Thing 5: Online Photo Sharing

Here we are, leaving June for July already and soon to be on THING 5!

You may already have an account with an online photo sharing site, or perhaps you've had friends or family send you a link to their online albums. Photo sharing sites have progressed beyond being warehouses for photos, however: many let you edit, crop, organize, share, add comments, tag, create photo groups, and even apply cool effects to individual photos.

We're going to be exploring Flickr, which is one of the most innovative photo sites around. You'll be creating a Flickr account, uploading some photos to it, tagging those photos, and then posting a photo to your blog. "She's crazy!", you might be saying. But I'm not, trust me. You can do it! I chose this Photo Sharing Thing to occur right before July 4th; now you'll have practice for posting all of those great family picnic pictures next week! If you don't have access to a digital camera, you can talk to the AV department and request to borrow one.

Your goal for Thing 8 is to create a Flickr account and upload at least THREE photos. You should then TAG the photos with keywords and tag at least ONE of the photos with the keyword coe13things (no spaces). Make these photos PUBLIC (you have to check a box making them public), so that we can search for them on Flickr. You should then write a blog post about your experience with Flickr and make sure to include your Flickr name so we can find your pictures.

Here are some resources to get you started:

• Flickr Tour
• Flickr FAQs
• "Classroom" groups on Flickr (school-related photo groups that have been created by teachers)
• From the Flickr homepage be sure to type coe13things in the search box to see what images have already been tagged (You'll see mine!)
  

Discovery Exercise:

• Go to Flickr, create an account. Upload a few pictures. These can be pictures you take specifically for this exercise, or some you might already have taken. Be sure to tag at least one of your pictures with the coe13things tag. Use any other tags that you'd like to include.
• On your blog: post some commentary about online photo sharing: do you have previous experience? Have you already used Flickr? Does it have any value for your class/office/life? What's the benefit of a site like Flickr over emailing a picture to your mom/student/supervisor/friend?
  
• ALSO on your blog: add one of your pictures! Flickr allows you to automatically post your pictures to your blog. First, you'll have to set up your Flickr account to recognize your blog (instructions here); then simply click "blog this" (as noted in the instructions) above the photo you want to be included in a blog post.
  

Just for fun:

• in Flickr: map your photos, explore (I love the "story in five frames"), look at the Flickr blog.
• outside of Flickr: check out BigHugeLabs and have some fun with your photos. Create comics, sports cards, comic book captions, movie posters and more.
  

Week 4: More on Blogs (June 21-27)

Now that we have our blogs established, it's time to get connected. For Thing 4, you'll be commenting on and following some of your colleagues' blogs, in addition to tagging the posts you've created so far. First, choose at least three of your colleagues' blogs (see the sidebar on the right), and comment on their first or second post. Commenting on blogs allows us to ask questions of one another, make suggestions, or simply to reply to what has been written or posted. I will be commenting on various blogs throughout the 13 Things program. Once you've commented, you should then "follow" those blogs. Oh, and "follow" this blog (13 Things @ Coe), too. As you can see in your own blog, I have "followed" you- so you can now see my picture on your blog's sidebar. Now when I log into my blog and look at the Dashboard, I can see what's been updated on the blogs I'm following! Cool, right? Also, let's "tag" the posts you've created so far. Tagging allows you to categorize your posts, which is really helpful if you blog regularly.

To "tag" your posts: go into your old posts by clicking "edit posts" on your dashboard. On the bottom of the edit box, you'll notice a place for labels. As you start to create labels, you can click "show all" if you have trouble remembering the name of your tags (tags and labels are the same thing).


Discovery Exercise

• Take some time to explore a few of your fellow participants’ blogs (listed on the right). Leave a comment on 3-4 different blogs.
• Follow the 13 Things @ Coe blog AND the blogs you've commented on.
• Use key words to tag the posts you've created so far.
  
• Post to your blog. Why do you think commenting is important in online communities? What might this mean for students who share their writing online? Write something about who you're following and the tags you've used.

Just for fun (optional): check out Technorati; Technorati is a search engine for blogs. According to Technorati's self-description:
Technorati.com indexes millions of blog posts in real time and surfaces them in seconds. The site has become the definitive source for the top stories, opinions, photos and videos emerging across news, entertainment, technology, lifestyle, sports, politics and business. Technorati.com tracks not only the authority and influence of blogs, but also the most comprehensive and current index of who and what is most popular in the Blogosphere.
Scoll around - note the top risers or fastest fallers. Check out the top 100 or blogs with most recent posts. Technoriti ranks based on links compared to other blogs with similar content.