Wikipedia launches QR code creation service to assist museum visitors

Wikipedia launches QR code creation service to assist museum visitors

PanARMENIAN.Net - Wikipedia introduced a program called QRPedia, a QR code creation service that lets users snap a picture of a QR code and be automatically directed to a linked mobile Wikipedia entry in whatever written language their phone uses, ReadWriteWeb reports.

If there's no article in their language for the designated topic, the program directs them to the most relevant related article that is available in that language.

The service is now available to anyone online. Multiple museums around the world have already put it to use, posting QR codes on the wall next to items on display. This system is unique to Wikipedia because no other website has manually created links between languages across such an incredible breadth of topics.

QRpedia was developed out of the partnership between the Derby Museum and Gallery, England and local Wikimedia contributors Roger Bamkin, chair of Wikimedia UK, and Terence Eden, a mobile web consultant. In an era when cultural funding is very constrained, the combination of QRpedia and the global Wikipedia community enabled the Derby museum to produce a multilingual visitor experience at virtually no cost.

QR codes are barcodes for the internet which have been around for decades and the technology is increasingly being used in everything from street advertising to museum object labels.

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