QRpedia is a mobile Web-based system which uses QR codes to deliver Wikipedia articles to users, in their preferred language. A typical use is on museum labels, linking to Wikipedia articles about the exhibited object. QR codes can easily be generated to link directly to any

Uniform Resource Identifier A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a unique sequence of characters that identifies a logical or physical resource used by web technologies. URIs may be used to identify anything, including real-world objects, such as people and places, conc ...

(URI), but the QRpedia system adds further functionality. It is owned and operated by a subsidiary of Wikimedia UK (WMUK). QRpedia was conceived by Roger Bamkin, a Wikipedia volunteer, coded by Terence Eden, and unveiled in April 2011. It is in use at museums and other institutions in countries including

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, North Macedonia, Spain, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine and the United States. The project's source code is freely reusable under the MIT License.

Process

When a user scans a QRpedia QR code on their mobile device, the device decodes the QR code into a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) using the domain name "''languagecode''.qrwp.org" and whose path (final part) is the title of a Wikipedia article, and sends a request for the article specified in the URL to the QRpedia

web server A web server is computer software and underlying hardware that accepts requests via HTTP (the network protocol created to distribute web content) or its secure variant HTTPS. A user agent, commonly a web browser or web crawler, initiate ...

. It also transmits the language setting of the device. The QRpedia server then uses Wikipedia's API to determine whether there is a version of the specified Wikipedia article in the language used by the device, and if so, returns it in a mobile-friendly format. If there is no version of the article available in the preferred language, then the QRpedia server offers a choice of the available languages, or a Google translation. In this way, one QRcode can deliver the same article in many languages, even when the museum is unable to make its own translations. QRpedia also records usage statistics.

Origins

QRpedia was conceived by Roger Bamkin, a Wikipedia volunteer, and Terence Eden, a mobile web consultant, and was unveiled on 9 April 2011 at

Derby Museum and Art Gallery Derby Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Derby, England. It was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. The collect ...

's ''Backstage Pass'' event, part of the "GLAM/Derby" collaboration between the museum and Wikipedia, during which over 1,200 Wikipedia articles, in several languages, were also created. The project's name is a portmanteau word, combining the initials "QR" from "QR (''Quick Response'') code" and "pedia" from "Wikipedia". The project's source code is freely reusable under the MIT License.

Implementations

File:Orrey QR.jpg, Derby Museum's label for the painting "

A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery ''A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery'', or the full title, ''A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun'', is a 1766 painting by Joseph Wright of Derby depicting a lecturer giving a demonstrati ...

