Technology finds its way in the membership cards of urban vegetable gardens in Rome
Edited on
30 April 2020From April 23rd, 2020, the members of the Vivere in ... Onlus Association of the Parco Ort9 urban garden in Rome have access to their new membership cards. Why these new cards? The old ones, in A4 paper format, were not practical and complex to manage both for the members and for the Association. The management decided, therefore, to issue a much smaller format that will include the member’s name and surname and, above all, a QR code that will allow, in the very near future, the display of member’s information vis-à-vis the Association.
The choice of this tool is based on the fact that modern smartphones have a QR code reader incorporated and framing the code with the phone’s camera will suffice to access the information relating to the member. Members who own an old mobile phone model will be able to download the free app ( https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com/terms) for reading the code and see their personal data sheet. Since not all the growers of the Parco Ort9 are "digital friendly" it was decided to hand them only the paper card containing the QR code. In case of checks by the authorities during the covid-19 emergency, members will be able to show their card to the police if stopped while they are on their way to the urban garden to access their plot of land, which they can do in their turn previously authorized and communicated to the Urban Gardens Office of the City of Rome, as established by the provisions of the Mayor regarding the management of urban gardens during the covid-19 emergency.
The data sheet accessible through the reading of the QR will contain the personal data of each member (name and surname, date and place of birth, address), the section of activities in which he/she is mainly involved in within the association (urban garden Parco Ort9, decoration and crib design), the date of registration to the Association (first and last registration as a reminder for the registration renewal date). Other information that may be included in the future regard the gardeners of the Parco Ort9: the member is the assignee of a plot of land, a sharer, an external collaborator, an agronomist, etc. In other words: it will function as a sort of database containing all the necessary information of members while protecting everyone's privacy. In addition, the card allows to further strengthen the relationship between the member and the Association and the sense of belonging also, for example, ad honorem.
The information will be accessible only by the Association and the member, who will always have at hand an updated "photograph" of his / her relationship with the Association.
A great example of citizenship’s growth and resilience in the response to the emergency we are experiencing: facing it without breaking down and adopting tools that help both from a practical and a psychological point of view.
Further information on the technical specifications of this initiative may be obtained by writing to progetti@viverein.org .
Submitted by Patricia Hernandez on