Cue Cat Scanner Techno Gizmo Gadget

Techno Gizmo Gadget
by Mike Banks Valentine

There is an infomercial running these days by a company that makes
the CueCat scanner. The production values are high, the writing
is clever and the goal is the clear. Get this "gadget" into the
hands of consumers and it allows immediate interactive advertising!
Use this goody, connected to your computer to scan a bar code on a
product and you are taken immediately to a web page with more info!
I can't imagine what more I'd want to know about my soda-pop, but
what a great idea for interactive learning!

I can see both the good and the bad here with two major scenarios.

1) Immediate interactive TV ads with privacy invasion implications.

2) The potential for powerful and immediate interactive learning
and community building!

OK, maybe many more things, both good and bad, but at least these
two highly polarized ends of the spectrum are possible. To me, the
latter is worth the risks of the former.

If it is used only to give you the ability to let you scan product
barcodes to visit an online advertisement, then it is definitely
junk. But hang on a second.

This has huge implications for learning! Imagine a kid sitting in
a classroom, scanning a bar code from a textbook to go directly to
an online dynamic lesson with more engaging learning potential than
that of the dead tree, fixed information text book. This could
revolutionize teaching, learning and yes, even advertising.

Let's look at the possibilities here, instead of the mind-numbing
stupidity of using it for it's primary purpose of interactive
consumer monitoring, privacy invasion. How about the potential for
quality, interactive learning?

There is another aspect to this tool. If you connect it to your TV,
a special tone takes you to a dedicated web page. Now when used for
soft drink sales, this is plain dumb. But used for education and
learning, it becomes wonderful and potentially invaluable!

*You* can now get your own barcode to take those same consumers to
a specific page at YourCompany.com. Will you take the opportunity
to promote your product or service? You bet you will! But consider
doing this in a valuable manner by promoting a discussion list or
even connect them to a chat room to discuss a valuable TV show on
the Discovery Channel or present a webcast or to study community
building techniques and web learning trends. Product sales follow.

Let's go to the Learning Channel. I have a cable modem for blazing
fast information transfer online. It happens to come with my local
cable TV. New ways to connect online suddenly become apparent. I'm
watching a show on the Learning Channel and decide I want to know
more about the subject. A special tone sounds on the TV and takes
me to a web site dedicated to that subject with links to more
resources. If my computer is separate, that means I must have it
in the same room and pay attention to both the TV and the computer.

But hold on! What happens when the TV can display that web page on
a split screen? Now I can watch the educational Television and surf
to and bookmark relevant information related to the subject that
interests me! Take this technology wireless and it translates to
radio interaction, interactive college courses with combined video
and web chat live during a lecture or presentation, even remotely
attending meetings and events with the ability to participate.

Use it for laudable and worthwhile ends rather than soda-pop sales!
This tool makes learning engaging and immediately interactive!
I've personally sent for a techno-gizmo gadget of my own! They even
got me to pay shipping. But I am so jazzed about the possibilities
that it's worth it and I can't wait to get it. Forget the stupid
intentions of interactive advertising!

What about the potential for LEARNING? I've not doubt that there
will be attempts by dog food makers to get me to surf to their
kibble page online, but I intend to use this cool tool to visit
reference material, reasearch articles, learn new skills and then
pass them along to others! Watch for the WebSite101 bar code to
appear on your cereal box soon!

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