Monday, August 08, 2011

QR codes everywhere?

A company started including QR codes on cemetary headstones.  For those of you still in the 20th Century, QR codes are 3-dimensional bar codes that you can scan with your smart phone and it takes you to a web site with more information.  They are usually used in magazine ads to learn more about a product or on a product's packaging to get more information about it.

My first instinct was that this was taking technology a little too far.  Scanning a headstone?  But then I realized that headstones have very little information.  "John Doe (1903-1974) Loving Father and Brother."  I have walked through cemeteries (usually on the way to a loved one, but sometimes in a really old historical cemetery).  And there are sometimes some people that you just want to know more about.  It would be great if you could scan the QR code and get to the Wikipedia page or even Facebook memorial page for that person, complete with photos, biography, etc. 

So now, I think it's a great idea.  A little creepy, but worth it for what it adds.