The Toronto SUN online newspaper reported on October 4 this year that gravestones may soon be equipped with QR (Quick Response) codes. This is already more and more common in Japan, while in the US, UK, Australia and Germany it is still at the experimental stage.
Nettavisa also reported that a funeral home in the English town of Poole is already offering the option of putting QR codes on headstones, and in Austria, the first headstones with QR codes will arrive within a few weeks.
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QR code is a mosaic code developed by the Japanese company Denso-Wave in 1994. The QR code has an extra-large capacity for storing alphanumeric characters that can be read quickly, all you need is a smartphone with a scanner.
As the use of smartphones is rapidly expanding around the world, QR codes are also being used in an increasing number of areas. Slekt1 has previously mentioned that the book «Our Roots» have put the codes to use in new and interesting ways, but perhaps the most notable example is that when the Royal Netherlands Mint celebrated its centenary in 2011, it released the world's first coin with an engraved QR code.
Joerg Bauer is a project manager for the Austrian company Aspetos, which works with death and bereavement. He told the online newspaper that the company is working with stonemasons to find a way to sandblast the QR codes into the headstones where they stand in the cemetery, so that the cost of engraving is not too great. The technology could then become available to everyone.
The use of QR codes on headstones can be controversial and there are issues to consider. What about privacy, data laws and the feelings of the bereaved? How to preserve the content of the QR code for posterity when the bereaved no longer want to pay for the web domain? These are just some of the questions that need to be addressed.
In the meantime, it may be useful to think about what messages you want to give posterity. What each of us wants to pass on to future generations - or do we?
