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Week 3 - Flickr

Thing 8: Explore Flickr

Photo-sharing Web sites have been around since the 1990s, but it took a small, startup site called Flickr to catapult the idea of “sharing” into a full-blown online community.

Flickr has become the fastest growing photo-sharing site on the Web and is known as one of the first Web sites 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 are using Flickr for.

Discovery resources

• Flickr Learn More tour (six steps)
• Mediamazine Flickr tutorials
• Flickr: Popular tags
• Flickr: Interesting: Last 7 seven days
• Flickr Services (third-party applications and mashups)

Discovery exercise

1. Take a good look around Flickr and discover an interesting image. Use Flickr's search tool to find search for something specific. For instance, search for "MACPA" and see what you get!
2. Go to your personal blog and create a post about the photo you have chosen. Be sure to include a link to the image. Or, if you already have a Flickr account, you can use Flickr's blogging tool to add the image to your post directly from Flickr. Another option you have for including images in your post is to use Blogger's photo upload tool.

So go ahead: Explore the site and have some Flickr photo fun!

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.

Thing 9: Create a free Flickr account and upload some photos

To get to full Flickr experience, you'll need to create a Flickr account. Here's how.

1. Visit Flickr and click on "Create your account." (View a screenshot.)
2. Flickr has a partnership with Yahoo, so on the next page, you will need to create a Yahoo username and password. (View a screenshot.)
3. On the next page, choose your Flickr screen name (this is the name that will appear on your Flickr pages) and click "Create a new account." (View a screenshot.)
4. Read Flickr's community guidelines. They outline the dos and don'ts of using Flickr.

How to upload photos
This is the easy part! Once you've created your account, click on "Upload your first photo" or click here. Then ...

1. Click on "Choose photos." A pop-up window will appear that will allow you to find the photo(s) you would like to upload. (View a screenshot.)
2. Using the pop-up window, go to P:/Administration/MACPA Pictures/2007/ and choose a few photos that you would like to upload. If you would like to upload more than one photo, hold down the "Ctrl" button while you choose your photos. If you have some personal photos that you would like to upload, go ahead and do that instead. (View a screenshot.)
3. Click "Open." Flickr will then show you a list of the photos you have chosen. (View a screenshot.)
4. Decide whether you would like your photos to be private or public. (View a screenshot.)
5. Click "Upload photos."

When Flickr has finished uploading your photos, you will be asked to "Describe your photos." This means adding titles, descriptions and tags (or keywords) to your photos. (View a screenshot.) This is an optional step, but it's also what makes Flickr a Web 2.0 community. Adding descriptions and keywords will allow you and others to easily find your photos online.

Once you're done adding your tags, click on "Save this batch." Flickr will then take you to your home page, where you will be able to see the photos you've just uploaded.

Congratulations! You're now the newest member of the Flickr community.

Thing 10: Invite colleagues to be your Flickr 'friends'

Flickr is a terrific way to store, organize and share your photos, but what makes it part of the Web 2.0 family are the communities of people who use Flickr to interact with one another. Among the cool things you can do on Flickr:

• Join groups of like-minded people.
• Subscribe to other users' photographs through the use of RSS feeds.
• Post comments on other users' photos, similar to the way you post comments on a blog.
• Send and receive e-mails through your Flickr account.
• Post photos to your personal blog straight from Flickr.
• Use your photos to create calendars, posters, books and even postages.

Let's get started by creating a little community of our own. Invite any other Flickr users you'd like to join your list of Flickr contacts. Once they accept, you'll be able to see their photos, and they'll be able to see yours (if you choose to let them, that is ... it's up to you). You'll be able to correspond with each other through Flickr and subscribe to one another's RSS feeds.

Here's how to invite someone to be your Flickr contact:

1. Login to Flickr and find the tab that's labeled "Contacts." It's at the top of the page. (View a screenshot.)
2. Click on the arrow next to "Contacts," then click on "Invite your friends." (View a screenshot.)
3. Enter the names and e-mail addresses of the people you'd like to invite. If you'd like, you can also customize the message these people will see when they receive the invitation. (View a screenshot.)
4. Click "Send."

That's it! Your friends will receive an invitation via e-mail. Once they follow the directions in the e-mail, they will be added to your list of Flickr contacts.

Thing 11: Have some Flickr fun!

Isn't that cool? I created the image above by using an online application called Spell With Flickr. You see, Flickr encourages users to create their own online apps that incorporate images found on Flickr. Spell With Flickr is just one example.

Through the use of APIs (application programming interfaces), many people have created third-party tools and "mashups" that use Flickr images.

What's a mashup, you ask? In the simplest terms, it's a hybrid Web application that takes features from one application and mashes them up with features from another application. Let's say you wanted to mash Flickr images into an online mapping application. You might wind up with something like Mappr, which lets you take Flickr images and paste them on a map.

Want some more examples of mashups? Try these:

• Flickr Color Pickr, which lets you find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color.
• Montagr, with which you can create a photo mosaic with photos found on Flickr.
• Personally, one of my very favorite tools is FD Toys' Trading Card Maker.

Discover more mashups, Web applications and Flickr tools.

This week's assignment:
Your assignment for this “thing” is as follows:

1. Explore some of the fun Flickr mashups and third-party tools that are out there.
2. Create a blog post about one that intrigues you.

So have some fun discovering and exploring some neat Flickr-related apps. And if you're up to the challenge while you’re at it, why not create a trading card of your own?

Thing 12: Blog about your Week 3 experiences

Now that you've had an opportunity to explore Flickr and some of its "mashup" applications, tell us what you think about them. Go back to your personal blog and compose a new entry that tells us your thoughts about Flickr.

• What do you like about it?
• What don't you like?
• How should your organization make use of Flickr in the future?