Hi-Tech Extension Outreach - More on QR Codes

When Horticulture Educator Steve Bogash sent me the article on Alternatives to Impatiens for the local newspapers, that I turned into a blog post, he informed me that he had worked with Snavely's Garden Corner to get information and input from a retail point of view, in order to make the article as informative for the gardening public as possible.  It then occurred to me, we can use the QR Code technology to spread the word as far and wide as possible, by creating a flyer and offering it to Snavely's and any other interested garden center in the area, who want to inform their customers about the disease, and provide as much information as possible so consumers can make an informed choice about them, or other plants that do well in shade.

Result of that effort is the flyer pictured here.  Feel free to copy/print/laminate wherever you think it will do the most good.

The QR code, or the bit/ly link, will take the scanner to the Alternatives to Impatiens post.

Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia

I added a new site to the "Links to Other Sites" section to the right.  It's the website of the Master Gardener's of Northern Virginia.

They came to my attention via a comment in the blog post on our efforts on QR Codes, where they supplied a link to material they put together on their efforts and ideas for QR Code use, and a primer on how to go about it. I have already picked up new information.

For example, the code doesn't have to be black and white, color is OK.

And "outside the box" thinking is fine:

I feel like a trailblazer, cautiously hacking his way through an unknown wilderness, only to come across a well trodden path made by friendly fellow travelers - relief and reinvigoration in the hike ahead.

Update: March 7, 2013 - I added the pictures, and "for example" part.

Master Gardeners Go High Tech - QR Codes

Back in June, 2011, Karen Jeannette, who manages the eXtension Master Gardener Blog, posted about her discovery of Quick Response (QR) codes at the Ladybird Johnson Wildlife Center in Texas.  If you scroll down in her link above, you'll see my reaction - "I’m intrigued. We just completed our annual plant sale and we have a year to figger it all out. Will definitely investigate. Thanks for the info."

I kept it in the back of my mind until this fall when I asked MG Juanita Kauffman's daughter, Jessica, who had impressed me during the greenhouse operations last spring with her knowledge of all things smart phone related (lord knows, being the old fogie that I am, I'm barely able to use the dumb flip cell phone I have, let alone the smart ones), to investigate the technology for us.

What I learned from her is, basically, QR codes are similar to bar codes - the things that are scanned at the grocery store, and virtually all retail places, that read the code and send pricing data to the cash register that then goes on to tally the bill for the buyer, and update the store's sales data base (maybe match it with the scan of your discount card), and manage the stock inventory of the item to report to managers and marketing specialists about what is and is not selling, etc., etc.

In the case of QR codes, however, there is an added dimension.  Anyone with a smart phone (IPhone, Android, etc.) and the appropriate application (APP) - usually included at no additional charge with most smart phone plans - has the ability to scan the code, so anyone can be a scanner, not just retail operations with specialized hardware and software.  Plus - the new QR code (two dimensional, rather than one dimensional) can contain up to 64 characters in the scan, whereas the old barcode technology was limited to 8 or 16 characters. The even more exciting new capability, is that the creator of the QR code can embed an internet address (a URL or Uniform Resource Locater - not that you need to know that)  in the code, that will link the scanner to a web address of the creator's choosing.  Powerful.

My first reaction was the potential to augment the information we offer about our Demonstration Gardens, like in the Ladybird Wildflower Center Gardens in Karen's example. Adding a weather proof QR code on the sign (mailbox) at each of our Demonstration Gardens linking back to this blog, or to our Extension Web Pages that include pictures of plants in bloom, and/or a list of each of the particular specimens in the garden, gives the scanner much more information than what we can include on the printed flyer or brochure that we hand out. 

On top of that, it drives traffic to reputable sites giving good Land Grant University information, fulfilling our outreach to the public mission.

The next thought that arose was the opportunity to augment our signage at the Plant Sale.  Think about it.  A sign with a single picture of American Elderberry - 2013 Herb of the Year, can include a QR code linking to Carol Kagan's excellent write up here, with pictures and embedded links to other good information.  It's also a way to fix the problem of specimens that aren't in bloom at the time of our plant sale - spring ephemerals that are already done (Blood Root, Virginia Blue Bells, Twin Leaf, etc.), Day lilies that have not yet bloomed, as well as the Bear's Breeches, Resurrection Lilies, and fall blooming Solidagos.  Create a sign, include a QR code to those blog posts and we're off and running - potentially better sales, as well as getting better information out there to the public.

Win. Win.

What made this all fall into place in the last couple of weeks, was a discussion on the Garden Professor's Blog you can read here that spurred me to action, and took the project off the back burner.  The last domino to fall was the response from the Penn State Information Technology team when I asked them to recommend an easy, inexpensive QR creator software that we could use.  Answer here.  Incredibly easy.  Tested it, and within 15 minutes of getting the link, created the code above, and Jenn Wetzel of our support staff read it on her smart phone (using the APP for the first time) and it worked perfectly.

As with any new technology, we still expect some glitches, but right now, the sky's the limit.