Digital Play

By grahamstanley 　http://www.digitalplay.info/blog/2010/05/08/qr-code-gaming/

QR Code - Digital Play

Can you read the  square barcode above? Chances are you can if you have a phone with a camera and a barcode reader. If not, then it’s unlikely unless you take your laptop or a hard copy down to the local supermarket and persuade the person sitting at the checkout to scan it for you. These things are appearing all over though, and it’s likely that we’ll be seeing more of them too. They are called QR codes and you can find out more about them at Wikipedia.

The Q. R stands for ‘quick response‘ and they are designed to allow their content to be decoded at high speed. They also hold more content than a normal barcode. Very popular in Japan, the system has quickly moved from their initial use in vehicle manufacturing to  being used for all sorts  of mobile tagging and can contain a maximum of 7,089 characters of information. They have also just started being used in games, which is why Digital Play has become interested in them

QR games

• In November 2009, Kidrobot, a designer toy store in the US organised a scavenger hunt game based on QR codes n
• In December 2009, the marketing software company Interlink One held the first QR code game for its employees at the Christmas party. The employees, as described on the QReate & Track blog were given a sheet of QR codes and another sheet of questions (try the game out for yourself if you have a phone with a barcode scanner) .
• Google took the idea of a QR game one step further at its Developer Day in 2009, with 100 people running around hunting for QR codes that were stuck to tables and chairs, walls and boxes, etc. Each player earned points by scanning the QR codes and could check their score and the scores of other players directly on their phones.
• Perhaps the oddest example is the QR Kill game played in Barcelona. Each player has a large QR code attached to their back and communicates with their team members using their mobile phone, which is also used to scan / kill their opponent – sounds a bit like a less messy geek hi-tech version of paintball -  bizarre!

Language Quest

So what has this got to do with language learning? Out of curiosity, this week I  gave some of my own pre-intermediate students a challenge and simply handed them a QR code at the end of the class, saying this was their homework and that it was a puzzle, without giving away any other clues. The code contained a series of instructions for them to follow that would lead them to an account on Facebook that they had to friend (all of these students use Facebook) and then they could claim a prize. It was an experiment, aimed at satisfying my curiosity more than anything. Most of the students left the class muttering that I was mad, but that evening, one of the students friended the Facebook account and claimed his prize!

So, what does it ll mean? I’m not sure yet, but it’s bound to create some interesting conversation next class and I’m planning on taking in some more QR codes that we can decode as well as an article about using them for all sorts of uses.

I would love to organise a running dictation / treasure hunt using the QR codes but I’m not sure whether there’s much mileage in this idea unless all students had access to barcode scanner software in their mobiles .  Who knows, maybe some time in the near future…

Find Out More about QR codes:

• QR Codes in Education http://mrrobbo.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/qr-codes-in-education/
• QR codes and students http://eblabla.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/qr-code/
• Make Your own QR Code here http://www.beqrious.com/generator and here  http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
• What is Mobile tagging? http://mobile-tagging.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-is-mobile-tagging.html
• QR Code Hunters – Google’s game http://blog.hungrymobile.com/2009/11/qr-code-hunters-one-of-the-first-effective-qr-code-games/
• More about the QR Kill game in Barcelona http://qrcode.es/?p=209&language=en
• QR Store (buy your t-shirt here) http://qr-code.spreadshirt.es/