Online goes offline!

This post on Mashable really strikes me as interesting, and to me, serves as a metaphor for what we're trying to accomplish in our class.

Photo by gilgongo

The post explains that placing a Quick Response bar code on everyday objects, items and products provide consumers with smartphones, iPod touches and other devices with scanning application, instant access to find, price and purchase products on the spot. The idea is that if a customer finds an item they want or need, it saves them time having to go searching for the product, pricing it out, and if you give them a good deal, well, it could lead to instant sales.

I'm already seeing some of this in myself, as I take digital photos of products I'm interested in to make decisions later. If I could scan and save, would I buy on the spot? Probably not, that isn't my nature, but maybe I would.

But back to class. Our goal in using all of these technologies, in the end, is to produce a change in behavior, an action that, due to our *fabulous* instruction online, or through web, video, or audio, will occur offline, in real life. Like the Quick Response bar code, we're hoping to influence our audience, and get them to DO something with their time and their knowledge. We're trying to find as many opportunities to do this, just like advertisers are trying to find more themselves (especially with the shrinking number of people who actually see television commercials, thanks to DVRs).