Locative Media - Science topic

QR code is currently the most widely-used method of bridging online contents/services with offline places/things.

In 2014, I filmed a video on one particular pigeon race in Beijing as a supplement to a story published on our newspaper about the pigeon racing industry in China, and the newspaper print the QR code on the paper that links to the video online. 

Here is the story on newspaper:

Flight of Fancy http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2014-01/24/content_17255293.htm

And here is the supplementary video:

Taking Flight http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2014-01/10/content_17228500.htm?bsh_bid=338213719

I think this is a good example of QR code implementation on newspaper.

Yi, I think there might be a general backlash against the commercialization of geocaching, since it was set up originally as just sort of a fun, informal game, and the culture around it today, which includes little trinkets that are traded at each site, still is one of a counter culture. But, I don't know; maybe that's changing. Geocaching certainly has a slick and professional looking web site now, so the group must have either put some money into that or had a very generous donor to it (and maybe they are eyeing commercial ventures). I would guess that some fitness companies have tried to capitalize on this idea already, but I haven't ran across any specific examples that I can recall.

George, 

I think you made excellent points here. I believe that locative media is possible without location-based services. I was thinking along the lines of users manually inputting or sharing their location versus the app doing it for them automatically. 

Locative media would definitely be more difficult without location awareness, but it is definitely not "impossible" persay. 

Here's something to think about: do you think users would want to input their location manually? Some would feel safer that they really have the power to share where they are versus an application automatically doing it for them. I have read in so many places that people turn off location services whenever possible because they do not want their applications to track where they are at all times. If we give the power to the user to ultimately share where they are, do you think they would be more inclined to share?

Godwin, great question! It's great to see the discussion that your question is triggering. 

Brett makes valid points that I would echo.

Skype was set up as a dedicated service / product for a specific use to solve a problem - all the best products do this. It has one purpose rather than an "add-on" .

It is free and remained free for 10 years and its ease of use across all devices is another reason why it still leads the field. 

I did a project about the use of Skype to increase access to specialist study support for people who have dyslexia. It was focused on the use of VOIP - Voice Over internet protocol / telecommunications but it was Skype we used and assessed. The 2 are becoming inextricably linked.

There are  a number of Skype-related publications on my profile as I only use Skype to deliver all my teaching and training.