Week 3: Photos & Images

Listen to the Flickr podcast below and learn about this popular image hosting site.


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Photo sharing websites have been around since the 90s, but it took a small startup site called Flickr to catapult the idea of “sharing” into a full blown online community. Within the past year, Flickr has become the fastest growing photo sharing site on the web and is known as one of the first websites to use keyword “tags” to create associations and connections between photos and users of the site. For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a good look at Flickr and discover what this site has to offer. Find out how tags work, what groups are, and all the neat things that people and other libraries are using Flickr for. Note: We have sent the password to temporarily override the library filtering software to your gmail acccount. So go check your gmail and get the password. If you did not receive the password, please get in touch with one of the consultants and he/she will be able to give it to you.


Discovery Resources:

• Flickr Learn More tour (6 steps)
• Flickr: Popular tags
• Interesting- Last 7 days
• Flickr Services (3rd party applications & mashups)

Discovery Exercise:

In this discovery exercise, you have two options…

a. Take a good look around Flickr and discover an interesting image that you want to blog about. Be sure to include either a link to the image or, if you create a Flickr account, you can use Flickr's blogging tool to add the image in your post.

-- OR --

b. If you're up to an easy challenge ... create a free account in Flickr. You can find some library events pictures on the wandrive (H:). The Branch Photos folder is a good place to start. Upload one or two of these pictures to your Flickr account and tag at least one of the images “PBCLSW2” and mark it public. Then create a post in your blog about your photo and experience. Be sure to include the image in your post. Once you have a Flickr account, you can use Flickr's blogging tool to add the image in your post.

PS: A quick word about photo posting etiquette - When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) it is advisable to get the person's permission before posting their photo in a publicly accessible place like Flickr. Never upload pictures that weren't taken by you (unless you have the photographer's consent) and always give credit when you include photos taken by someone else in your blog.