Monmouthpedia has created the World’s First Wikipedia Town in Monmouth, Wales. As part of the project, the whole city got free town-wide wi-fi and then every single noteworthy place in the city, be it people, places, plants, etc., all got a QR code!
First Wikipedia Town
The QR codes are places across the city that allow visitors to simply scan QR codes and get information from the linked Wikipedia article. A special service called QRpedia allows visitors to scan QR codes all over the city that link directly to the Wikipedia article in their own language.
QR codes are the new standardized way to provide a huge amount of information, easily scanned by many free QR code scanning software and freely available smartphone apps, which allow mobile users to directly get detailed information from scanning the code and visiting the website without typing the URL (Remember the Facebook roof QR code!)
The project is powered by hundreds of Wikipedia voluntary contributors who continue to add Wikipedia articles and videos making Monmouthpedia possible. Articles have geotags allowing users a virtual tour of Monmouth using the Wikipedia layer of Google Street View.
It’s just a beginning …
Monmouthpedia is just a prototype new concept that provides updated information about any area in any language, that has helped create the World’s First Wikipedia Town. In fact, the implications of this are manifold and this is just the beginning. I expect many such projects to start in small localities, markets, and small neighborhoods which will redefine the way we use Wikipedia.