Using Dropbox to wirelessly distribute files to iPads

Stanza

This summer, I taught 2 two-week semesters of American Literature class. Towards the end of the class, I decided to have my students read Pedro and Me, a biographical comic book written by Judd Winick about an AIDS activist in the '90s. I acquired* the CBZ (comic book) file, commanded my students to download Stanza, a free eBook and eComicBook reader, and went through the following process to get the 50 MB file to 16 students in less than 30 seconds.

1. 
   Use the Force... of the Public Folder. When you being using Dropbox, there will be a few folders automatically added. One, specifically, has a "magic" power—whatever file you put inside the Public folder will be given a public web address.
   
   
   
   
   For example, as you can see above, I've left the file Night (Full Text).pdf in my Dropbox folder.
2. Access it on Dropbox.com. From here, I can find go to Dropbox.com, log in, and scroll to where that file is located.
   
   
   
   
   When you scroll over the file, there will be a little down arrow on the far right. When you click on it, there will be an option for Copy public link. Click on that. A popup will show you the public address for your file—before you copy it to your clipboard, click Shorten Link, and then Copy to clipboard. Now you can distribute this link to anyone with a simple, short link. If only there was an easier way to distribute that link...
3. QR, anyone? Go to QRstuff.com and paste in your link, and POOF!
   
   
   
   
   Now you have a QR that, if you scan, will download that PDF to the device (i.e. the iPad). The cool thing is that, since the file is on the internet, all the students can download the same file at the same time. 

There's tons of different applications for this: for example, I'm sharing a PDF, but this is also how I shared my syllabus with students and how I'm planning on giving out lots of teacher's resources that I'd usually just print out. Pretty cool trick, huh!?

*Don't ask.

QRs just got easier to use: Goo.gl does it for you.

Recently I wrote a post about the awesomeness of QR codes, and I also wrote a post about why it's important to incorporate them with URL shorteners. I've often praised the awesomeness of is.gd, my favorite URL shortener. However, Google, like they usually do, has kicked in the door of my heart and delivered me a product that changes the way I think of making QRs, through their own URL shortening service, Goo.gl. Full disclosure: I learned about this trick through a Tech Crunch article, but I wanted to pass on the how-to to you.

1. Head over to Goo.gl. Just like TinyURL or is.gd, you simply copy the address you want to shorten into the field, and out will pop the short address. So, for example:
   
   
   
   So, instead of giving out my full web page address [http://tapa210.blogspot.com], I can simply give out my Goo.gl-shortened site [http://goo.gl/SBE83].
2. Now, let's say that you want to make a QR code. All you have to do is add .qr to any Goo.gl-shortened site, and you'll get the QR code. So, for example, in my address bar, I type in http://goo.gl/SBE83.qr, and...
   

It's about as easy as the is.gd method, but just a little different. Give it a shot!

QR lesson #2–Not tooooo much information, please!

Earlier, I wrote a post talking about how it was easy to make a QR code by going to a place like QRstuff.com and just pasting in your address or information, and then out comes the code. The other option was to go to is.gd and, after pasting in the address and converting it, just hit the little "Make this into a QR code" link, and out comes the code, which you can easily download, print, or embed anywhere you want. Now, it looks like Google enters into the running of awesome QR code creators with its URL shortener, Goo.gl. I'll talk about that in a future post.

Before we do that, though, I want to get across one point about QRs—they cannot contain unlimited information. Each character you add into the code makes the code more complex. This isn't bad for the most part, but at some point, the code can become too complex for your device to read. For example, on Wikipedia's page about QR codes, they have 6 code samples. With your own QR reader, scan in the following samples (from left to right):

#1	#2	#3
#4	#5	#6

Were you able to read each code? If you were like me, using your iPad and a program like Scan, you could only scan up to #4. That's because there's so much information in #5 and #6 that you're iPad (or Android or iPhone or whatever) freaks out and quits. This means that if you're giving someone an address like this:

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwebcache.googleusercontent.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcache%3AHGMIwXNonREJ%3Awww.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com%2F%2Bvery%2Blong%2Bweb%2Baddress%26cd%3D1%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26client%3Dsafari%26source%3Dwww.google.com

you're QR reader isn't going to be able to read it. This is why you want to run it through a URL shortener. is.gd will change your address from that (above) to this:

http://is.gd/B1tfr6

Pretty cool, huh? By the way, now try scanning in the codes, too. No problem with the bottom one, right? But no go with the top one, probably.

