A SCANTASTIC WAY TO LINK PRINT, WEB

By: Ken Liebeskind The Post And Courier Scores First In Gocodes Race



The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., is the first paper to
link readers to the Internet with a 'GoCode.' No, it's nothing like the
top-secret go code from the classic Stanley Kubrick movie 'Dr.
Strangelove' that helped launch a nuclear attack. GoCodes, created by
GoCode Inc., also in Charleston, are tiny bar codes printed in the
paper that can be scanned - by handheld wands - to take readers to
related content on the Web. For instance, a woman reading an article
about a new cancer drug can scan a bar code to find related Web content
with more information about the drug. She is transported to the Web
instantly, without having to type in the uniform resource locator (URL)
herself.



The Post and Courier began the venture last Monday, inserting
three bar codes in the paper that took readers to its Web weather page
and home page (http://www.charleston.net). On Tuesday, 12 bar codes
appeared, and on Wednesday, there were 20 as the paper linked readers
to sports, business, and other pages on its site. The paper is
establishing links to all kinds of content, even its obituary page,
which Alan Seim, the paper's director of Internet operations, called
one of the most popular parts of its site.



'We're excited about the idea of technology that links print to the
Net,' he said. 'It gives our readers a real extra.'



Readers use a penlike wand to scan the bar codes. GoCode is
distributing the wands free in the Charleston area. It has given out
100 so far, and plans to give away about 3,000 within the next few
months. 'They're willing to assume the cost now for testing purposes,'
Seim said. 'They want to get them in the hands of subscribers with
different types of computer set-ups.' The company could sell the
devices later, he said.



GoCode is a 3-year-old company that developed this particular bar-code
technology . 'It is not one-dimensional like the bar code on a soup
can,' said Prioleau Alexander, GoCode's vice president of marketing.
'It holds letters, numbers, sentences, and paragraphs, and is designed
to work within a publisher's standards.'



The Post and Courier writes the Web site name into each code it
prints in the paper. Each code holds one Web address. For now, The
Post and Courier is linking readers only to content on its own Web
site, but linking them to advertising content could be next. Seim sees
upselling potential, with 'an advertiser buying a print ad buying
several GoCode links as well.'



When a company advertises its Web site now, it uses its home-page
address because the addresses of other parts of its site are too long.
But with GoCode, long names could be inserted so the Ford Motor Co.,
for example, could take readers to the part of its site that advertises
a specific car model. Newspapers could also sell advertising that takes
readers to Web sites with product demonstrations or testimonials, and
bar codes within classifieds could also become common.



Belo has announced that it will incorporate bar coding into some of its
many newspapers, using a different system developed by
DigitalConvergence.:Com.



The Post and Courier is the first paper to use GoCodes because
the Evening Post Publishing Co., its parent, has an interest in GoCode
and has been working with it to develop the product. But GoCode is
negotiating with other top newspaper and magazine publishers now,
including the Hearst Corp., News Corp., and New York Times Co. 'We want
papers and magazines to adopt this as a worldwide standard,' Alexander
said.



Kevin McCourt, director of online classified advertising for the
Newspaper Association of America, sees the new scanning technology as
promising. 'It's an extension of printing URLs in the paper and
inviting readers to go to the sites,' he said. 'Anything we do that
makes a tighter link between print and online is great.'



But Alan Alper, an analyst at Gomez Advisors, Lincoln, Mass., is more
wary: 'It asks a lot of users having to go through the scanning and
hoping it works. There is room for scanning code error.' But he called
the technology a 'more efficient means of sharing knowledge' and
praised the advertising applications, saying it would be an ideal way
for online grocers to link shoppers to coupons on the Web.