Discovery Exercises (Things)
6. Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image hosting site.
7. Have some Flickr fun and discover some Flickr mashups & 3rd party sites.
8. Create a blog post about anything technology related that interests you this week.
#6 (WEEK 3) Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image hosting site
Photo sharing websites have been around since the 90s, but it took a small startup site called Flickr http://www.flickr.com/ to catapult the idea of “sharing” into a full blown online community. Flickr uses "tags" or what we would call subjects or keywords to help identify and search for photos.
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 http://www.flickr.com/help/tags/#37 work, what groups http://www.flickr.com/help/groups are, and all the neat things
that people and other classrooms http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=classroom&m=names and courses are creating thanks to Flickr.
Discovery Exercise:
In this discovery exercise, you have two options…
a. 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 http://www.flickr.com/help/blogging/ to add the image in your post.
--OR--
b. If you are up to an easy challenge ... create a Free account in Flickr and use your digital camera to capture a few pictures of something in your office. Upload these to your Flickr account and tag at least one of the images “TWU virtual office” and mark it public. Then create a post in your blog about your photo and experience. Be sure to include the image in your post. Once you have a Flickr account, upload through Flickr's blogging tool http://www.flickr.com/help/blogging/ . So go ahead, explore the site and have some Flickr photo fun and if you're interested in looking at some photo hosting sites, then check out Picasa Web Albums http://picasa.google.com/features.html from Google and another service called Smugmug http://www.smugmug.com/ .
PS: A quick word about photo posting etiquette and cybersafety - When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) 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.
Resources:
Flickr Learn More tour (6 steps) http://www.flickr.com/tour/
Mediamazine Flickr Tutorials http://www.indezine.com/mediamazine/2006/05/flickr-tutorials-series.html
Flickr Services (3rd party applications & mashups) http://www.flickr.com/services/ and here's another Flickr site http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/ that lets you create movie posters, CD covers, magazine covers and so on.
[Note: Please remember to include WEEK# and THING# in your heading posts.]
#7 (WEEK 3) Flickr fun, mashups, and 3rd party sites
Like many web 2.0 sites, Flickr has encouraged other people to build their own online applications http://www.flickr.com/services/ using images found on the site. Through the use of APIs (application programming interfaces), many people have created third party tools and mashups* that use Flickr images. Here is just a sampling of a few …
Mappr http://stamen.com/projects/mappr - takes Flickr images and allows you to paste them on a map
Flickr Color Pickr http://www.krazydad.com/colrpickr/ - lets you find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color.
Montagr http://www.deviousgelatin.com/montager/image.php – create a photo mosaics from photos found on Flickr.
Poster Maker http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php with inspiration sayings (add in any picture and saying)
Discover more web apps http://www.flickrbits.com/#webapps , and Flickr tools http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2005/03/great-flickr-tools-collection/ .
Discovery Exercise:
Your discovery exercise for this “thing” is to: Explore some of the fun Flickr mashups and 3rd party tools that are out there. Create a blog post about one that intrigues you. You might want to check out FD Toys’ Trading Card Maker http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/deck.php . So have some fun discovering and exploring some neat little apps. If you are up to the challenge while you’re at it, create a trading card of your own. :)
All sizes of this photo are available for download under a Creative Commons license. http://flickr.com/photos/frozen-in-time/42762345/
* Mashup Note: Wikipedia offers some great articles that explain mashups. Basically they are hybrid web applications that take features from one application (like Flickr) and mash it up with another (like a map) In this example, you get Mappr (http://mappr.com/ )
#8 (WEEK 3) Create a blog post about anything technology-related that interests you this week
Simply blog about anything technology related. Yes, it can be anything that relates to technology! You just need to share a few thoughts. For example: "I like digital cameras because it's much easier to share photos with family and friends now that I have a Flickr account. Skype lets me talk with friends through computers. Technology advancements for music and medical equipment are amazing! Video Games, iTunes, iPods, Flatscreen televisions, etc. "
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