Photo Sharing Makes Me Want to Scream!

The Big A having fun!
Originally uploaded by ToddEDES501Student

...sometimes with joy other times through frustration!

Reflections on the process of learning about the tool

The first and most important point about learning about photo sharing is that it is definitely an ongoing process. There are so many features on these sites it is mind-boggling if not overwhelming at times. Here is an example... I have created two blog posts this week each one originating from a photosharing program...this one from Flickr and the previous one titled "Picasa photo sharing Part 1" from Picasa. On the Picasa upload I mentioned how cool it was to be able to press a button, "Blog This!", and be on my blog as it was part of the Google suite of products, well it turns out you can do virtually the same thing with Flickr...the key difference is the joy I had with Picasa was replaced with the frustration I felt with Flickr...I stumbled upon the Flickr "Blog This" button and thought "Cool!" so I pressed it and it took me to a screen that said I had to set up permissions with Google by logging into my account...which I did, this part was easy and seamless; it lead me right to a login screen and then returned me to Flickr where it gave me some layout options for the post I was creating...still cool, still seamless...then it dumped me onto a "you have now set up your blog account successfully" page and I had no idea how to get back to my picture or the "Blog This" button...I spent some time trying to retrace my steps throught the maze of hyperlinks until I again stumbled upon the correct way to "Blog This!" Now it is as seamless or at least apparently so to me as the link from Picasa. However this process took me a little over half of an hour.:(

Time was saved however as the learning of uploading and manipulating images is very easy on Flickr. The picture that I experimented with was easily placed on the map for "Geotagging" which is one of many ways that the photos can be categorized and organized. Placing photos into sets is a simple drag and drop and there is a sets tab at the top of the Organize and Create page that allows easy access to the sets that you have created and has a button to create new sets.

All of these features are intuitive for those people who have spent some time on the web and dare I say that they are easily learned. (Of course except when you are taken for a good ride then left on the curb ...I suspect that is Flickr's way of punishing me for using Google's Blogger for my blog!:)

I have purposefully left out any details regarding the social aspect of Flickr as I have yet to explore this area in any great detail, however, Davies & Merchant in Web 2.0 for Schools discuss the social implications for learning in some detail. Specifically they explore how tags can be used to find others with similar interests and use Merchant's Padlock example to indicate how you can "accidentally" become the member of an affinity group due to the content of your pictures or the tags related to them.

Photosharing in terms of my own personal learning

I see a great deal of potential for photosharing in many facets of my personal learning...from making new contacts to finding out (visually or through social interaction with others) about the places and things that are displayed in the millions of photographs on Flickr...Here is one example that I stumbled upon...while editing my picture on Flickr I noticed that under the heading "Addition Information" it labelled the camera that I took the photo with and that it was a hyperlink...so naturally being assigned to explore photosharing I followed the link... it gave me reviews of the camera, a graph of the use of the camera on Flickr and offered that I could "explore *istDL content" meaning look at pictures that others who own a camera the same as mine took...this could lead to social interaction to discuss technical questions with people who purchased the same camera...

Photosharing in Terms of Teaching and Learning

Will Richardson in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms(BWPOPWTC) outlines many uses for Flickr across a broad range of curricular areas. He includes vitual field trips, dissections using the labelling feature, geography when linked with Google Earth (although Flickr has its own map, but without the views -satellite, streetview, that Google offers), story starters, photo stories...the list really is endless and is dependent only upon the creativity of the user.

As a teacher and a teacher librarian I can't wait to put some of these ideas into my teaching... but first a technical point...my district's technology department is quite good in terms of having relatively up to date computers and such but I think I will need to use Flickr instead of Picasa because Picasa is a download and it will take some persuasion to get it included in the data sets which are downloaded to each of the work stations on our network...having said that I liked how Picasa found every picture that was on my computer and made them into an easy to use directory...much easier than the Kodak "EASY"share software which is also a downloaded program. So although I liked many of the features and the look of Picasa I think I'll use Flickr for the time being as we access it through the web without having to download a program to our workstations....photos can be stimulating for many students who are reluctant to engage texts. The textual work that accompanies the interaction with photos may seem less daunting for these types of students and can include sorting, tagging and observation type assignments. Certainly there are cons to using Flickr in a classroom setting...not all content on the site will be appropriate for school-aged children and parents would need to know what steps you have taken as a professional educator to deal with photos that students may encounter... Will Richardson(BWPOPWTC p.100) sums up this by placing the onus on the teacher to "take the time to become familiarwith the potentials and the risks of Flickr before you bring it into your clasroom, and make time to convey your expectations and teach appropriate use of the site to your students."