When I first talked to Jen Cushman about QR codes, back in October 2011, we were all excited about the possibilities of using these little jewels in all kinds of creative ways. Since then, we’ve been seeing them everywhere. I’ve got one on the back of my business cards that links to the video trailer I did for Destination Creativity.
(I made it orange, of course.)
You find them in magazines, and you’re starting to see a lot of them in books. I did several Book Notes videos this week, and several of the books had QR codes that link to bonus content: when the author goes in for the photo shoot, they make little videos and take other photos that can go here at CreateMixedMedia.com, and readers can scan the codes to see all of that. I love that: I love that a book no longer has to fit between two covers. Sure, it *does* fit between two covers, and you get a whole book’s worth of book that way. But you also get more–QR codes allow you to include things that you can’t include–not yet, anyway–between those covers. Someday, if actual books survive, you’ll have videos on the pages and audio content, maybe other sensory cues, like odors (remember Harold and Maude and her olfactory machine?). But not yet. Right now, this is the best way we have to include bonus content in actual, hold-in-your-hand books, and it’s pretty fabulous, opening up possibilities for sharing that didn’t exist before. Here are some other ideas from a post I did in 2011.
So what do *you* do with QR codes? I’d love to hear your ideas–the more adventurous, the better!
Ricë is the author of Living the Creative Life, Creative Time and Space, and Destination Creativity. She also blogs at The Voodoo Cafe.
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