Beautified QR Code for Museum Audiovisual Assistant System

The preservation of museum collections worldwide constitutes a vital aspect of tangible cultural heritage, a legacy that must be transmitted to future generations to facilitate their understanding of historical experiences and ancestral encounters. Traditional QR codes, typically presented in black and white, are limited by their lack of content indication, often leading to confusion in simplifying the process for human viewers to identify various QR codes as they refer to different website links with abundant information, particularly in exhibition settings. Integrating “Environmental, Social, and Governance” factors within “Corporate Social Responsibility” frameworks has opened avenues for innovative technological applications in the cultural sector. This study explores the utility of beautified QR codes as a cost-effective and efficient alternative to traditional audio guides, offering enhanced user experiences through seamless integration with personal mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. This article proposes implementing advanced QR code beautification techniques, specifically BlendMask and Gaussian-Jordan elimination techniques, to embed images within QR codes, thereby enhancing object detection and mitigating the aforementioned issues. The study advocates for the use of beautified QR codes as an innovative medium that integrates visual displays with the presentation of museum collections, complementing conventional multimedia guides and other audiovisual aids. Additionally, deploying colorful and aesthetically refined QR codes offers cultural institutions an efficient means of promoting their collections and brand images, potentially reducing marketing expenditures on social media and other promotional platforms. A user survey was conducted to assess the reception of beautified QR codes, examining user behavior and attitudes toward utilizing smartphones and audio guides in this context. The findings suggest that picture-embedded QR codes, when applied to museum captions, can significantly enhance the global audience’s experience, providing a more immersive and accessible approach to engaging with national and international cultural treasures via mobile devices.