Research Outline

Use Cases: QR Codes - US vs Rest of World

Goals

To have a broad understanding of the use cases of QR codes in various regions of the world.

Early Findings

QR Code use cases in Asia

  • In China, people are using QR codes to send and receive money at marriages, which makes it easy for the wedding couple to collect and receive gifts. This will also help them to have a list of people to send thank you notes later.
  • QR codes are being used in China to identify pets and reveal the dog’s contact info when scanned. On scanning the code, the dog owner will be notified when and where the code was scanned.
  • Universities and companies in China are using QR codes to post and reply to job boards. With the help of QR codes, a passerby can scan to find out more details about the job opportunities and requirements.

QR Code use cases in Africa

  • Book publishing agencies are integrating traditional learning with digital content by using QR codes in the textbooks. The inserted QR codes are linked to multimedia content such as audio and visual snippets for helping students to learn better with short yet interactive modules.

QR code use cases in Latin America

  • QR codes are used in Latin America for tracking school buses. Students traveling by school buses are provided with a unique QR Code ID tag. The tag is then scanned by a bus attendant each time a student gets off or a bus notifying the parents of the child’s location.
  • Artists in Latin America are using QR codes in their artworks where art viewers can scan the codes to read stories linked to the respective arts.