NFC

The average smartphone is already equipped with it for contactless communication by tapping a surface: NFC technology. You also come across NFC in the form of stickers. These ‘NFC tags’ are stickers that are ideal for connecting the physical world to the digital world via the smartphone. Here I will explain how you can use an NFC tag for linking your scientific poster to digital content.

Near-Field Communication, or NFC, is a technique based on scanning a sticker containing a small chip with an antenna.  With a smartphone you can read and edit this tag and use it to convey information. It is a modern variant of the QR code (the chessboard-checkered pattern) but you can read it with the NFC of your phone without additional apps. In addition, the NFC tag is reprogrammable and the QR code is not. This makes the NFC ideal to re-use and experimenting. So if you want to link to a different website, another account on social media or share your contact details, you can easily adjust it.

Types of NFC tags

Web shops offer various types of tags, with different types of chips, finish and weather resistance. For many applications, the 213 type will suffice. You can place the tag either on the backside of the poster, or choose a tag on which you have an NFC icon for placement on the front, such that the visitor immediately understands what it is used for.

How to use an NFC tag?

Use these tags to direct visitors to one of your social media accounts. Or link to a website, paper, or complementary information (video, audio etc). Can’t choose? Then opt to create a free Linktr.ee account (a micro-website service, optimized for the smartphone), so that you can take the visitor via one URL to a page with multiple options. Of course you can also transfer your contact details as a vCard, in which case you want to use a 215 or 216 chip with more memory. Or think of a personalised text message, such as “Thank you for your visit …”.  And as already mentioned before, the NFC tag can be reprogrammed in an instant, so you can keep experimenting with the possibilities.

Program your NFC tag

How do you program a tag?  The main thing is that you do not need “whiz kid skills” to do this. On the contrary, programming an NFC tag is easy with an app such as “TagWriter” or “NFC Tools” via your smartphone.  Both the apps and app use are of course free.  You can even decide via the app to further secure your tag, so that it cannot be modified temporarily, or by permanently capturing the content.

A poster experiment

The poster below is an experiment aimed at enriching a poster with NFC and linking to online content. It is currently on display at our department at at TU Delft. It features an image quiz: How well do you know your pebbles and planets? Viewers are invited to enable NFC on their smartphone and take the test. They are challenged to find out which of the images of landscapes and rocks on the poster was taken on Earth. If they think they spotted the photo, the image can be tapped with a phone to find out. To make this an even playing field, all images were converted to greyscale as not to bias the assessment of the images.

The A0-sized poster used for my NFC tags experiment.