Based on my work with New Media Manitoba on mobile tagging, I had the chance to be interviewed by Winnipeg Free Press intern William Burr.
John Woods shot me at Unburger—thanks Savour Winnipeg & David Pensato for the tip about this lovely, graphic, mobile-friendly (free wifi!) location.
People might think I’m a big evangelist for mobile tagging because of all the research I’ve done, but I’m well aware of the limitations & drawbacks of the technology. While my imagination is captured in a ‘Blade Runner, Internet of Things, we are all connected by an invisible force’ kind of way, in terms of marketing I’m not sure bar codes strike the right balance of effort-in to value-out on the consumer end. I told William:
I’d be cautious using QR codes in Winnipeg. They can work, but don’t build your whole campaign around it. Make it a useful bonus, if you think the audience you’re talking to has smartphones & the offer makes sense in context. Otherwise QR is just a gimmick.
We’re just in the infancy of bringing the internet and the real world together. Today we carry small computers disguised as phones, and the best ways to access metadata from objects at present are barcodes and radio frequencies. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.
