Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 23:45, 11 February 2013

QRpedia

A QRpedia code which decodes as the URL http://en.qrwp.org/QRpedia, used widely as the logo.
Screenshot The QRpedia website, showing a QR code, which decodes as the URL http://en.qrwp.org/QRpedia
Available in	Multilingual
Created by	Terence Eden Roger Bamkin
URL	qrpedia.org
Commercial	No
Registration	None

QRpedia is a mobile Web based system which uses QR codes to deliver Misplaced Pages articles to users, in their preferred language. QR codes can easily be generated to link directly to any Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), but the QRpedia system adds further functionality.

QRpedia was conceived by Roger Bamkin, then chair of Wikimedia UK, coded by Terence Eden, and unveiled in April 2011. It is currently in use at institutions including museums in the United Kingdom, United States and Spain. The project's source code is freely reusable under the MIT License.

Process

When a user scans a QRpedia QR code on their mobile device, the device decodes the QR code into a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) using the domain name "qrwp.org" and whose path (final part) is the title of a Misplaced Pages article, and sends a request for the article specified in the URL to the QRpedia web server. It also transmits the language setting of the device.

The QRpedia server then uses Misplaced Pages's API to determine whether there is a version of the specified Misplaced Pages article in the language used by the device, and if so, returns it in a mobile-friendly format. If there is no version of the article available in the preferred language, then the QRpedia server offers a choice of the available languages, or a Google translation.

In this way, one QRcode can deliver the same article in many languages, even when the museum is unable to make its own translations. QRpedia also records usage statistics.

Origins

QRpedia was conceived by Roger Bamkin, then chair of Wikimedia UK, and Terence Eden, a mobile web consultant, and was unveiled on 9 April 2011 at Derby Museum and Art Gallery's Backstage Pass event, part of the "GLAM/Derby" collaboration between the museum and Misplaced Pages, during which over 1,200 Misplaced Pages articles, in a number of languages, were also created. The project's name is a portmanteau word, combining the initials "QR" from "QR (Quick Response) code" and "pedia" from "Misplaced Pages".

The project's source code is freely reusable under the MIT License.

Implementations

• Derby Museum's label for the painting "A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery" features a QRpedia code linking to the Misplaced Pages article about it which, as of February 2012, was available in 19 languages.
• A label in The Children's Museum of Indianapolis that uses a QRpedia code to direct visitors to the Misplaced Pages article "Broad Ripple Park Carousel"
• Ceramic plaque with QRpedia code for Shire Hall, as part of the MonmouthpediA project.
• Enamel sign with QRpedia code for Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Záběhlice, Prague 10, the Czech Republic

Though created in the United Kingdom, QRpedia can be used in any location where the user's phone has a data signal (or with a scanner that remembers URLs until a signal is available) and, as of September 2012, is in use at:

• Children's Chapel, St James' Church, Sydney
• The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, United States
• Congressional Cemetery
• Derby Museum and Art Gallery, England
• Estonian Sports Museum
• Galleries of Justice Museum
• Fundació Joan Miró, Spain including a travelling exhibit shown at The Tate
• The National Archives, United Kingdom
• The National Museum of Computing (UK)
• Sofia Zoo, Bulgaria
• The Welsh town of Monmouth, as part of Misplaced Pages's MonmouthpediA project.
• St Paul's Church, Birmingham
• Different monuments in Prague 10

QRpedia also has uses outside of such institutions. For example, the Occupy movement uses it on campaign posters.

Awards

In January 2012, QRpedia was one of four projects (from 79 entrants) declared the most innovative mobile companies in the UK of 2011 by the Smart UK Project, and thus chosen to compete at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, on 29 February 2012. The criteria were "to be effective, easy to understand and with global potential and impact".

Wikimedia UK

A dispute relating to the intellectual property of QRpedia was identified as one of the "main incidents" leading to a review of the governance of Wikimedia UK. The review found that the amount of time taken to resolve ownership caused the risk of outsiders perceiving a potential conflict of interest, and that Bamkin's acceptance of consultancy fees provided an opportunity for damage to the reputation of WMUK. The dispute over ownership of QRpedia led to the resignation from WMUK of Joscelyn Upendrian, a lawyer. On 9 February, Wikimedia UK announced that the intellectual property in QRpedia, and the qrpedia.org and qrwp.org domains, were to be transferred to the chapter at no cost.

References

1. ^ Eden, Terence (2011-04-03). "Introducing QRpedia". Retrieved 25 August 2011.
2. ^ Anon (2011-08-19). "The Children's Museum of Indianapolis Creates New Learning Opportunities through Wikipedian-in-Residence". The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
3. Johnson, L.; Adams, S. (2011). The Technology Outlook for UK Tertiary Education 2011-201 (PDF). NMC Horizon Report Regional Analyses. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. ISBN 978-0-615-38209-8.
4. ^ Byrd Phillips, Lori (2011-06-15). "Going Multilingual with QRpedia". Marcus Institute for Digital Education in the Arts. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
5. "QRpedia Statistics (example)". Retrieved 12 December 2011.
6. Bamkin, Roger. "Three days of Action - QR codes at Derby Museum and Art Gallery". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
7. "Board". Wikimedia UK. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
8. ^ Anon (2011-05-21). "Quiet Realities". Imperica. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
9. Various. "Misplaced Pages:GLAM/Derby/QR code experiment". Misplaced Pages. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
10. Various. "Derby Backstage Pass". Wikimedia UK. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
11. Roger Bamkin, interviewed on BBC Radio Derby by Phil Trow, 2011-08-30
12. Eden, Terence (2011-11-03). "QRpedia in Russia". Retrieved 25 November 2011.
13. "qrwp — QR Redirection to Misplaced Pages". Google Project Hosting. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
14. Byrd Phillips, Lori (2011-07-29). "QR codes + Misplaced Pages = QRpedia". The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
15. Greta Kreuz (17 July 2012). "Historic Congressional Cemetery Program to get Misplaced Pages boost". WLJA. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
16. Hinojo, Alex (2011-05-11). "QRpedia Codes at Fundació Joan Miró". The GLAM-Wiki Experience. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
17. "New collaboration between Wikimedia UK and The National Archives". The National Archives (United Kingdom). 2011-09-15. Retrieved 16 September 2011. {{cite web}}: Text "The National Archives" ignored (help)
18. Eden, Terence (2011-09-18). "National Archives and QRpedia". Retrieved 18 September 2011.
19. ^ "Become an instant expert with a little help from your mobile". Smart UK Project. 2012-02-02. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
20. "Уикипедия:Сътрудничество/Софийски зоопарк". Misplaced Pages (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 14 February 2012.
21. "Monmouth to be Wales' first WiFi town". Monmouth Today. 2012-02-29. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
22. "QRpedia a Praha 10: QR kód na každé památce". http://www.mobilmania.cz. 2012-09-30. Retrieved 1 October 2012. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
23. "We Don't Make Demands: Posters". 2011-12-02. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
24. Young, Niki May (8 February 2013). "Wikimedia UK trustees have been 'too involved' to effectively govern charity". Retrieved 2013-02-09.
25. Keating, Chris (2013-02-09). "QRpedia". Wikimedia UK. Retrieved 9 February 2013.

External links

• QRpedia
• QRpedia statistics
• Qrpedia project on GoogleCode
• QRpedia on Twitter
• QRpedia on the Outreach wiki

• 2011 introductions
• Barcodes
• Free software
• Mobile Web
• Museum informatics
• Misplaced Pages