The U.K. firm is hoping to enhance the information available on grave stones.
Since the dawn of time, humankind has wondered about the mysteries related to death and since the beginning of society, efforts have been made to try to memorialize those who have died, with QR codes being the latest effort in that regard.
These quick response barcodes are being used by a growing number of cemeteries on their grave markers.
In this effort, a company called Hyphenalia, from Tonbridge, Kent, U.K. is now working to add QR codes to gravestones and murals, so that people who are visiting these grave markers will be able to learn more about the deceased individual who is buried or memorialized there. The company is owned by a woman named Wendy Nash.
This use of QR codes is appearing on a growing number of grave sites across the United States, and the world.
Headlines have been made from a number of American cemeteries that are now offering QR codes as an added feature on their gravestones, but they are also appearing in places such as China, and even in Wales at a cemetery for war veterans.
According to Nash, she came up with her own idea for using QR codes on gravestones “because I have always had a fascination with headstones and eventually I thought to myself ‘is that it? Am I just going to be a name on granite?” She pointed out that for most people, a name and a date is all that is available to tell visitors about the deceased individuals to whom the grave markers are making reference. She feels that it is “a shame and a wasted opportunity.”
It is the hope of Nash that this will provide future generations the ability to avoid the current struggle with making sure that the achievements of ancestors are not forgotten. The QR codes provide families with the ability to use the internet to share a much larger amount of information about their deceased loved ones than their names, the years in which they were alive, and a possible additional word or two.
These barcodes are being increasingly used on grave markers to help say more about the individual buried beneath.
Although QR codes are found most often in mobile marketing and on product packaging to allow consumers to gain a larger amount of information about what is being sold, cemeteries have picked up on the concept and are attaching them to tombstones to turn a very limited space into a virtually limitless opportunity for sharing more about the deceased.
These smartphone friendly barcodes can be scanned through the use of any free reader app.
In the latest issue of the Online Genealogy Newsletter, Dick Eastman published a piece entitled “Genealogists have recently been finding QR Codes on tombstones.” Within it, he explained what the barcodes are and how smartphone users would be able to scan them and be redirected to a specific webpage through the browser of the device.
In the case of tombstones, QR codes can redirect visitors to a cemetery to a page about the deceased.
This feature is becoming quite popular in the cemeteries and memorials industry. Through the use of QR codes, families and friends can build a webpage that provides a great deal more information about their loved one than one or two words as well as a couple of dates and a name. In fact, it opens the opportunity to share pictures, stories, videos, and even audio recordings. It could contain a detailed biography of the person and can provide visitors to the cemetery with the chance to leave their condolences for the family.
Some QR codes also allow cemetery visitors to share their own memories with a feature that allows for photo uploads, text entry, and other types of content creation and sharing. Typically, though, these barcodes lead to a site that is entirely managed by the family of the person who has died, giving them complete control over what is posted there.
Though there were a few cemeteries that led the way with QR codes in the United States, such as a small handful in Washington state and Pennsylvania, this has rapidly expanded to the point that they are becoming quite common in many states. Moreover, they are also available in the United Kingdom and across much of Europe, as well as in China. Recently a war memorial cemetery in Wales introduced the barcodes – a launch that was celebrated with a member of the royal family in attendance.
