[Lab] QR / Registration / ??? Concept

[Jamie]

Thx Alan.

I think their driving hope was to get away from the last name partitioning.
I agree the robot aspect could be failure-prone. Of course if I were
building it it'd probably have big giant flashing screens.like that
selection system in Starship Troopers.

If they had a local copy of the db on each machine or local network they
could handle the just-in-time print with mitigating the network concerns.




On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 12:18 PM, Alan Gardner <alanctgardner at gmail.com>wrote:

> The idea of using a robot to dispense pre-printed materials is alluring,
> but it seems like it might be more failure-prone than print-on-demand. My
> low(ish)-cost proposal:
>
> - Partition your attendees by last name, so each last name can only use
> one terminal. Put the attendee list for each terminal on a USB key (maybe a
> SQLite database?).
> - Have n terminals, each with a range of last names, with a B&W laser
> printer attached directly
> - Attendees check-in on the terminal with a unique code from an email, and
> the local printer prints on demand and updates the database on the USB key.
>
> Each terminal is stand-alone, so there's no risk of network issues. You
> might want to have n+1 terminals, so you can move the USB key to a new
> terminal in the event of a printer/computer failure.
>
> Just a thought.
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 12:07 PM, Jamie <jamie at steppinofftheedge.com>wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I'm working on web site component of a conference with Carleton U and the
>> organizer mentioned a desire to improve the registration check-in process.
>> Thought maybe someone on this list might have seen a solid solution or have
>> an idea on creating one?
>>
>>
>> *The Details*
>>
>>    - Most conferences default to having pre-printed schedules, name
>>    badges and materials available through a volunteer base co-ordinating
>>    people into lines based on last name to get their materials.
>>
>>    - Some use QR code or kiosk to input email and on-demand print of
>>    same name badges, materials, etc.
>>
>>    - They would like to find a balance between the two which have the
>>    pros of each and none of the cons - no lines, small need for volunteer army
>>    to checkin but not at-risk of printer malfunction or network issue from
>>    on-demand print.
>>
>> My brain went to grocery store self-checkout change return system
>> concept. Some kind of setup that allows:
>>
>>    - pre-printed materials placed into envelopes that are numbered
>>    and/or QR coded
>>    - When person arrives they provide email or QR code
>>    - The system drops their envelope out for pickup.
>>    - If network goes down, volunteers only need to check name to # to
>>    numerically find an envelope.
>>
>> No idea of budget - but I'd be happy to connect the dots for anyone
>> interested in pursuing.
>>
>> Jamie
>>
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>
>
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