If you’re counting reasons to buy a smart phone this holiday season, here’s another: you’re going to be able to assist your civic responsibility with one. Both Hillsborough’s Supervisor of Elections and the Florida League of Women Voters are aiming to make it as easy as a snap and a click to connect and update your voter records, using tag code and smart phone technology.
Tags are those square, usually black and white symbols that somewhat resemble the now-innocuous bar codes which turn up everywhere and contain information often scanned, read and inputted when a purchase is made. Tags also are information-containing symbols that can be scanned, read and used, this time by citizens, to accomplish an objective, usually free of charge. However, to make them work, smart phone users must download the appropriate free app from the app store.
The information-centric little squares rapidly are being appropriated for a range of purposes. They now are being spotted on business cards, for example, those printed must-have tools in every organization and for every individual in contact with potential clients. In such use, they usually contain the same pertinent information printed on the card – names, addresses, telephone, fax numbers, email addresses – but make it so very easy for the recipient to access the information – a click on the tag and it’s all there on a screen. Once stored electronically, the data is available even if the card gets buried somewhere in the paper shuffle, is made illegible by that spilled hot chocolate or is playfully grabbed by the new puppy looking for teething relief.
Full Article: Observer News – Smart phone technology supports voter objectives.