The codes look like typical barcodes that you might find on a cereal box, but they contain Web URLs.

To employ the codes, users sign up for the service at MobileDiscovery.com with their Case e-mail addresses. After the account is confirmed via e-mail, the user gets a text message with links to download the appropriate software. Then students, faculty members or other Case users need only initiate the software and choose the on-screen Capture option, says Bob Sopko, Case Western's manager of strategic technology partnerships. One hitch: While the software is running, the camera can no longer be used to take photographs.

The software works on most new camera phones with Web access, and it's not operating system or browser specific, Sopko says

Case Western is currently working with Mobile Discovery, 2D code company Scanbuy, and a handful of U.S. wireless carriers. It hopes to eventually use the codes at campus shuttle bus stops for status updates on GPS-equipped vehicles, on various banners, and in student magazines and newspapers.

Cell Phone Scanning a 2D Barcode

Users can also login in to a Web portal and create 2D codes that link to their own Web content. And the codes can be printed on any material, so t-shirts and other clothing can contain the bar codes.

The university first used the 2D codes during its fall freshman orientation. In the past, incoming students participated in scavenger hunts that called for groups to find objects around campus to collect information on notable sites. During the most recent orientation, group leaders used Sprint handsets with the 2D-code-scanning software to read barcodes at such sites and gather the appropriate information.

Case Western chemistry professor Mike Kenney also plans to use the 2D codes inside his classroom. Kenny will soon run a pilot test of a new student survey tool that lets professors ask questions to classes and quickly collect answers or feedback from students' cell phones, according to the university news release.