The quick response codes had been worked into activities for children on the holiday Monday.
Family Day is a holiday celebrated in several Canadian provinces, in which schools, many businesses and government offices are closed, giving families some time to spend together in February, and library branches in Ontario’s Chatham-Kent region decided to use QR codes to make that quality time a bit more fun.
The Chatham-Kent Public Library branches have used quick response codes to use tech to enhance activities.
The QR codes were found at several of the library branches and were used in a tech based quest. This activity was available to all who wanted to participate and could be enjoyed on a drop-in basis, without any type of advance registration needed. The point of this technology friendly activity was to design a game that employed readily available mobile devices in a way that would help to make the library more fun and relevant to young members of the community.
The barcodes were used in an activity called the QR Codes Quest, which worked like a scavenger hunt.
This is not the first time that QRcodes have been used in a scavenger hunt style activity, nor is it even the first time this type of thing has occurred in a library environment. However, it does show that the use of mobile devices and quick response codes is becoming increasingly commonplace in this type of environment.
The Quest was available from 3pm to 8pm at the Highgate Branch. The Ridgetown Branch held it from noon to 5pm. This gave locals a chance to drop in at the time that was most convenient to them and take part in the activity with their families.
The use of QR codes is growing when it comes to this type of activity because they are extremely easy for people to use, they rely on technology that is easily available and they are quite inexpensive for the libraries to be able to obtain and implement. Barcode generators are easy to use and it the only costs associated with printing them out are from the paper and ink.
Seafood cases and menus now feature quick response codes that can be scanned by guests.
The BlackSalt Fish Market located in Northwest Washington now sells dozens of different types of fish and shellfish, and has assigned QR codes to every one of them in order to provide customers with the information that they need to answer more of their questions, and to bring that knowledge home with them on their mobile devices.
These quick response codes are located on all of the menus and seafood cases of the company.
According to the fish monger for BlackSalt Fish Market, among the largest challenges that have been faced is in keeping track of the large amount of data regarding a given fish that is being sold, such as where it was caught, what techniques were used for catching the fish, who caught the fish, and so on. The QR codes provided a very helpful tool that would allow this information to be accurately and clearly relayed to customers who would like to know more about what they are buying and eating.
The Black Restaurant Group is now using QR codes to expand on their efforts to keep consumers informed.
The Black Restaurant Group includes locations such as Republic and Pearl Dive Oyster Palace. Over the last year, it has been making a concerted effort to provide its customers with a way to obtain a better understand of where, when, and how the fish was caught, and by whom. According to M.J. Gimbar, a fishmonger for the company, the purpose is to build greater transparency within an industry that has increasingly been experiencing consumer distrust due to widespread cases of fraud and mislabeling.
Gimbar explained that it is easy for Seafood to be altered or swapped, without the customer’s knowledge. Therefore, Black Restaurant Group is working to make sure that their own customers always know exactly what they are getting and how that seafood came to be available to them. The project, itself, was more challenging than had been anticipated. Keeping the QRcodes up to date and interesting caused a struggle, particularly after time had passed following the coverage by NBC, ABC, and National Geographic.
The excitement over the QR codes had started to die off until the traceability element was introduced, which provided information about each and every type of fish. This has regrown the customer interest and barcodes are being scanned once more.
