July 18, 2011 at 4:00 AM

Summer is the perfect time to try out new things. New books, new hobbies, a new relationship, perhaps?

For us at The Daily Collegian, we see this time of year as an opportunity to test new things, too.

And since you picked up today’s paper, you get a sneak peak into one of the Collegian’s newest ventures: QR codes.

Yup, those bizarre mosaic-looking squares that you scan with your beloved smart phone are being integrated into the stone-aged newspaper.

Shocking, I know.

If you turn to page eight of this paper, you’ll find two QR, or Quick Response, codes on the bottom right side of the page.

All you have to do is download a QR reader for your smart phone (if you haven’t already) and scan the barcode with your phone.

The QR codes in today’s paper will take you to videos that the Collegian’s Multimedia and Photo Chief Kelley King shot during this weekend’s Arts Festival.

We’ve never tried this before, so I’m going to cross my fingers and hope that it works and that you like this addition to the Collegian.

Please tell us what you think. Write a letter to the editor, or tweet at us.

My vision is that now, in addition to killing time between classes by reading articles and doing the crossword puzzle, you can just as easily access the Collegian’s multimedia and so-called web-only content. Right now, you have the paper in your hands and, I’m sure, your phone within arm’s reach.

This could very well be the future of the Collegian: a multi-platform approach to story telling.

Hopefully, the QR code translates into newsprint well, and I am even more hopeful that this is just one more way that we can better serve you, our readers.