Students from the Shelby Saddlebred chapter have made a unique history tour through the downtown area. The walking tour of the historic locations combines technology with the past by using QR codes or “Quick Read” codes, which resemble bar codes. When these QR codes are scanned with your smart phone, an audio file as well as an image file is available. The audio files are recordings prepared by Shelby County Public School students of all ages from all of the different schools. The students on the audio files are describing the historical background of the specific location scanned. The scripts read by the students were written and provided by Duanne Puckett. The image files are photographs taken by the Shelby Saddlebred Kentucky Junior Historical Society members. Upon completion of the project the chapter will have covered over 45 sites. The QR codes are displayed on the kiosk just outside the Shelby County Historical Society’s welcome center.
The community project was unveiled at Science Hill during the annual membership meeting. A display board describing the project, in addition to a projection of the Shelbyville Historical Society’s website was presented to members wanting to know more about the plan. A demonstration on how to scan the QR codes took place and those with smart phones had the opportunity to try it out for themselves and listen to the audio file.
Though still a work in progress partial tours are available. The tours are expected to be finished before summer break. When the project is completed there will be a total of three separate tours available.
By: Adrienne Holtzworth, 2012-2013 Kentucky Junior Historical Society President.
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