Since September, the Quick Response (QR) codes - square, checkered symbols that can be scanned with smartphones- have been put into use at the Museum of Da Nang. It has proved highly effective in making its exhibits more interactive, and enhancing the visitor experience by melding the worlds of entertainment and education.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Trung Hung is pictured using his smartphone to scan QR code attached to a museum label for extended information about the exhibit

A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode that connects smartphones from print to online media. When a QR Code is scanned using a smartphone, the visitor can view a website, video, photos, or listen to audio.

The visitor only needs to have a free QR Code scanning app and access to the Internet.

The application of QR codes is part of the scientific research into the building of a multi-language interpretation system via mobile devices jointly conducted by the University of Da Nang (UDN) and the Museum of Da Nang.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Trung Hung, the Head of UDN Science and Technology Department is the leader of the scientific research team. He said his group embarked upon the research in late 2016.

At that time, foreign visitor arrivals to Da Nang began to increase, and this fact inspired the group to develop a useful tech app which can allow museum goers to access necessary information about historical exhibits in the most convenient way without much help of the museum guides.

The researchers made great efforts to build a big data warehouse, including the introductory commentaries about a total of 18 historical periodicals and 600 historical artifacts on display at the museum. These Vietnamese commentaries have been translated into English and French, and then recorded carefully.

In early this year, QR codes were positioned on the labels of exhibits on display at the museum, hereby serving to improve visitor’s ability to quickly and easily pull up extended information about the exhibits just by scanning a QR code with their own smartphones.

A QR code can hold even more videos, data, pictures, audio or combination of presentation media.

In particular, the research team is planning to continue translating the above-mentioned Vietnamese introductory commentaries into such other foreign languages as Korean and Chinese.

Following the initial success, the group will coordinate with the municipal Department of Culture and Sports to expand the easy, low risk, low cost model utilising QR codes into other local attractions, hereby extending the visitor’s multi-media experience.

In fact, the application of QR codes shows off many advantages. The space necessary for the QR code is not very large, and is much, much smaller than the space that even a small size exhibit requires.

Especially, the museum enjoys great benefits from using QR codes without any investment, maintainance or upgrading any of the equipment like video screens or speakers for the visitors.

The QR codes allow users to enjoy the additional presentational information, and the cost effectiveness of implementing QR codes for museum goers is extremely favorable.

Also, since updating digital media is so much easier, swifter and less expensive than re-doing an exhibit, the multimedia content where the museum QR codes are targeted can be more frequently updated.

In addition, apart from facilitating museum goers to access necessary information about historical exhibits in an easer way without much help of the museum guides, the application of QR codes helps to promote the modernisation of museum operation and its international integration in the burgeoning fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), as well as advertise the image of the museum.