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QRpedia

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Violetriga (talk | contribs) at 13:56, 22 October 2011 (→‎Origins: no need to cite the obvious). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

QRpedia
A sample QRpedia QR code, which decodes as the URL http://en.qrwp.org/QRpedia
Available inMultilingual
Created byTerence Eden
URLqrpedia.org
CommercialNo
RegistrationNone

QRpedia is a mobile Web based system which uses QR codes to deliver Wikipedia articles to users, in their preferred language.[1][2][3] QR codes can easily be generated to link directly to any Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), but the QRpedia system adds further functionality.

QRpedia was conceived by Roger Bamkin, chair of Wikimedia UK, and unveiled in April 2011. It is currently in use at institutions including museums in the United Kingdom, United States and Spain. The project's source code is freely reusable under the MIT License.

Process

Visitors to Derby Museum using a mobile phone to scan a QRpedia QR code

When a user scans a QRpedia QR code on their mobile device, the device decodes the QR code into a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) using the domain name "qrwp.org" and whose path (final part) is the title of a Wikipedia article, and sends a request for the article specified in the URL to the QRpedia Web server. It also transmits the language setting of the device.[4]

The QRpedia server then uses Wikipedia's API[1] to determine whether there is a version of the specified Wikipedia article in the language used by the device, and if so, returns it in a mobile-friendly format.[4] If there is no version of the article available in the preferred language, then the QRpedia server performs a search for the article title on the relevant language's Wikipedia, and returns the results.

In this way, one QRcode can deliver the same article in many languages,[4] even when the museum is unable to make its own translations. QRpedia also records usage statistics.[4]

Origins

A QRpedia code for the article "A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery" in Derby Museum. The article is, as of August 2011, available in 17 languages, including Japanese, Catalan, Esperanto, Swedish, Portugese, Czech, Italian and Russian.

QRpedia was conceived by Roger Bamkin,[1] chair of Wikimedia UK,[5] and Terence Eden,[1] a mobile web consultant,[6] and was unveiled on 9 April 2011[1][7] at Derby Museum's Backstage Pass event,[1][6] part of the GLAM/Derby collaboration between Derby Museum and Art Gallery and Wikipedia,[8] during which over 1,200 Wikipedia articles, in a number of languages, were also created.[9] The project's name is a portmanteau word, combining the initials "QR" from "QR (Quick Response) code" and "pedia" from "Wikipedia".

The project's source code is freely reusable under the MIT License.[10]

Implementations

A label in The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis that uses a QRpedia code to direct visitors to the Wikipedia article "Broad Ripple Park Carousel"

Though created in the United Kingdom, QRpedia can be used in any location where the user's phone has a data signal and, as of September 2011, is in use at:

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Eden, Terence (2011-04-03). "Introducing QRpedia". Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  2. ^ a b Anon (2011-08-19). "The Children's Museum of Indianapolis Creates New Learning Opportunities through Wikipedian-in-Residence". The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  3. ^ Johnson, L.; Adams, S. (2011). The Technology Outlook for UK Tertiary Education 2011-201 (PDF). NMC Horizon Report Regional Analyses. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. ISBN 978-0-615-38209-8.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Byrd Phillips, Lori (2011-06-15). "Going Multilingual with QRpedia". Marcus Institute for Digital Education in the Arts. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  5. ^ "Board". Wikimedia UK. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  6. ^ a b Anon (2011-05-21). "Quiet Realities". Imperica. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  7. ^ Various. "Wikipedia:GLAM/Derby/QR code experiment". Wikipedia. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  8. ^ Various. "Derby Backstage Pass". Wikimedia UK. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  9. ^ Roger Bamkin, interviewed on BBC Radio Derby by Phil Trow, 2011-08-30
  10. ^ "qrwp — QR Redirection to Wikipedia". Google Project Hosting. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  11. ^ Byrd Phillips, Lori (2011-07-29). "QR codes + Wikipedia = QRpedia". The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  12. ^ Hinojo, Alex (2011-05-11). "QRpedia Codes at Fundació Joan Miró". The GLAM-Wiki Experience. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  13. ^ "New collaboration between Wikimedia UK and The National Archives". The National Archives (United Kingdom). 2011-09-15. Retrieved 16 September 2011. {{cite web}}: Text "The National Archives" ignored (help)
  14. ^ Eden, Terence (2011-09-18). "National Archives and QRpedia". Retrieved 18 September 2011.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to QRpedia.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=QRpedia&oldid=456827704"