[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #267: The numbers on QR codes

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #267: The numbers on QR codes
February 1st, 2012

<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/4cast-qrcode.png>Surely 
you've heard about QR codes 
<http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=QR_Codes> by now, and maybe 
your library is even exploring ways to put them to good use. Public 
libraries don't seem to be as advanced in their QR experiments as 
academic libraries, which is logical when you think about it - the 
college students that use academic libraries would seem to be the prime 
demographic for QR codes. So far, however, QR experiments overall, even 
among college students, have had mixed results as you can see from the 
recent surveys cited below.

    * Using QR codes in the library at Leeds Metropolitan University
      <http://www.sconul.ac.uk/publications/newsletter/53/11.pdf> [pdf]
      (SCONUL Focus/John Bottomley) "The survey results showed that
      c.75% of those interviewed knew about QR codes, had a phone that
      could read them and thought that adding them to the floor plan key
      would provide extra benefit. However, about half said we should
      also publicise what QR codes were and how to use them before we
      added them to library materials, so perhaps knowledge about QR
      codes was not as ubiquitous as it appeared."
    * QR codes go to college
      <http://www.archrival.com/ideas/13/qr-codes-go-to-college%5BArchrival%20research>
      (Archrival/Don Aguirre) "QR codes do enjoy a high-level of
      awareness among college students yet only a fraction (21%) could
      properly scan and activate the code. Why the discrepancy?
      According to our findings, students simply struggled with the
      process. Some didn't know a 3rd party app was needed, many
      mistakenly assumed it could be activated with their camera, and
      others just lost interest, saying the activity took too long. This
      could be why 75% of students said they were 'Not Likely' to scan
      QR codes in the future."
    * Week 46: QR or not QR
      <http://urbanscale.org/news/2011/11/20/week-46-qr-or-not-qr/>
      (Urbanscale/Adam Greenfield) "A strong theme that emerged - which
      we certainly found entirely unsurprising, but which ought to give
      genuine pause to the cleverer sort of marketers - is that, even
      where respondents displayed sufficient awareness and understanding
      of QR codes to make use of them, virtually no one expressed any
      interest in actually doing so. As one of our respondents put it,
      'I've already seen the ad, and now I'm going to spend my data plan
      on watching your commercial? No thanks.'"
    * QR in the New Year?
      <https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/community/blogosphere/2012/01/04/qr-in-the-new-year/>
      (Brooklyn Museum/Shelley Bernstein) "Of the visitors that scanned
      the code on the entrance tags, an average 3.37% of those users
      (.059% of total visitors) scanned the codes that were placed on
      objects. That may seem very low overall, but finding the codes we
      had placed on 30 objects out of the 3000+ on view, was a bit of a
      task - I'm honestly surprised the numbers were as high as they were."

*/Fail fact:/*

You may get a chuckle out of some of these 11 dubious uses of QR codes 
<http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/8669-11-dubious-uses-of-qr-codes>, but 
there are also some good lessons here. Learn from others' mistakes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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