Post #3-Exploring Flickr?
Flickr is an awesome online image sharing community website and it’s free. I was first introduced to Flickr in 2004, and I was thrilled to discover this easy and fun website used to store photographs. I am a big fan of photography and when I browse through Flickr, I am amazed of the wonderful photographs people shoot and then graciously share with the rest of the world.
Flickr was created by a Canadian online gaming company, Ludicorp, in 2002, and it was introduced to the world in 2004. It first started out as a branch to an online gaming site and it quickly took a life of its own and entered the cyber world with a big bang. For more information about Flickr and to view some of the fabulous images, simply click on the name.
Flickr is a great example of today’s new Web 2.0 sites used by many libraries. It has become very popular among Internet users, especially bloggers, because they use it as a photo repository. Its popularity has grown so fast, it has created a huge online community of talented photographers and bloggers. People throughout the world are creating enormous photo albums that preserve their fondest memories. We’ve done away with the cluttery photo albums.
Flickr allows users to organize their images in their accounts by using keywords, keyword tagging and subject. Tagging is a form of labeling or adding notes to the images. You could forget the pen smudging or adhesive labels falling off after a while. Remember this? It also groups them in categories of your choice. (For library and information services users, think of this as metadata.) Another great feature found in Flickr is that users are allowed to upload their images and make them private and provide a guest pass for others to view. So far it’s free to enroll, but if you feel you’ve become a pro-user, it would cost $24.95 per year for an upgrade.
More and more libraries are exploring Flickr and opening up accounts and uploading images of their library’s events. What a great way to invite the public into the library’s space. This is a great way to promote the library and its programs and activities. To get an idea of what libraries are doing on Flickr, type the word libraries in the search box and you will automatically connect to many libraries around the country.
Check out these Illinois libraries that have started and mastered Flickr. Homer Township Public Library, has uploaded their Cicada Project online. Fountaindale Public Libarary in Bolingbrook, uploaded their National Library Week images.
Rachel Singer Gordon, author of the article, Tech Tips for Every Librarian, this is a helpful article to read about using Flickr in libraries. She points out it is very important to educate the library staff and patrons, teach them the good and the bad of Flickr and other social sites.
Another interesting tidbit I found about Flickr in an article written by Marydee Ojala, for the journal Online. Flickr started out a new trend of storing photos and documenting events, but it has also started a new trend of dropping the letter e in cyber communication.
Bibliography
Chase, Darren. Transformative Sharing with Instant Messaging, Wikis, Interactive Maps, and Flickr. Computers in Libraries. V.27(1):January 2007. 6-8, 54-4, 56.
Flickr – Yahoo Company. About Flickr. http://www.flickr.com . Cited on July 06, 2006.
Fountaindale Public Library. Children’s Summer Reading Program 2007 http://www.flickr.com/photos/fountaindale/sets . Cited on July 20, 2007.
Gordon, Rachel Singer. Teach Tips for Every Librarian. Computers in Libraries. V.26(10):November/December 2006. p. 44-45.
Homer Township Public Library. http://homerlibrary.org . The Cicada Project. http://flickr.com/photos/thecicadaproject . Cited on June 18, 2007.
Ojala, Marydee. The Rise and Fall of the Letter E. Online. March/April 2006 p.5.
Sinclair, Mark. What is Flickr? Creative Review. V.26(6):June 2006. p. 39-41.
Stephens, Michael. http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos . Cited on July 21, 2007.
You’ve convinced me. I’m going to set up an account!
I’m hooked and whenever I find time, I check out the photos. It’s just a great way of preserving memories and inviting your friends and family to withness life through your eyes.
After losing my entire hard drive, I am now loading all of my photos to an online service. I’m using Picasa, as it is integrated into my Google account, but Flickr is probably more universally used. (Yahoo photos is converting to Flickr in September)
Sorry to hear about your hard drive.
Sounds like a pain. I never heard of Picasa. It looks like it set-up similar to Flickr. I am glad to find out about another online photo sharing website. “)
An interesting note about libraries and Flickr:
When I was working on a research project last semester I came across some libraries that were taking pictures at their teen gaming nights. To avoid having to deal with permission to post the pictures of people under 18 on Flickr, the libraries would just make sure that there were no faces in the pictures. This avoided liability on their part and they could still post the pictures.