Perpetual Membership cards
by Andrew Macpherson on Jan.02, 2014, under Technology
Apropos of nothing in particular I was musing on the question of membership/ID cards, and how one cannot readily validate them. This in conjunction with signing in yet another access log led to a thought.
Why not harness the web, and mobile technology?
The method involves using QR codes or similar technology that can be scanned by an app on a smartphone to encode a vCard with the details of the bearer, and containing an https secure link to the validating organisation’s website, where the bearer’s photo, contact details (which should match those encoded) and their status [ member / lapsed | employee / contractor /no longer valid ] can be shown.
It does give rise to the meta-discussion about how far one can trust a website SSL certificate, but it does put some validation tools in the hands of the person presented with the card.
And it gives rapid data-fill for the log.
