Ch. 7 of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

Fun with Flickr

Following the usual format, Richardson introduces image publishing online through his favorite site Flickr. He runs you through the basics, brushes over some of the risks and safety issues and then tells you to consider that more on your own. I’m assuming this is because image publishing in the educational world requires signatures and precautions with information release. So of course, he runs through different possibilities of image editing and ways to work with the program so that it’s teacher and student friendly. I think I’m going to join Flickr, although I know I’m going to have some issues with the 90 day no sign in, lose your account aspect. I really like that you can annotate particular points of interest on your photo to promote discussion and give blurbs of information.

Another powerful part about Flickr is that you can use it in conjunction with Google Maps and find where the pictures were taken as well as other pictures that were taken in the same area. This is great for discussing other regions and cultures in the language classroom, when it would be really nice to take a virtual field trip.
I love the fact that he links everything back together. I would never think to add my Flickr account to my RSS feed. I know that seems obvious to some, but I think I’ve become very frightened by my RSS feed now. It collects so much information that I can’t keep up with it, which is horrible for my “have to keep up with everything” mentality.

As always, Richardson supplies you with an endless amount of resources for your resources. After this, I’m going to add all of the suggested Flickr “accessory” sites to my Delicious so that I have even more ideas for Flickr use.

In conclusion, what I’ve learned from this chapter is that there is more to the read/write web than just text. Photo and video are powerful modes of communication and have a purpose in the classroom and should be shared on the web. As always, it’s very important to take precautions and follow school policies when dealing with images. But I could see my class using it in the language classroom to label various photos and for presentations. I want to incorporate unique possibilities and options for my students to use, and I think that Flickr will be a great place to start.