The quick response code stickers may soon be available for a wider number of locations on the grounds.
Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery has now announced their intentions to put QR codes to wider use so that families will be able to place barcode stickers under niches in the columbarium wall so that they can be scanned by visitors.
The decision required the approval of the Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday night.
That followed the unanimous support of the cemetery’s own board. While the QR codes are already being used in the cemetery on individual tombstones, the purpose of the latest change was to add the barcodes to the 600 foot wall in which cremated remains are stored within niches and identified with names cut into the granite. These barcodes can be scanned in order to provide a visitor with more information about the deceased, such as in the form of an obituary or biography.
The QR codes would be added to the short list of available additions that are permitted along the wall.
At the moment, next to the person’s name, flowers or a photograph and a small bronze emblem can be added to the space. However, due to the very nature of the small and closely aligned niches, there isn’t any room for additional decoration or information about the deceased individual. The hope is that with the use of a quick response code – which requires very little room – that limited physical space can become nearly limitless in the digital world.
This makes it possible for families to memorialized their loved ones through stories, pictures, biographies, and other media that can be revealed when a smartphone is used to scan the QRcode. The director of the cemetery, Rob Jones, is hopeful that this will give people the opportunity to actually tell the story of their deceased loved ones, providing a great deal more memory than a name, date, and small emblem.
Until the opportunity of QR codes came along, there hadn’t been any other way to be able to provide the ability to learn more about the people whose ashes are tucked into the niches along the wall. These black and white squares offer families ample space in which to do so in their own way.
