Barcodes linking to online content IV
In May 2000, The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., USA started delivering newspapers that had tiny barcodes on articles, allowing readers to use a pen-like wand to scan and pull up related information on the Web. The barcodes were called GoCodes and had an advantage: they could fit on a line of text and therefore didn't need a dedicated space in the layout of the page.They were also more efficient than the Cue:Cat barcodes as they could store more data. Their encoding looks similar to that of the more recent QR-codes.
I find them quite elegant and discreet, they also remind me of Edward Tufte's Sparklines.
3 Comments added
I just don't understand why anyone would use barcodes for articles and such.
Why not just assign the object(article, ad, whatever) a simple URL suffix. Every object would get a numeric, or alpha numeric, suffix.
The user would just add this after the domain name of the site.
Something like : nytimes.com/32746
This id would then map (via mod_rewrite or other system) to the article.
Who is going to buy these bar code readers? And what if you want to make a copy for your friend? How can you read the bar code to someone? it is not human readable.
I just don't get it.
Mr. Kahn, in the case of barcodes in newspapers, those were trials lead in 2000 and have all but disappeared. The scanners were actually given for free to the papers' subscribers, and they were capable of scanning other things like food barcodes, or appliances barcodes and would be taken to the makers websites, they could also put the scanned addresses in their memory for later retrieval.
There were plans to eventually be able to order food from a website by scanning the wanted items. As to your numerical suffix, some newspapers actually used that instead of barcodes, and some websites still do (like Poynter Online). As to making a copy to your friend, well just send them the URL, and I believe that most codes would be preceded by the full URL. And it is the case in Japan right now, when I see a QR-code printed, there is always the URL next to it.
One of the strong obstacles that those early barcode efforts had to face was that you needed to have a proprietary (and bulky) scanning device, e.g. the cuecat. Since the benefits were unclear, and since they demanded behavioral shifts, these initiatives never had a chance. They were services disguised as products, and the other way around.
But with the phonecam revolution -- a technology with a stunning adoption rate -- everyone will have a photo-optic device with them all the time. Barcodes will become "legible" to anyone with a common device in their pocket, drawing upon the everyday practice of shooting pictures.
To provide physical objects and images with additional layers of information, then, could be one of the next big shifts in terms of how we interact IRL. I've been dubious for many years regarding physical links to information, it's been promised for so long, and executed so poorly. But I think that phonecam-barcode interaction may finally open up layers of the world that are otherwise invisible or unwritten, and that's a far more interesting world to live in.
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