Image found on wikipedia hereThere is a connection between these groups of letters, and one of them is an odd word out! Can you guess what it is? Well, the connection is that they have all been on my mind recently and the odd word out in a way is "OBI" as it is a name of a DIY shop in Pescara. The other two are acronyms linked to the Internet.
NB
At the end of my post I have added a little comic test to review what these three groups of letters mean.
OBI and QR Codes
It all started in OBI, a local garden centre when I picked up one of their magazines and to my surprise, I noted that QR codes were on practically each page. I felt pleased that I recognised these as QR Codes! Only a few short months ago, I would not really have recognised them or indeed known the name or what the function of them was. Below is an example. Do you recognise it? They are now becoming ubiquitous, and I think they are definitely here to stay.
If you would like to learn more about QR codes, you can read an excellent and comprehensive article written by Nicky Hockly from The Consultants-E. It's called Mobile learning - 9: A Dummies Guide to QR codes.Below is a fantastic QR Code cartoon created by The Daring Librarian on Flickr.
You can read this excellent blog post by Gwyneth Anne Bronwynne Jones, aka The Daring Librarian, called Hot QR Codes in the Classroom, written in December 2010.
If you are interested in this area of technology, you can attend a free webinar on QR Codes On Saturday 30th July at the Reform Symposium presented by ShamblesGuru (Chris Smith). It promises to be very useful and extremely interesting!
RSS or Really Simple Feed syndication
RSS? Well I have been discussing Really Simple Syndication with a group of online learners recently. Only a few short years ago, I didn't have a clue to what RSS refered to, but now I do!! I use my RSS feed on my blog sidebar to gather all the latest updates on my favourite blogs and links. It's time-saving and very convenient.The Circle of Knowledge
So the circle is complete. I was in OBI, I saw the QR codes and I felt chuffed that I recognised them and had an idea of what they were. So like a few years ago when RSS was a new and alien concept for me, I don't have any real experience of how to actually use QR codes actively yet.
QR codes are relatively new for me now, but I would like to know much more about them as they seem to be everywhere. Maybe in the future, they will be commonplace for me like RSS feeds are now, and I will be using them effortlessly? Watch this space!
Comic Testing Items
In preparation for my talk at RSCON3 on using comics and cartoons, I have just created a little test for you using cartoons as a prompt. These questions will check if you have read this post including all the links carefully :-)
writecomics.com
Toondo.com
Super Hero Squad Comics
Posts
6 comments:
Great post, Janet. I actually recognised OBI too, which says something I suppose. I recently tried to download the code ader apps, but realised that neither my ipad nor my ipod touch would be able to use them ( too old, so no video function) So, I'll have to wait for the next round.... :-(
Your garden pots look lovely by the way. No wonder the toads are showing an interrest. :-)
Really useful, Janet. Thanks for teaching me about QR Codes. And I love the idea of testing through comic strips.
Does this mean that i am going to have to update my mobile phone?
Or can i ignore QR codes happily?
Please advise as the wiki page made my head spin!
Well, I guess updating a mobile is always a good thing to keep up with technology, but I think you can still get by without having to use QR codes for the moment. I'm still on my trusted mobile and it's hanging on until the very end....
Sorry about the wiki page - I agree it's full of quite dense information. I think I will rejig the links, so that the wiki page comes after the easier to read information. Thanks for the comment!
Hi Sharon
Thanks so much for your comments!
I'm sorry I've only just seen them in the "Awaiting comments moderation" section in Blogger, which I don't often visit. I used to get immediate notification re new comments before, so the system has changed and I have to remind myself to go there more frequently now.
Look forward to sharing apps and codes with you "in the next round", whenever that might be!!
Re garden pots and toads - the 3 resident toads have all left very abruptly for some reason (could be it's stopped raining), and now I'm left with slugs and snails again... Not sure which option of nature is preferable! :-)
Best
Janet
Hi Natasa
Apologies for the delay in replying to your comment. Please see what I wrote to Sharon!
Thanks so much for your message - I'm still relatively new to the world of QR codes, but at least now it's good I recognise them and know what they do, so I'm glad if the post was useful.
All the best
Janet
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