The point is this: before you start handing out really long web addresses or documents via QR, keep in mind that this technology is not just a magic bullet—you've got to plan out ahead of time how you're going to use them. The smartest habit to get into is just shortening all links, even if they'll naturally fit into the QR code—this way, you'll know that they're condensed into a format they'll easily be accessed.

Dr. QR-Code (or How I learned to stop worrying and love the 2D barcode)

You've probably seen these icons scattered around campus, especially near my classroom or on my syllabi, and you might be wondering what those are all about. These are two-dimensional barcodes, also known as QR (Quick Response) codes, and they contain embedded information. Within that code can be messages, web sites, YouTube links, or anything you want. These are great little tools to use around TAPA, whether you're a student or a teacher, and they're incredibly easy to use.

First off, before we talk about those, let's go over a basic idea: URL shorteners. Have you ever had a website like this

http://tapa210.blogspot.com/2011/08/welcome.html

that you've wanted to share with someone? Or worse yet, a YouTube video link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9TXVMkQ29g

that you wanted to share with a classmate or student? See how long and annoying those are? There's no really easy way to get that information to someone verbally. However, with an URL shortener like TinyURL.com or is.gd*, you can easily change this link

http://tapa210.blogspot.com/2011/08/welcome.html

to this link

http://tinyurl.com/44ejy2y

or

http://is.gd/xmLqXR

which are both significantly easier to "carry" around. All you do is plug the address into either web site and hit submit, and out comes a much shorter address.

Now, I explained that to get to this point: I like TinyURL. I've used them for a long time, and I still distributed TinyURL'd links to students and friends. However, is.gd is my new go-to favorite because it will, in addition to providing you a shortened link, generate a QR code just like that.

If you scan that in, it will easily take you to the website embedded in it.

Now, you might be asking yourself "Ok, so there are these codes all over TAPA and Webb's blog... but how do I use them?" Great question. If you have a mobile computer with a camera (like an Android device, iPhone, and iPod Touch, or an iPad 2), you can grab a QR reader app for free that will easily decode that information. I wrote about 2 that I've strongly encouraged my students to get in a recent post—Scan and Qrafter. Once you download either of these (or any other QR reading) apps, you simply open it up and hold the camera over the code, and it should automatically take you to the link. Just like that.

What are cool about these is that there are so many ways to use them:

• Print QR codes with directions or facts onto a piece of paper and tape them around a classroom. 
• Project a QR of a Google map you want the students to look at onto a screen with a projector or onto a TV.
• Add them into homework assignments for students as hints or tips on how to do certain questions.
• Stick a QR code onto your business card—when you hand it to someone with a QR reader, they can simply scan in your card's code and your contact information will automatically be added into their Contacts!
• Put a YouTube video you want someone to watch on your iPad screen and have others scan your iPad. (Yes, you can scan a QR code off one iPad with another one. Just make sure there's no glare!)

There are an infinite amount of tricks you can do with QR codes, as long as people have a way of reading them. For students with iPad 1s, they won't be able to scan them in, but you can easily allow the students with iPad 2s to scan in the document and then have them problem-solve getting that same information to the iPad 1 students. Easy!

Last thing: is.gd is not the only way to make a QR. Simply Google QR generator or use a website like QRstuff.com to put any link or piece of information into a QR code. And please, let me know any other ways to use QRs so I can share them with others! Good luck!

*There are hundred and thousands of URL shorteners, by the way—I just mention these two because I've used them the most. Feel free to explore other options like bit.ly, goo.gl, or many others.