Unless you have been living in a cave for the last several years, you have no-doubt been seeing Quick Response Codes, or QR Codes, printed on practically everything from product packages to bus stops and billboards. However, if you are like many Americans, you might still not know what you can do with them. That, most certainly, is going to change because QR Codes allow people to do really cool stuff that, in effect, allow them to interact with the physical world around them using smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices.
One QR Code might play a YouTube video about the history of a statue on which it is displayed. Another might help you securely log on to a private network. Still another could let you electronically pay for a piece of merchandise, or function as your boarding pass to an airplane. They are basically like bar codes that are hopped up on steroids.
QR Codes store data, including action commands, in funny little encrypted graphics that your mobile device can interpret in order to automatically take specific actions. They are applicable to nearly any industry and nearly any situation.
In the world of animal rescue and sheltering, QR Codes can be used to:
Collect donations for animal sponsorships
"Like" a pet on Facebook
Show the exact location where a pet was lost or found
Open or bookmark a pet's web page
Send an email to or call the shelter or rescue where the pet is located
Play a video of the pet
Do a wide range of things I don't have room to mention
When printed on cage cards at a shelter, QR Codes could give people a way of bookmarking pets they may want to meet in person. On lost or found pet flyers, they can save contact information about the pet to the phone's contact list. Their uses are limited only by the imagination of the people creating them.
While people in the United States have been behind other parts of the world in their adaptation to QR Codes, Few industries have been as slow to begin using them as has been animal sheltering. But that is changing, too.
For a few years, RescueSuite Software has included robust support for QR Codes for shelter and rescue pets, allowing users to create and store any number of QR Codes for each of their pets. Now, the software is beginning to generate them and put them on materials like cage cards and promotional flyers when they are printed.
Existing RescueSuite Software users were recently automatically upgraded to include this new functionality and all new users will have it going forward. It is likely to help countless pets move from shelters and into homes.
To scan QR Codes with your smart phone or other mobile device, it needs to have a QR Code reader or scanner installed. But, no worries, there are several very good ones that are available for free for virtually all platforms.
Want more information about RescueSuite Software or QR Codes in general, feel free to call (877) 799-9951 then press option 1. Or, email mike@nokilllearning.com.