Does a QR code make currency accessible?

After I wrote a post about accessible currency, I got an interesting question from Dean Parr, Numismatist about what I thought about using a QR code on a currency. The example was the Russian 100 Ruble, which is a circulation commemorative. If you are not familiar with the concept, briefly a QR code is a code that can be converted into human readable information. It is mostly used to direct people to web sites for more information. The user scans the QR code with a cell phone, which automatically opens a web site. The concept was invented in 1994. For more information, read the Wikipedia article.

The 100 Ruble banknote contains a QR code which can be scanned with a phone and it opens a web page about the banknote. The banknote also uses raised print to help people with visual impairment to identify it. So, the question is, could this technology be used to make currency accessible? The short answer is yes, but there are a few considerations.

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Note Teller 2, a money identification device

Earlier i wrote about my collection of currency identifiers. This week I have added an interesting device to the collection, called the Note Teller which was mostly used around 2010. At the end of the post there is also a video about it.

Note Teller 2
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What is accessible currency?

I’ve been writing about currency recently. No worries, we will get back to coins soon, but this is an interesting topic and deserves some discussion. I am researching the topic in greater detail, so probably I will have more to say about it. So, today, I would like to write about what is really accessible currency, why does it matter, and will also discuss an alternative approach.

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My new collection: currency identifiers

It was by accident that I ended up with a collection of currency identifiers. Let me explain. Recently I started to research accessible currencies for people with visual impairment. It didn’t take long to figure out that it will not make much sense on a theoretical level, because reading about it is one thing, but if I wanted to really understand accessible currency, I had to get my hands on a few.

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How Blind People Identify Paper Money

For people who are blind or visually impaired, it is important to safely and quickly recognize their currency. Both when paying, and when receiving change. Depending on the currency, there are different solutions available. Let’s examine a few ways of how blind people can safely recognize their paper currency.
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Back to India

I had a feeling that I would need to get back to India for more work, but I didn’t think it was going to be that soon. Though last year I spent almost three weeks in India, there was so much more I wanted to learn about, I was delighted to find out that I got awarded another three weeks. This time after visiting Bangalore again, I went to Hyderabad and Delhi.

Last time I had to miss the monthly meeting of the Karnataka Numismatic Society, so I was glad to find out that they were meeting while I was in Bangalore. On that Sunday morning, I took an Uber to the hotel where they met. As soon as I arrived, I didn’t even have a chance to ask where the meeting was, Mr. Parekh came up to me. It was great to see him again. He took me to the meeting, where they already had a full room, and also a few dealer tables.

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Recognizing Coins with Seeing AI

The constant struggle of a blind coin collector is how to identify a coin.

The easy way is, ask somebody what it is. But it is not all that simple. It is not other people’s hobby after all, and I can’t expect to have somebody around to help me all the time. Over the years using experience and technology I have perfected my methods, but of course, it will be impossible to identify all coins without vision. I just found a new method which will greatly help me identify coins much more independently.

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Collecting in Brazil

100 Reais
I got fascinated with Brazil early in my life. I was about 10 when I have come across a book by Gabor Molnar, adventures in the Amazonas. It was about a Hungarian young man, who went to Brazil at the end of the 1920’s to hunt and collect animals to send to the Hungarian National Museum, which by the way hosts the largest numismatic collection in Hungary. The book was in Hungarian, and it was, I exactly remember, 14 braille volumes. It took me months to read through it, and I could not put it down. I think by the time I finished it, I could say I learned to read. Brazil from about 100 years ago, just fascinated me with its culture, language and nature.
100 Reais

Later at the university I started learning Portuguese, but the European dialect, so when it ever came to European or Brazilian, I always picked the European, so somehow I got very interested in Portugal, and Brazil got on the back burner. Today that little Portuguese I speak is mostly European.
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Visiting the Numismatic Museum of Iceland

Waterfall
It was a very unusual start for a trip. In a long time, the first time I wasn’t traveling for business. Just recently they introduced a daily flight from Cleveland to Reykjavik. At home we have talked about it, soon after which My daughter, Emily brought home a book from the library about Iceland, and a few days later she started telling people that I’m taking her to Iceland. I had no idea where she got the idea from, but we talked about it with my wife, and it sounded like the perfect vacation idea. As always, I checked if there was a money museum there, and sure enough, there was one.

A few weeks before we left for Iceland, I sent an email to the Numismatic Museum, which is part of the Icelandic National Museum. In a couple of days I got a response that our family is welcome to attend a tour at the Museum at the time of our choosing. This was very generous, especially because we found out that the museum’s curator, Mr. Sigurður Pálmason came in to meet us during his vacation.
Iceland 5 Kronur

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