" features a QRpedia code linking to the Wikipedia article about it which, as of February 2012, was available in 19 languages. File:TCMI Carousel QRpedia Label.jpg, A label in The Children's Museum of Indianapolis that uses a QRpedia code to direct visitors to the Wikipedia article "Broad Ripple Park Carousel" File:QRpedia plaque for Shire Hall, Monmouth.jpg, Ceramic plaque with QRpedia code for Shire Hall, Monmouth, Shire Hall, as part of the MonmouthpediA project. File:QRpedia_in_Prague_10_2.JPG, Enamel sign with QRpedia code for Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (Prague), Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Záběhlice, Prague, Czech Republic File:Vasamuseet, Samtidigt-Meanwhile Wikipedia touch table demo long.webm, Film showing the use of QRpedia codes in a touch table populated with Wikipedia articles related to the period 1600-1650 and with coordinates. The table is used in the exhibition Samtidigt/Meanwhile, at the Vasa museum in Stockholm, Sweden. File:Hamadryas baboon - QRpedia at Skopje Zoo.JPG, A QRpedia plaque in Skopje Zoo, North Macedonia, showing info on a hamadryas baboon (''Papio hamadryas'') using a mixed approach File:Викисело 2021 - Галичник (14).jpg, A plaque on its holder. Village of Galičnik, North Macedonia. File:Изложба „Јапонија низ фотографии“ (06).jpg, Scaning process in Skopje. File:Satyagraha-House-1.jpg, A QRpedia plaque in Satyagraha House, Johannesburg South Africa File:QRpedia - East Window 2 - St Pauls Birmingham.JPG, Before the East window of St Paul's Church, Birmingham Mauritanian arch 05.JPG, Mauritanian arch in Odesa, Ukraine, 2014 QRpedia code in Odessa - Bristol Hotel - 1.jpg, Bristol Hotel, Odessa, Bristol Hotel in Odesa, 2014 QRpedia code in Odessa - Potocki Palace - 2.jpg, Odessa Art Museum (ex-Potocki Palace) in Odesa File:QRpedia Banbu.jpg, Information on the bamboo plant in San Sebastián, San Sebastian's Ulia park Though created in the United Kingdom, QRpedia can be used in any location as long as the user's phone or tablet has a data signal (or remembers URLs until a signal is available) and is or has been in use at venues including: * Children's Chapel, St James' Church, Sydney * The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, United States * Congressional Cemetery * Derby Museum and Art Gallery, England * Estonian Sports Museum * Galleries of Justice Museum * Fundació Joan Miró, Spain including a travelling exhibit shown at Tate, The Tate * The Welsh town of Monmouth, as part of Wikipedia's MonmouthpediA project. * The National Archives (United Kingdom), The National Archives, United Kingdom * The National Museum of Computing (UK) * The New Art Gallery Walsall * Different monuments in Prague 10 * Skopje Zoo, Macedonia, using a mixed approach of ordinary QR-codes and QRpedia codes * St Paul's Church, Birmingham * QRpedia codes in Odessa, UkraineПершим в Україні Wiki-містом стала Одеса
Укрінформ, 27.09.2013 QRpedia also has uses outside of such institutions. For example, the Occupy movement have used it on campaign posters.

Award

In January 2012, QRpedia was one of four projects (from 79 entrants) declared the most innovative mobile companies in the UK of 2011 by the Smart UK Project, and thus chosen to compete at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, on 29 February 2012. The criteria were "to be effective, easy to understand and with global potential and impact".

Wikimedia UK dispute

A conflict of interest case involving QRpedia was identified as one of the "main incidents" leading to a 2012 review of the governance of Wikimedia UK (WMUK). The review found that the amount of time taken to resolve ownership caused the risk of outsiders perceiving a potential conflict of interest, and that Bamkin's acceptance of consultancy fees on projects (jointly funded by WMUK) involving QRpedia provided an opportunity for damage to the reputation of WMUK. This conflict of interest led to the resignation of WMUK trustee Joscelyn Upendran. Shortly before her resignation on 31 August 2012, Upendran stated that "the charity has in effect agreed to take on responsibility [...] for a service that is 'co-owned' by a trustee", and suggested that "the conflict of interest may present a legal risk under charity and corporate law". On 9 February 2013, WMUK announced that the intellectual property in QRpedia, and the qrpedia.org and qrwp.org domains, were to be transferred to the chapter at no cost. On 12 February 2013, two QRpedia related domain names were registered on behalf of WMUK. On 2 April 2013, WMUK announced that Roger Bamkin and Terence Eden were transferring ownership of QRpedia to Wikimedia UK. On 16 November 2013, WMUK announced that the agreement for the transfer had been signed and the IP rights in QRpedia were held by Cultural Outreach Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of WMUK, and that following the agreement, the transfer of the domain names was an administrative process that could begin immediately. At least one Wikimedia chapter received letters alleging that QRpedia infringes various patents. Though WMUK believes that this is not the case and that the risk of litigation is not high, Cultural Outreach Limited was set up to hold QRpedia, in order to shield WMUK should such a challenge arise.

References

External links

* * [ Source code]
Source code on GitHub

QRpedia project on GoogleCode (archived)

QRpedia statistics
[change stem for other articles] * {{Derby Museum Wikipedia Barcodes Free software Mobile web Museum informatics Computer-related introductions in 2011 Articles containing video clips