Fun+with+Flickr

Creating and publishing content on the web does not have to be limited to text. With the increasing popularity of digital cameras and cell phones, sites such as [|Flickr] are becoming increasingly popular.
 * Summary**

Why would you ever want to post images on [|Flickr] for the whole world to see? "From a classroom standpoint, think about the ability to capture daily events or highlights and easily share those with parents, community, and colleagues. Field trips, speakers, visitors, special projects, and much more could become a part of any classroom's 'photo stream' and could be a great way of sharing the teaching and learning experience." (102) Sounds like a PR tool with potential to make teaching and learning in the classroom transparent - if that's what you're ready for.

Technical skills and [|Flickr]:
 * Free - up to 20MB of storage for your photos.
 * "Pro" account is available for $25 a year. Unlimited storage.
 * You must register in order to upload photos.
 * Do all your photo editing and adjusting on your computer //before// uploading to [|Flickr]. (See extra links below.)
 * Photos are automatically "Public," but you can choose for your photos to be viewed by "Family" or "Friends." This allows you to upload photos that will be viewable only by your students and/or their parents.
 * Photos can be organized into albums and slide shows.

[|Flickr] in the classroom:
 * Add annotations to photos. When you move your mouse over an annotated photo, notes pop up. Here is [|an example]
 * Add comments to photos. These can be discussion starters for class or a way for virtual conversations to occur regarding uses or annotations to a photo for class.
 * Connect with others from around the world. All photographs in [|Flickr] are given tags by their owner. Take for instance [|this photo]. It has the following tags to help classify it: //Bethlehem Steel, Bethlehem, abandoned, steel,// and //plant.// You can find related photos by clicking on one of the tags to the right of the photo, or even contact the photographer by clicking on their screen name (located in the upper right). If contacting other [|Flickr] members, care should be taken not to divulge any personal information. Establishing these sorts of connections should be closely supervised by the teacher.
 * Subscribe to various tags or searches using RSS. This way, when a new image is posted using a specific tag, you are immediately notified, without having to access the [|Flickr] site.

Other photo sites and tools:
 * [|Photobucket]
 * [|Fauxto] - online image editing
 * [|Picnik]
 * [|dumpr] - fun with photos
 * [|Spell with Flickr]

Like other social networking sites on the Internet, [|Flickr] contains lots of great information and content, but also some not-so-good. As of now, [|Flickr] is filtered in our schools because of the potential for inappropriate content. If you were to use [|Flickr] in your classroom tomorrow, how would you go about it? How would you ensure students access only appropriate content? What would they do if they accidentally ran across something inappropriate? How would you teach them what to do?
 * Questions:**

If you are really interested in tapping into the creativity of your students, visit the last two links above: [|dumpr] and  [|Spell with Flickr]. Proceed with caution, though! Be sure to check everything out //before// you set your students loose on these or any other sites like these!
 * Connection:**