Mind Your Ps and QRs...#2

On January 9, 2012 Richard Byrne posted on Free Technology for Teachers, Create a Mobile Language Lesson With QR Voice.  Using this free application QR codes (refer to an earlier post on Librarian's Quest about QR code basics) can now be generated to hold a short voice recording.  QR Voice, to quote the statement on their home page, is

when a picture is worth a hundred characters.

To convert text to speech simply type your message into the provided space making sure to stick to the one hundred character limit.  There is a drop down menu where the language can be selected in which you wish the message to be spoken.  When that task is completed click on the blue button on the right with the QR code icon.  (Please note: The site can be viewed in English, Italian, Japanese, Portugese or Spanish.) 

An HTML link will appear above the QR code which is a link to that code.  This will give you a clear copy to print or you can click on the generated code below that link and save it to your user space. 

I am still using QuickMark on my Samsung Galaxy smart phone.  It worked very well when I read the QR codes that I had made.  The computer voice lacks animation but it gets the job done. 

In my library media center I can see placing the QR codes about the room, recording a quote from a book that includes the author's name.  With that information student's could go to OPAC, look up the author and decide which book includes that quote. 



What title contains this quote?



Get Tagged

In an earlier post, Mind Your Ps and QRs..., I delved into the use of QR (quick response) codes as links to virtual data.  The American Library Association branch, American Association of School Librarians, Best Websites for Teaching and Learning, Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning, 2011 selected Microsoft Tag.  The use of Microsoft Tag falls under the Social Networking and Communication standard, Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.  


According to an explanation at their web site the bar code has evolved from the 1D or linear bar code used on nearly everything that is produced and purchased today.  A 1D bar code is placed on our library materials and scanned for circulating those items.  Using lines that are not just straight but that create a mosaic enables more information to be embedded; QR codes.
This old-style 2D barcode contains the entire message in the code, so online access isn’t needed to decode it, but the barcode size will vary depending on the amount of encoded data. QR codes can be black-and-white or basic colors.

Continuing in their description the site states that the Microsoft Tag has more options in design and in the information contained within each tag. 

Because Tags are linked to data stored on a server, you can deliver a more robust online experience – including entire mobile sites – and update the content any time without having to change the Tag. 

Microsoft Tag offers three possibilities with their service:  a tag creator, an application for reading the tag on a smartphone and a means of keeping track of usage.

To begin click on the green Start Tagging Now button located in the upper right hand corner on the home page.  From the next page you are directed to go to Tag Manager.  You will need to sign in using a Windows Live ID.  If you do not have one it is easy to sign up; an email address, password, birth date, gender, industry, occupation, country, state and zip code.

Once a user reaches the Tag Manager click on Create A Tag.  Select a category, tag title, tag type (URL, App Download, Free Text, vCard and Dialer), tag notes (up to 200 characters for user's own reference), upload a thumbnail, a start date, an end date and then the information needed to create the tag.  When done save the tag.  The screen to the right appears.

Click on the image beneath the words render.  Select a file format from the following choices:  pdf, jpeg, png, gif, tiff, or tag.  Depending on the file type enter in a tag size.  Designs can be custom, full frame, with helper and download instruction or plain.  When completed click the render button.

All that's left is to display your tag.

The main difference between Microsoft Tag and QR codes is that all Microsoft Tags can be read by the Microsoft Tag app; all QR codes can not be read by all QR code readers.  Unlike other 2D codes a Microsoft Tag is dynamic.  When changes are made in the content connected to the tag, the tag does not need to be changed.

Microsoft Tags are more advanced than QR codes.  Creating them is simple but the results are more sophisticated.  Tags can be placed on brochures, sent in emails or posted outside classrooms sending students and parents to a Facebook page or blog.

I still think one of the best uses in the library media center is to place tags inside books sending users to an author, illustrator or book web site.  For that purpose the QR codes would work just as well.

In all honesty, when I went to load the app to my phone, red flags popped up concerning what the app could and could not do to phone settings and personal information so much, that I did not load it.  It seems that many applications want access to too much personal statistics for my comfort level.  This is just my opinion.



Librarian's Quest



Wonderstruck

Mind Your Ps and QRs...

Several weeks ago I was browsing and reading various school librarian blogs when I came across the use of QR codes.  QR represents quick response.  Data such as text, hyperlinks, personal or professional contact information or geo location (just to name a few examples) are embedded in these square mosaic designs.   Once I knew what they were I started seeing them more and more often.  Within days of reading about this use of technology I purchased an orchid plant.  On the back of the company's tag was a QR code.  When scanned it directed me to a web site with beautiful photographs and  a multitude of useful and interesting knowledge about orchids.


Smart phones or other mobile devices that contain a QR code reader application are used to scan the QR code and will display what the creator desires.  A simple search on your favorite site will include a list of the best applications for your particular phone.  I downloaded the Android QuickMark app for my new Samsung Fascinate Galaxy S phone from Verizon. 


At this link Dana Huff, a teacher at Weber School, a private high school in the Altanta metro-area gives an excellent, brief overview of QR codes, their creative function in the classroom setting and additional resources regarding this new (at least to me) cool technology.  An additional recent post of possible uses can be found at New Media Photographer Digital Marketing Blog by Rosh Sillars.  While geared more for business without too much of a stretch of your imagination these suggestions could be utilized for educational purposes.  

To create a QR code I used the generator Kaywa.   Below is a direct link to this blog created in a matter of seconds.   Using this free generator enter in an URL, text, phone number or SMS before clicking the generate button.  You can save the code as an image, with a permalink or embed it using HTML code.

BeQRious appears to be a site that offers a free generator with registration if you wish to store codes in folders, manage or edit them.   At this site QR codes can be made for an URL, email address, phone number, text, V card, text message, YouTube video, 14 different social sites, or a geographical place on a map.  The code below directs you to a map of Charlevoix.  They also offer the option of placing an image inside your code.  A created code can be embedded using HTML or saved in  PDF or GIF format.

One possible use of QR codes for this librarian is going to be sending students to book trailers, web sites or blogs of author's who have newly published books that would make for good reading during  genre studies or for those required research papers.  It is going to be fun to send them to movie trailers that have been made for those books that are appearing on the silver screen.  

Of course the having and use of phones in the classroom will need to be reviewed.  But maybe I can think of an ingenious way to display them outside of the school setting.  Hmmmm...