I’m currently attend graduate school on Wednesday nights at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Over the past few weeks I’d noticed a few people walking around with t-shirts that read:
I agree with Brian.
Initially, I assumed that this was an inside joke that a learning cohort or some other student group had found hilarious enough to put on a t-shirt. However, tonight, I learned just how wrong I was.
I came upon this display on my way to class from our campus Starbucks. Realizing that I might finally be able to solve the not-so-age-old mystery of “Brian,” I pulled out my trusty iPhone and quickly opened my QR reader. Needless to say, I was quite surprised by what I found:
“Brian is an SIUE student who believes that many people misunderstand the true message of Christianity…often, Christianity is made out to be about what we do for God, rather than what God did for us in sending Jesus.”
So, apparently, Brian is one of the thousands of students at SIUE and he just happens to be a Christian who is using technology to get the word out with the “word” being the Gospel.
Can I get an ‘amen’?
What I love about Brian’s project—besides the main message itself—is the way he’s getting it out there. QR codes haven’t quite caught the mainstream smart phone user’s attention, at least not to the degree that many marketers had hope. However, I think that QR codes are great for some pretty obvious reasons and at least one subtle one.
QR Codes…
1. Shorten Crazy URLs
This is pretty obvious, but a small Rorschach-like box is a lot cleaner and easy to design around than a mile-long URL. Brian’s URL is scary because his “site” is simply a Google Doc. Using the QR code helps to keep his posters clean.
2. Narrow the Audience
While this can be a very negative quality, it can also make thing simpler. Brian’s posters advertise a meeting tomorrow night at 7pm. The website clarifies that the meeting is a panel discussion focused on answering the questions posed to from students and faculty via the website. By using the QR code, Brian is limiting his audience to smart phone users who also have a QR reader and know how to use it. This means that at his meeting he is more likely to have younger, technically-inclined college students than older, less technologically immersed faculty members. I don’t know about Brian, but if I were going to offer a panel aimed defending Christianity, I would rather fill the audience with curious students that potentially antagonistic professors.
3. Add to the Mystery
I don’t know if that I would have given Brian’s meeting a second thought if the poster was just a simple statement about Brian’s view of Christianity’s PR problems with a date and time for the panel. By truncating the poster’s message with a QR code, my curiosity was piqued. I scanned the QR code and found out more about Brian. Generally, I ignore the posters on campus because I am there so infrequently and can’t ever attend such events. It was the “mystery” surrounding the t-shirts, posters, and the QR code that drew me in.
What do you think of Brian’s use of QR codes or their use in general?
Note: I have refrained from including a link to Brian’s site because it offers a survey element that would surely be skewed if linked to on a national/international blog.
April says
I think this could be a cool idea. I would be a little nervous clicking on a QR code from someone I know nothing about…who knows, might end up on a site I would otherwise NEVER go to. I also wonder, can QR codes house viruses? Other than that, I think it’s neat to use QR codes this way and yes, I might never have given the poster a second thought either, if it were me, if it had simply given the information instead of the QR code.
Phil Schneider says
I agree that security could be a concern, but I think that most smartphones are moving to a sandboxed system for this very reason. If your phone was jailbroken, that might be a security concern.
More than malicious software, I would be more worried about being “rickrolled,” per se, to a XXX site. Thankfully, this time, my curiosity was rewarded.
Thanks for the comment.
April says
🙂 That was my bigger concern too.
Erica H says
Love it…when I attended Ohio State (GO BUCKS!) we did a similar campaign called “I agree with Jarred” and all wore bright orange shirts on the same day with that printed on them. It was several large on campus ministries coming together to make a huge impact. It worked great, and I was able to share Christ with my Debate class…they were discussing the shirts as I came into the classroom, then I took off my jacket and they all saw my shirt. Needless to say, all eyes were suddenly on me, and I’m glad to say I was ready with my response. I love how the students have taken that concept and adapted it for now using technology.
Phil Schneider says
That’s awesome! I love the shirts idea. I wonder if they could have printed the QR code on them as well? Maybe that would have been too awkward to scan.
Sele Mitchell says
I suppose that the QR Code could lead to a malicious website, but I applaud Brian’s efforts to use technology to get his message across. I would have scanned it had I seen it as well.
This deserves an A+!
Phil Schneider says
That’s a pretty good grade!
Raoul Snyman says
Actually, I’m in the beginning stages of working on our church website, and I’d thought of something similar… basically put a bunch of QR codes up around the church on Sunday mornings, and after a few weeks see if we have any responses.
This brings up a point I made previously on ChurchMag (I think), when the question of usefulness of QR codes was brought up, and I said that I think that they are useful, we just haven’t found the best way to use them yet.
Phil Schneider says
I completely agree, Raoul. QR codes are neat but haven’t really been proven to be practical yet. I think that’s why I was so blown away by Brian’s idea.