This past weekend at the Burlington, VT ECHO Center, I saw this curious sign:
Once I downloaded the app reader described on the sign and pointed my iPhone camera at the honeycomb pattern, the software decoded that pattern into a web address and started playing a video about a tree planting with the Missisquoi River Basin Association in Highgate, VT. (It works off the image displayed here on your screen too–try it out!)
Watching the video on an iphone while standing in front of a museum display case was a bit awkward (better with earphones), but because I took a photo of it, I was able to access it later. That is much easier than bookmarking a URL or keeping track of a paper brochure.
It worked smoothly–the app install on my iphone went quickly and then it was just as easy as snapping a photo. The app viewfinder displays a frame that turns green as soon as it recognizes the pattern. Then, it sends you straight to YouTube.
My mind started racing. The code/patterns are free and easy to create on the BeeTagg web site. The process is very similar to a URL shortening service like bit.ly–just go straight to the BeeTagg Generator, enter a url and even add your own logo…then save the resulting jpeg image:
Then post that up on a billboard, right? It makes more sense than putting long web addresses on billboards or reading them over the radio.
But I was thinking of other applications–local content for my community. It’s fun to embed user-generated content like YouTube videos into a blog post, but how do you get people to the blog in the first place? I’ve written travelogues like this bike trip in France report but what if I could leave posters with codes on them behind at stops along the way for future travelers to watch?
I could design a walking tour of the historic district of a town with these codes posted at the various stops. How hard would it be to go around town with a Flip video camera, record short narrations by local people who grew up here, then print out some laminated signs to post? A project like that could be done in an afternoon and then it would be a free resource for the community.
How about a scavenger hunt? Find the BeeTagg and watch the video that leads you to the next clue.
How about tutorials and assembly instructions? Scan the code on the IKEA box and watch someone put the dresser together. Many times. Repeat. Try again. Recharge the phone. Better idea: snap a photo in the store, then go home and launch the product page in your web browser where you can visualize it in the room, then click a button to order.
What makes this revolutionary is that it shortcuts the cumbersome process of remembering and typing a web address into a browser. In the same way that bit.ly and tinyurl made it possible to quickly share links on Twitter, these BeeTagg codes can take links off the computer and into the physical world where a person can simply snap a photo.
Real estate listings. Forget about those “talking house” signs that ask you to sit in your car and listen to the am radio for a narrated Realtor pitch. Just scan the code off the for sale sign, go home, and load up the listing. Like this:
The potential applications are endless…and liberating because they can be done by people for free without complicated software. Having a Smart Phone with a camera IS a bit of a barrier, but for now, this is a low to no cost technology that might connect a few more people to their communities through a clever use of technology.