Exploring Photo Sharing Sites

Where to start exploring? Well, after reading Richardson's comment,"Personally, I think Flickr is one of the best sites on the web." (p.100), could there be any other place? I have to admit, I've had my frustrations with flickr. Initially, it was very easy to set up an account, view pictures and upload some of my own. I personally love the map feature and found a photo taken in Northern Ireland of the road that leads to my Grandmother's house (sounds like a story in the making...) I was so excited that I quickly hit "blog this", without even knowing what it did, and soon discovered that the photo magically appeared on my blog. This was my first discovery with flickr, so the next day I ventured to see what else I could do.


I really wanted to create a slideshow on my blog of my own photos and after hours (literally - my own shortcomings with my Kodak software) of transferring them to the flickr site, I couldn't seem to get Blogger to read the URL for my show (and couldn't find anywhere that might help explain why) Frustrations aside, I kept on trying...


Well I did it!! What I had to do was set up a flickr web address (which I hadn’t done yet because of my privacy paranoia thing..) and I was trying to use my sign in name which blogger didn’t recognize. Anyway, my slideshow pictures are from a trip I took this summer to Ontario and New York City.



Getting back to the privacy thing, I agree with Richardson that one of the best features of Fickr is that "...(it) does allow for the creation of private groups where you and your students (and other invited guests) can work in your own space." (Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts...p.101) As well, the feature that enables you to turn off and on discussions on certain photos is excellent when working with students. In saying this, I would still be cautious about using student images and posting them unless I'd obtained written permission and checked out the AUP for the school.


The educational implictions of this tool for teaching and learning are huge. Recommended by Ricardson (p. 101), I had a look at David Jakes blog which led to his website
(http://www.jakesonline.org/flickrsites.htm). Posted here are some great ideas and links for using Flickr in the classroom. For example, using images for creative writing prompts, virtual fieldtrips, teaching geography and the list goes on!

I checked ou Alan Levine's presentation "What can we do with Flickr?" (Richardson p. 102) which also had some great ideas, and easy links to follow, for using tools in Flickr. I tried the annotation feature which was very user friendly. A very creative and fun tool to use for research, orientation to the library or classroom and testing or reviewing. My small sample is posted below this post, just click on the image and the annotations appear.
(http://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/265279980/)

Next, I was excited to sign onto "The Great Flickr Tools Collection" (Richardson p. 107) to see some other applications but I couldn't log in (website down). I did try creating a Flickr magazine cover from Fickr Magazine Cover from http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/magazine.php(see results below - a good lesson in remembering to edit pictures first!) which was really easy to do, very motivating and could be used many ways in the classroom. What a great back to school project to highlight things students did on their summer vacations!

David Jakes summarizes the teaching implications of Flickr when discussing a classroom project (a "Fliction" - basically, using flickr images and creating an ongoing, collaborative dialogue about them) created on Flickr and I really liked what he had to say:

"Writing. More writing. Critical Thinking. Composition. Visual Literacy. Empowering Creativity. Understanding intellectual property rights. Learning new software, that can be downloaded and used for other projects and for personal use to encourage the development of individual voice, and in fact, a competitive voice.

An appropriate use of digital storytelling that addresses the time issue? Yes.

A safe use of Flickr that takes advantage of high quality imagery? Yes.

A project filled with essential skills-YES! (don't look now-how many of these skills transfer to standardized testing?)

Good teaching? Absolutely." (http://jakespeak.blogspot.com/2006/03/uh-oh-another-flickr-post.html)

My first experience with Flickr as an educational tool is coming up. My daughter has just begun a project on Africa. After a quick search of the Flickr map for photos, I'm excited for her to take a virtual fieldtrip and to discover a wealth of updated, site-specific visual information on this amazing continent.