The business of digital storytelling. Augmenting information systems with QR codes
| Pages | 347-367 |
| Date | 11 November 2013 |
| Published date | 11 November 2013 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JSIT-04-2013-0009 |
| Author | Maria Edith Burke,Simone O'Callaghan,Michael Quigley |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems |
The business of digital
storytelling
Augmenting information systems
with QR codes
Maria Edith Burke
Salford Business School, University of Salford, Greater Manchester, UK
Simone O’Callaghan
Art & Design, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK, and
Michael Quigley
Salford Business School, University of Salford, Greater Manchester, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present case study findings that explore the implementation
and use of a low-cost digital technology platform to collect, process and disseminate information in
business-to-consumer practices.
Design/methodology/approach – The research is interdisciplinary, drawing from a range of
backgrounds, the epistemological approach is that of mixed methods, combining both qualitative and
quantitative data collection and analysis techniques. Insights are drawn from what emerges from
observations arising from the data, rather than starting with a hypothesis and designing the research
to test this. The over arching research approach was “action research”. Action research has at its basis
the premise of conducting research “in practice”. The “practice” on this occasion was a business
practice, implemented in high street estate agents.
Findings – This approach to accessing information aids important decision-making in the buying
and selling of homes. It allows for mobile augmentation technologies to facilitate a person’s presence in
the imagined spaces of the advertised properties “for sale”. This has the potential to enable faster,
more efficient means of searching for the “right” home to purchase.
Originality/value – This research makes a contribution to the literature by providing empirical
evidenceregardingthe implementationand impact thatquick read code digitaltechnologieshave on a high
streetSME. The researchshowed that statisticallymoreproperties were viewedthan would havenormally
beenthe case, thus whilstnot guaranteeing newbusiness, the codescertainly attractedincreased attention.
Keywords QR codes, Internetof things, Object hyperlinking,Tales of Things
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
This research is part of Tales of Things and Electronic Memories (TOTeM) a
£1.39 million, three year, research project based around the “internet of things”.
Supported by the Digital Economy Research Councils UK, TOTeM opens up new ways
of capturing people’s stories through linking objects to the internet via “tagging”
technologies such as quick read (QR) codes, which can be read by most consumer end
mobile phone cameras. In this paper, the research focuses on the real world applications
of such a system when applied to business environments. Case study findings explore
the implementation and use of a low-cost digital technology platform to collect, process
and disseminate information in business-to-consumer practices.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1328-7265.htm
Received 9 April 2013
Revised 20 September 2013
Accepted 23 September 2013
Journal of Systems and Information
Technology
Vol. 15 No. 4, 2013
pp. 347-367
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/JSIT-04-2013-0009
Business
of digital
storytelling
347
The term “mobile tagging” refers to the use of two-dimensional barcodes, also known
as “graphical tags”, which can be scanned by using the camera on an internet-enabled
mobile phone to link to content online. One of the most commonly used
two-dimensional barcodes is the QR code. Prompted by the need for barcodes to
contain descriptions rather than identifiers, QR codes were developed by the Toyota
subsidiary Denso-Wave (2012) in Japan to track objects around the manufacturing
floor.
The use of QR codes is free from license. Denso-Wave (2012) still holds the
registered trademark “QR code” and the patent rights on QR code, but has chosen not
to exercise them. This freedom for others to use the technology has meant that QR
codes have reached market saturation before other types of two-dimensional barcodes.
These factors have made QR codes popular amongst mobile phone application
software developers for a number of years (Ohbuchi et al., 2004; Falas and Kashani,
2007).
Due to the ability of a QR code to contain more characters than a standard
one-dimensional barcode, it can allow for “product description” as opposed to “product
identification” (Chang et al., 2007). At the time of writing, the scanning of a QR code can
direct the user to a myriad of functionalities, such as browsing or bookmarking web sites;
sending a text message or e-mail; dialing a telephone number; defining a location in
Google or Bing Maps; providing Geographical Co-ordinates; linking to an iTunes App
URL; linking to an Android Marketplace App URL; encoding the latest tweet of a Twitter
user; posting on social network sites and displaying text (Erkan, 2012).
The prevalence of QR codes and the high level of accessibility for the general public
were the two main reasons they were chosen as the default tagging mechanism in this
research. This has reduced the need for any specialist hardware to generate or decode
them – although the service that has been built for this research does have an
infrastructure that can support a variety of tagging technologies including RFID.
1.1 Research aims and objectives
TOTeM spans five UK institutions – Brunel University, University of Edinburgh,
University of Dundee, University of Salford and University College London (UCL) with
each UK institution responsible for different areas of the research. Research at the
University of Salford has focused on the business potentials of attaching information to
objects using mobile tagging technologies.
This paper focuses on two case studies led by the Salford research team and is
contextualised within the internet of things. In establishing an information system that
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