5. Explore Flickr

VU photo found on Flickr posted by user kinghwagoh

What is Flickr?

Flickr is an online community which enables you to host your photos online. It is one of the fastest growing photo management and photo sharing sites on the web. Flickr allows you to upload your photos and tag them (that is, describe them with keywords). You also can arrange them into groups so they are easier to search for. Basically it is a way to display your photos publicly for family, friends and if you wish, the whole world!

Your Task

For the first part of this task you are required to take a look at Flickr and discover what it has to offer.

Find out how tags work
Find out what groups are
Find out how libraries are using Flickr

For the second part of this task you can choose between two options:

1. 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.

Note 1: If you already have a Yahoo ID, it can be used to log into Flickr

Note 2: You will not be able to use the blogging tool with the 23 things generic account, as it does not support more than one Blogger blog at a time. Please set up an individual Flickr account if you wish to use this tool.

2. If you have access to a digital camera you might like to upload a picture to Flickr. We have set up a generic account for everyone to use if you don't wish to create your own Yahoo account. The account information will be available in Google Groups by the start of Week 3.

Note: Google groups seems to present email address with ... in them, which is problematic if someone copies the Flickr login directly from the screen into the Flickr login box. You will need to click on the username first to view it in full, then copy it.

To upload a photo:

Save your photo to your computer (or memory stick
Go to the flickr website at http://www.flickr.com/ Sign in (using either your own login and password, or our 23things one)
Click on "Upload Photos"
Click on the "Browse" button and locate where you have saved your photo (If you'd like to upload more than one photo at once, hold down the ctrl key and select your photos with your mouse)
You will then be prompted to add tags, titles and descriptions of your photo(s) - but it is all optional!
You will also see an option to add your photos to a set (which is just a way of organising your photos if they have a particular theme). If you are using our 23 things login, feel free to add your artistic campus library shots to our VU library set!
Click the "Save this batch" button down the bottom of the screen.

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.

Important: Remember to add this task as an entry in your blog!

Resources

Alternate tools

Feel free to explore these other photo-sharing tools: