Mourning is a process that is making its way to smartphones through the use of quick response codes.
Though hardly the first time that QR codes have been seen on grave markers, as this trend has been a slowly growing one around the world, a startup in Canada called Qeepr is hoping that this technology will become much more commonplace and will help mourners to remember their loved ones who have died.
This use of quick response codes is quite defining, as mobile technology makes its way more deeply into our daily lives.
For the majority of people, smartphones are a regular part of their activities and they will typically have these devices on their person and accessible for most of their days. As such, QR codes have been seen as an opportunity for the limited space on tombstones to be expanded into a virtually unlimited amount of content that is contained online. The quick response codes simply provide a bridge from the physical grave marker to the page or site that loved ones have created to memorialize the deceased individual.
QR codes are becoming far more familiar to smartphone users and provide an excellent connection to the online world.
There was a time in which stories about families and their various notable members were passed down through the generations, but this is a tradition that is slowly fading. Qeepr wants to use QRcode technology to be able to reboot that story telling tradition through the use of connections from the real world to the internet. This can allow people to learn about and add to the memories that have been shared about a deceased person.
Web pages can include everything from condolences to shared memories from people who knew the deceased individual, as well as other forms of media such as pictures and videos. This way, visitors to the grave site can discover more about the individual than his or her name and the dates between which he or she lived. Moreover, this information can also be made to be searchable, so that people who are too far to go to the grave in person can still visit a location that is dedicated to the memory of that individual.
This use of QR codes is popping up in countries from China to the United Kingdom – particularly Wales – the United States, and Canada. It is believed by many that these will become quite commonplace on grave markers within the very near future.
