This semester, I've spent a lot of time working with QR codes. Specifically, I'm interested in how QR codes can be used to facilitate a multimedia, location based experience. QR codes are two-dimensional barcodes that look like this:

You can access them with your web-enabled mobile phone in three easy steps: 1. Download QR Code reading software to your mobile phone. 2. When you see a Gotham Guide QR code, snap a picture of it. 3. Enjoy multimedia content about your current location. Here's a demo. With Gotham Guide, I've tried to create a self-guided tour of Manhattan using QR codes and a mix of curated and social content. My friend Luke Miller from Real New York Tours, which is the number 1 thing to do in New York according to Trip Advisor, provided much of the video content. You can view a demo of Gotham Guide during the ITP 2009 Spring Show.

Aram Chang and I are going to build the QR code reader in Mobile Processing that I referenced in this post. To build it, we decided to first build out a screen-by-screen wireframe illustration of what the final program might look like: This will help us stay on track and also be useful as we collaborate, since we won't always be working on the same part of the program at the same time. I expect that this version will change several times before we finish, but I'm glad we have it created. Once we built out the wireframe of what we wanted the program to look like, we broke down each screen and went and tried to think about them in pseudo-code. We've still got a lot of choices to make about the color, logo and other branding choices, but this is a sample of what the pseduo-code looks like:

The QRazy Simpsons takes a portrait of the Simpson family and covers it with more a texture comprised of unique QR codes. When the program is running, anyone with a QR code reader enabled mobile phone can isolate and enlarge individual QR codes to view clips from the program, listen to popular quotes, get SMS messages, watch user-generated Simpsons related content on YouTube, visit fan sites and find contact information for the family's creator, Matt Groening. This project was built on the OpenFrameworks platform.

My Mobile Media midterm: Using QR codes to strengthen the ITP community bu interviewing students on my iPhone and uploading them to a Twitter account and blog. At the same time, QR codes were placed next to their pictures in the lobby so that students can listen to the interviews on their mobile phones: QR Code Presentation Mobile Media