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.