A black and white logo kind of image having a random structure uneasy to understand, can be found now and then, on the packaging of electronic gadgets, or you can see it on business cards, presentations and even on the walls of the building. Many of us still don’t understand what is it meant for or what is this called?
Yes, I am talking about QR Code or the short form of Quick Response Code. This is a kind of square barcode (two dimensional) that was first developed and used in Japan. It is just like any other barcode to store in information in a machine-readable optical label. The data contained by a QR code can be anything from simple text, to an email addresses, to phone numbers and so on. These are used to take a piece of information from a transitory media to put it into your laptop, smartphone or any other smart and handy gadget.
QR codes store data using patterns of black dots and white spaces, arranged in a square grid. These patterns can be scanned and translated into human-readable information, with the help of an imaging device, like a camera or a scanner, although the most common way to scan QR codes nowadays is to use your smartphone’s camera and a specialized app for reading QR codes.
Now talking about its utility, it is excessively preferred nowadays because it can store (and digitally present) much more data, including URL links, Geo coordinates, and text. The other key feature of QR Codes is that instead of requiring a chunky hand-held scanner to scan them, many modern cell phones can scan them.
However, most people still have no idea what QR Code is all about, and many even fear using them particularly while using them for financial transactions, because of increasing cases of cyber frauds and the risk of getting dragged into electronic scams. Even while making payment at restaurants, hotels, petrol stations, business sites and payment getaways many people avoid using it. But the thing which most of us might not be knowing is that QR Code is extremely safer and simpler to use as compared to card-based payments in which one has to enter his confidential pin. However, it also has its fair share of small risk associated, which cannot be entirely eliminated.
Nowadays, QR codes can be seen on magazine adverts, billboards, textbooks and even on T-shirts. Once you scan a QR code through your cell phone, it may give you details about that business, allowing users to search for nearby locations, or details about the person wearing the t-shirt, show you a URL which you can click to see a trailer for a movie.
With the advancement of ICT’s and digitization invading every zone, QR Codes have now also been introduced into textbooks. A recent initiative has been taken by Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT) to introduce QR codes into textbooks to enable students, teachers and parents to access study material digitally through online app Diksha. This inventiveness is to help students go an extra mile to learn and understand the subject, with the additional study material in their small handy devices. Through the Diksha app, students can scan QR Codes in their books and can access detailed information about a topic or the whole subject.
However, it is disheartening that not only the students but most teachers and parents still do not know how to use the QR codes implanted within coursebooks. Thus recently a piece of news has also been published by UdaipurBlog to make people aware of the initiative.
Hope, knowing its benefits, now we will embrace the positive developments like digital learning through QR codes, that technology is offering to us and make it beneficial for the growth of society.