Clicking the real world!

Since starting my research, I’ve been intrigued by the idea of converging our real world (through mirror world platforms) with virtual world. Recently, I came across an interesting article published in the 15.07 issue of Wired magazine that explores the issues of new virtual platforms.

In one of the sections, it talks about a project called Smartpox. It’s an amazing mobile “viral messaging” application that allows you to create and share links, phone numbers, e-mail and text using 2D barcodes and your Java-enabled camera phone. I’d like to share a paragraph from this article that expands on this concept:

” What if you could walk down an unfamiliar street, use your camera phone to take a picture of a building, and instantly know everything about it, from the architect to the list of tenants. The technology to make common objects clickable, like hyperlinked words on a Web site, is available today in the form of 2-D barcodes. These digital tags look like empty crossword puzzles. Users create them online, print them out, and paste them around the city. Then anyone with a phonecam can “click” on them. A program on the phone decodes the pattern and redirects the curious pedestrian to a Web page. One project, called Smartpox, is using these barcodes to build online communities that center around, for example, scavenger hunts and restaurant reviews. Members slap a barcode on a given establishment, and in-the-know passersby can get the dirt on its crème anglaise. At Semapedia.com, you can drop in any Wikipedia URL to instantly generate a 2-D barcode pointing to the corresponding entry.”

This is a major development in my research towards finding the creative code for an innovative and successful entertainment product. Imagine the possibilities when I’ll incorporate Smartpox as a production or distribution tool in my final project. This is so exciting for me! Never thought research could be so gratifying.

~ by Afzal Huda on September 30, 2007.