#12 Flickr

Listen to audio here


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 couple of years, Flickr has become the fastest growing photo sharing site on the web and is known as one of the first websites to use keyword ìtagsî 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.

• Flickr Learn More tour (6 steps)
• Mediamazine Flickr Tutorials
• Flickr: Popular tags
• Interesting- Last 7 days
• Flickr Services (3rd party applications & mashups)
  
• And let's not forget to look at some other libraries on Flickr.

---

#12 Flickr

In this activity, you have two options:

A - use the Flickr blogging functionality to automatically blog an image in Flickr to a post in your blog
B - upload your own photos to Flickr and blog one or more of them.

First you will need to create an account with Flickr. Unfortunately you cannot use the account you've been able to use so far throughout the program as Flickr requires a Yahoo address. Please setup a Yahoo account (remember to write down your login details!) and select one (or both!) of the following options.

A. Blog with Flickr

1. First you need to connect your blog to your Flickr account. To do this go to Your Account, which can be found in the You drop-down menu at the top of the page, or down the bottom of the page. Go to the Extending Flickr tab within this area, and select the available option in Your blogs, whether its edit or add a blog. The default blog will be Blogger so you can select Next. Flickr will then ask you to click a link to head over to Google and then select Grant Access. It will then take you straight back to Flickr where you can confirm the name and URL of your blog and finally click All Done!

2. Next the fun stuff! Find a picture you would like to add to your blog. If the author of the image has allowed (not all of them are!) this photo to be blogged, you will see a "Blog this" icon at the top of the image/picture. You will then be able to add text to the blog post, select the Submit button and you're done!






B. Upload your own photographs to Flickr


1. Click on the Upload Photos and Video from the home page.
2. Then select Choose photos and videos to browse for the images (these should be on the hard drive of your PC or on a memory stick)
3. Upload the images to Flickr
4. You can add tags or descriptions, titles or even add your image to a set.

---

Also...

• You might also like to take a look at the National Library Picture Australia website. Go to the Search page and select Flickr from the "Show images from" drop-down box and conduct your search. This is part of the National Library's vision of building a comprehensive pictorial record of Australian history. You may also like to view the media release from the National Library about this collaborative project.


• Other photosharing and photography websites include www.fotolia.com, www. slide.com, and www.dumpr.net.


• Bubbleshare is a great alternative. Give it a go!


• Another fascinating photo sharing site is VoiceThread. This site allows you to upload photos and videos but also add an audio narration or commentary. It is a moderated safe forum for schools and children's projects. Check it out!

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.