Barcode T-shirt

Monday 30th of January 2012 01:55:50 PM

If you’ve ever watched that cult TV series, The Prisoner, you know that the prisoner’s chief statement is ‘I am not a number’ but it seems that we all now want to be exactly that. ScanMe uses Quick Response technology to create a personal barcode that links you to all your social network profiles and then lets others link to them too by scanning your T-shirt with their own imaging device.

There are sixteen designs available and once you’ve chosen your design, the site uses social media integration and a smartphone app to allow you to decide how you connect with people who scan your barcode: so with a single click they can be taken to your facebook page, twitter or tumblr.

The Scan Me website has a leaderboard which mainly appears to have Scan Me staffers getting scanned, but the idea is definitely an interesting one and could have many applications such as scanning pet T-shirts in case the animal gets lost or scanning kids on a school outing so that if any stray, they can be instantly reunited with the rest of the group using satnav mapping and online itineraries. Charity activity could take on a whole new meaning if runners or other athletes were wearing scannable T-shirts that could allow spectators to donate money to an online appeal page as soon as they’d scanned the shirt.

Of course there is a darker side, which is that such coding could become mandatory, meaning none of us could ever be where we didn’t want to be, but as long as the barcode is on a T-shirt, not tattooed onto skin or embedded in DNA this seems like a harmless and fun way to build a social media profile.

Clare Hansen

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