A method for encoding coding a message including the steps of performing two-channel encoding of the message into a robust string and a fragile string; transmitting the robust string through a fragile channel; and transmitting the fragile string though a robust channel. Before the step of performing two-channel encoding of the message into a robust string and a fragile string the number of characters in the message may be reduced to reduce the size of the encode message. The two- channel encoding step includes the steps of creating the robust string by encoding the message using the codeword dictionary; and creating the fragile string by encoding the message using a compression algorithm. The robust string may be transmitted by embedding the robust string in an image. The fragile string may be transmitted by embedding the fragile string in a 2-D bar code.