Given that there are still people publishing printed books for Backgammon I'm wondering if any authors have given thought in to producing QR codes for positions they publish. I am noticing an increase in QR Codes in book format for other things.
The question is has anyone considered using QR codes in BG books so they could be scanned by a smart phone / portable device. For anyone who hasn't used QR codes you may have seen them. They can look like this:
Which translates to:
XGID=aBBCBbCA----b---ab-cbb-B--:1:1:1:00:0:0:3:0:10
Whether it is an XGID or GNUBGid or some other ID it would allow people needing to get positions from non digital media into their portable devices. Many potable devices now run analysis software so I think there may be merit in this (just an opinion). I'm occasionally coming across books in other fields where QR Codes are being used in such a fashion.
Most platforms have Software Development Kits (SDK) for them that allow you to integrate QR Code scanning into individual applications. For instance a mobile version of popular BG analysis tools could allow you to scan a QR code and have it converted into something that can be used by the software to set up a position.
I was recently at a non-Backgammon presentation where every couple slides of the presentation had QR codes so the audience could save links to information. It has me wondering if those who teach people BG in live venues use QR codes in this way already? If software on mobile devices were to use QR codes and people published QR codes when using non digital media it might bridge the gap between the two worlds.