Thursday 19 July 2012

QR codes #1

Things are very busy here in the Sonic Wallpapers Production Chamber i.e. my house, where much editing, recording and mixing is under way! One of the things we are testing out currently is how well the QR codes are working. We are exploring where, online, the Sonic Wallpaper pieces should be uploaded. We want to know what the user-experience of scanning the QR codes and finding and hearing the sound pieces will be like for smart-phone users. We have a couple of options for storing the files; they can either be housed secretly in a folder somewhere on the shiny new MoDA website as mp3 files; on Audioboo as Audioboos; or on Soundcloud. Each of these sites offer different experiences for listeners/users and over the next couple of days we will be exploring different options here. If you have a smartphone and some barcode-scanning software installed on it, would you mind scanning this code and leaving a comment to say what happened? Whether or not you heard Sonic Wallpaper as a result of scanning the code, and whether it was easy or difficult? This code was generated using the website http://qrcode.kaywa.com/.
ETA: Roger Smolski - who helpfully checked out the QR code above - helpfully contacted me via Twitter, to explain that using bit.ly or a similar URL shortener would reduce the complexity of the QR code. I therefore reduced the length of the URL for the Sonic Wallpaper piece currently hosted on Audioboo, with the following result:
Easier to see? To scan? Does it make any difference at all? And how does the Audioboo interface display on your smartphone?

2 comments:

  1. For me there was no difference in scanning the two different QR codes. I can't really comment on loading speed of the Audioboo interface and sound clip, as I'm at home with the WiFi, so it goes quick anyway. The Audioboo interface looks okay and is easy to use.
    It's so exciting to see this slowly but surely come together, it's an exciting piece of work!

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  2. Thanks so much, Tom! I am glad the two QR codes both work. Do you think it makes any difference, aesthetically, whether we use the more complex or simple QR code? I am glad the loading time is good. Do you have an iPhone? I don't have one and have no idea how the display looks on an iPhone on Audioboo as opposed to Soundcloud... if there was any chance you could take a photo of your screen so I can see how the display looks I would be eternally grateful!

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