INFO

Online Photosharing in Plain English

Read 7 Things You Should Know About Flickr (Click on the Adobe PDF button at the bottom of the page to see the full article.)

DO

• Go to Flickr and search for "tags" which interest you -- maybe Yellowstone, dogs, wildflowers ... whatever. Here's a tag cloud of Flickr's popular tags. Take note of the comments, faves, and notes. For Flickr photos with Creative Commons licenses, check out flickrcc.

• If you haven't done so, create an account and upload some digital photos to a photosharing site such as Flickr, Picasa, or Photobucket. Tag your photos so that others can find them.

• Perhaps you've been posting pics online for a while ... but have you ever edited them? Picnik is a photo editing tool. As the site says, "Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy-to-use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart's content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames. It's fast, easy, and fun." Check out all the cool "Effects" in the "Create" tab.
  

• Most of us don't have the time or the artistic talent to create specialized graphics or logos for projects -- enter the Online Image Generator! These handy-dandy tools let you create many types of images -- framed pictures, slideshows, comic-style captions, trading cards, calendars, and much more. Explore Big Huge Labs, Image Chef, or Picture Trail and spice up your blog, website, powerpoints, and classroom tools. For example, create trading cards of authors, scientists, historical figures, or even concepts you are trying to teach or promote.

BLOG

• Upload a favorite image from a photosharing site to your blog and give credit to the photographer.

• Flickr's blogging tool (you need a Flickr account to see the button) lets you click the Blog This button (right above the picture) and add any public photo on Flickr to your blog. Be sure to give credit to the photographer, if it is not your photo.

   

• Blogger's photo upload feature lets you add photos from your computer or from the Web and choose the placement in the blog post. Click the little photo icon in the toolbar on the New Post page — it is in the row of tools above the post box. Follow the instructions in the pop up box.

• How might you use Flickr in your classroom or media center?

• How do you feel about having your photos public (note that you can mark your photos private, too) -- any concerns?