Articles

Age & Ageing on the Move

During summer 2011, Oxford University Press rolled out mobile-optimised websites for all the journals that it publishes, including Age & Ageing which went live on 18th May.

Mobile-optimised websites allow your journal to reach the widest audience of smartphone users. Furthermore, they have the added benefit of offering users with low bandwidth web connections, for example in developing countries, a faster and simpler route to current journal content.

The main benefits offered by the new mobile interface include:

• Quick access to current and archived journal content
• A quick search facility
• An ‘email me this article’ feature allowing users to send themselves a quickly looked up reference for later, more convenient viewing
• Users logging in via an institution’s WiFi service on their smartphone will be able to access that institution’s subscribed to content

The mobile-optimised sites currently support iOS (iPhone and iPod Touch), Blackberry and Android smartphones with support for the Symbian Operating system and Windows Mobile coming soon.

OUP's mobile-optimised websites will have their own unique URLs and will also be accessible via a specific QR code.

QR Codes

A QR (Quick Response) code is a specific two-dimensional barcode readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and smartphones. The code itself consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background and the information encoded can be text, a URL or other data. To enable a smartphone to read a QR code, a QR reader can be downloaded as a free or very cheap application from the appropriate app store for the user’s smartphone (e.g. the iTunes store if you use an iPhone). Websites such as www.mobile-barcodes.com allow users to quickly select their model of smartphone from drop down menus and locate a compatible QR reader application. Once scanned into your smartphone (or web cam), the QR code directs the user to the appropriate content.

As part of this rollout, we will be placing the unique journal specific QR code on the print edition of Age & Ageing (table of contents page) so that readers can access the mobile-optimised version of the website using their smartphones should they wish to do so.