where people can find your
> website, but why they should bother. Displaying the URL may help to remind
> visitors that you have a website (which you're proud enough of to be
> promoting), whethere or not they remember it.
>
> That said, the main thing you can do is to give people a reason to go to
> your website when they get home. Saying "there's more information about this
> topic on our website" is a start, but is a bit vague, and begs the question
> why can't have the information there and then.
>
> Better would be to play on the fact that your website can offer a different,
> perhaps more interactive/personalised type of experience, or on the fact
> that your website can be updated over time. So, something like "find out how
> this topic affects your neighbourhood by entering your postcode on our
> website"  or "track this topic as it develops by subscribing to the news
> updates on our website".
>
> This is all assuming a print -> online transition, which is tricky. If
> you've got interactive terminals, then you can go one better showing your
> website and/or letting people e-mail themselves a link to it or subscribing
> to e-mail updates. All of which is much more effective than printing URLs on
> the walls! (though do that too).
>
> As to 'QR codes' (2D barcodes) - has anyone seen anyone actually use them,
> other than as a test? I've got a brand new Nokia phone, and I can't even
> find the code-reading application (which apparently is pre-installed
> somewhere...).
>
> Frankie Roberto
> Experience Designer, Rattle
> 0114 2706977
>
>   

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