QR codes

CEBU, Philippines - Sometime in 1994, Denso Wave in Japan decided to come up with a 2-dimensional bar-code, one which allowed for the quick scanning and decoding of automotive parts.

Fast forward to now, what was once a tracking tool in the automobile manufacturing process has grown into a convenient method for information dissemination and storage, with its popularity driven by the ready availability of camera-enabled smartphones, which, with the right software, are pocket barcode readers on their own.

QR Codes have since been all the rage, gaining more traction into different facets of everyday life.

What is a QR Code?

Notice those weird squares on posters, webpages, and web advertisements? Those black and white boxes which are somewhat reminiscent of a Piet Mondiran composition, only more dense and more compact with squares?

Those black and white squares are what Quick Response or QR Codes are, and with the right QR Code reader app in your camera-phone, you can easily find out what “secrets” those squares hold within.

Take this for example:

If you scan this QR Code with your phone, it would say: “Wow, you really did scan the code.”

Or how about this:

If you scan it, your phone can connect (with your permission, depending on the QR Code reader app you are using) to the online portal of The Freeman.

Simply put, a Quick Response or QR Code is a type of matrix barcode where the translation of basic texts is converted into symbols, which can be utilized for different intents and purposes.

QR Code Reader Apps

There are a lot of QR Code readers out there, made for different phones and mobile platforms. There’s “Barcode Scanner” for Android, “RedLaser” for iPhones/iOS, and “QR Code Scanner Pro” for BlackBerry mobiles, to name a few.

Some phones, like Nokia’s Lumia Series, come with built-in QR Code reader applications, and looking into your phone’s default specs and features might reveal that it already has one already installed.

All a QR Reader app requires is a supported camera-phone model with app-installable features.

Application in Everyday Life

Given its versatility, QR Codes are used in different industry sectors, mostly in advertising/promotions where they are often used as “portals” to webpages or websites.

Take the case of a store announcing a sale. Apart from printing posters with pictures of items which are on sale, a QR Code on that poster can lead interested parties to the store’s website or to a webpage where a more comprehensive list of on-sale items can be found.

Phone numbers could also be “translated” as QR Codes, along with specific web URLs, email addresses, calendar events and text strings. In fact, QR Codes as calling cards have become common, with many businesses printing QR Codes on actual calling cards.

Since QR Codes are “coded” translations of words/letters, their application factor is highly diverse and dynamic.

The QR Code in the Playing Field

As with everything in the world, QR Codes have their own attendance of critics, who feel that their popularity is a testament over how we, as a whole, tend to trivialize technology.

For one, QR Code critics often note that their proliferation says a lot about the “make the need” marketing strategy, since their prevalence subconsciously tells people to “buy a camera-phone with a QR Code reader”.

This status could be utilized as another “make the need” marketing strategy in the development of an updated version of the QR Code, which could then spread another message, saying something like “QR Code is old so buy a new smartphone that can read the new updated version”.

Another often raised QR Code issue is security, since QR Codes can lead users to websites. Cases of keyloggers and malware bits getting into Android mobiles via QR Codes are well known, with the recent annually published Symantec Internet Security Threat Report indicating a rise of security threats involving QR Codes.

But as there are QR Code negatives, there are some positive QR Code implementations too.

The recently held Gabii sa Kabilin, spearheaded by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc last May 25, 2012, would be one good example, featuring a unique activity which involved an Amazing Race-inspired QR Code hunt.

Organized RAFI, Smart Communications and MyCebu.ph, the activity drew different participants, including media practitioners, members of the police force, bloggers, tech-industry workers and students. The activity required participants to find out via QR Code what they had to do as tasks, then move on to the next station where another QR Code with task details waited for them.

The activity brought a significant “tech-aspect” into the annually held Gabii sa Kabilin, celebrating and spreading the value of heritage with technology.

So the next time you see something like this:

do well in remembering that it’s a QR Code, and that it has a “secret message” hidden within.

Since QR Codes are encountered almost anywhere, attention to where you find them should be given serious consideration before you scan them with your mobile. Exercise caution when using QR Codes for online banking transactions or other QR Code links which pose for identity theft cases into being.