Thing #5 - Flickr (or Photo Fun)

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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.


Discovery Resources:

• 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
  

Discovery Exercise:

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. Another option you have for including images in your post is to use LiveJournal's or Blogger's photo upload tool.

So go ahead, explore the site and have some Flickr photo fun and if you're interested in looking at some photo hosting sites, then why not check out Jamie's recommendations & this Wired story. (Thanks Jamie for the link).

Optional Exercise

If you want to play some more take a look at some other picture hosting sites, like Picasa and Photobucket and blog about it.

Don't forget to check out our FAQ if you need help figuring out what to blog about.

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PS: A quick word about photo posting etiquette - When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) is it 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.

*P.P.S.: Flickr appears to be having some difficulty in talking to Blogger. You can still download and upload a picture where permissions permit.

Next up: More photo fun

Technorati tags: oclwebthings, flickr, photos, images