Week 3: Sharing Images

There are a number of photo sharing communities online. These include Photobucket, Smugmug, Snapfish and Kodak EasyShare Gallery to name a few. In this lesson we will focus on the one which is perhaps the best known, Flickr.

Watch
Online photosharing in plain English from Commoncraft to get an introduction to how it all works.

Flickr is a website that allows users to upload digital pictures from their computer and share them with just their friends or the whole entire planet. Users can “tag” an image with key words that describe the picture. This allows people to search Flickr for pictures that interest them by entering tag words into the search window.

Discover
Go to Flickr Type “Mosman Library” into the search box at the top of the screen and take a look at the pictures that have been tagged with Mosman Library. Search for your community. What do you think about what you find?

You have looked for some work stuff; now let’s look for fun stuff. Try looking for ‘vegemite’ (click view as slideshow), ‘lamington’, ‘bad library signs’, – you get the idea, try some of your own key words (tags).

So how are libraries using photosharing?

Flickr Groups
Flickr makes use of groups. Groups are communities of like minded photo posters. And, yes, there are quite a few groups with a library theme. Take a look at their FAQ page on groups for more information on how they work.

Creative Commons
How you would feel if someone took your photo and made a poster out of it and sold it? Not too happy I would guess, and rightfully so. To help protect the artist’s rights, Creative Commons was developed to provide artists with the ability to put work out into cyber space but still have control of how their work is consumed by the public. Here is more info about Creative Commons from Wikipedia.

Examples of websites that use Creative Commons to protect their work:
Public Library of Science – scroll to the very bottom of the page and click the "Creative Commons Attribution License" link to see how they use CC.

Flickr – look at this photo. If you look to the right of the picture , under Additional Information, you will see two small icons and the link “some rights reserved”. Click the link to see how we used Creative Commons to both protect and share this work.

The original version of Learning 2.0 was created by the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. They licensed the course so that other libraries could use it. By agreeing to their licence terms in Creative Commons, we also agree to allow others to use the content of this course. We also have permission to build on the work of Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, King County Library System, Orange County Library Service and Minnesota’s seven multicounty multitype library systems. You can see our licence at the bottom of this page.

Etiquette
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.

Explore
Have a good look around Flickr and discover an interesting image that you want to write about in your blog. Be sure to include either a link to the image or a copy of the image itself in your blog posting. For the latter, you can either use Blogger's photo upload tool or Flickr's blogging tool (you'll need to set up a Flickr account for this).

Adventure (optional)
Take some digital pictures of your libraries (perhaps a view of the front facade?). Create a Flickr account and upload your photos. Tag them with "nswpln2008" and share. Make sure the pictures are public, or we won’t be able to see them. Please respect the privacy of your community members - no pictures of kids or adult faces. Have a look at some pictures taken by our colleagues in King County when they did this exercise - click on photostream.

If you need a bit of extra help here is a video tutorial about Flickr.


Next week ... RSS.....

65 comments:

Bambino Velostra said...

Well, I found uploading and linking photos to my blog a little tricky but finally ironed out a few minor problems and it worked at last! I found searching the images on Flickr.com and other sites (eg the Library of Congress) fascinating but I do have reservations about uploading personal photos myself. I can definitely see the benefits for an organisation, such as a library, though.

tracy24 said...

The photos are interesting and seemingly never-ending. I wonder how much control there is to prevent "unsuitable" images appearing. I'd probably use online photo storage, but have a few reservations about making them public. I'll have to investigate and see if I can choose who I share with.

Pete said...

Had to print screen to save image to upload into a blog entry. Couldn't easily find/use the blog tool in Flickr. Eventually set it up but it only sends the link to the blog post not the image.

Don't know whether I'd use this site or maybe setup a Google group or Nexo group with pages for photos

pls@slnsw said...

In response to Pete's comment: To upload an image from Flickr to your blog you will need to be logged in to Flickr. When you are logged in and have found the image you wish to upload (you need to be on the page for the image for example http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikvanhannen/2143007559/)
you will see "blog this" in small text above the image. Click on this and you will be prompted for a few details about your blog.

Ellen

Wendy said...

I'm searching flickr using the term 'nswpln2008' so I can see other people's pictures, but all I get is the State Library. I don't even get mine being displayed, I did give them the nswpln2008 tag. Maybe tomorrow.

Wendy said...

I'm searching flickr using the term 'nswpln2008' so I can see other people's pictures, but all I get is the State Library. I don't even get mine being displayed, I did give them the nswpln2008 tag. Maybe tomorrow.

Wendy said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
pls@slnsw said...

Wendy
You need to load 5 pictures to Flickr before they will display - and sometimes you need to wait until the next day until you can search for them. I am looking forward to seeing lots of photographs added to this tag.

Ellen

Crescent said...

Like bambino and tracy 24, I wouldn't feel comfortable with loading personal pics on a site like Flickr, but can see that it would be of great benefit to a library. One thing I found when browsing through Picture Australia was that a lot of people hadn't used the preferred tagging terms eg."Opera House" or "Harbour Bridge", so you'd have to pretty much search any tag you can think of to see the lot (if you really wanted to see thousands of pics!).
I suppose in a public library, someone could go through and change the tags to the preferred term when people don't follow the tagging guidelines? Or is there something I haven't understood?! I haven't finished going through Wk 3's work yet, so it might all come clear later.

CatyJ said...

The big thing I noticed about loading photos from Flickr to my blog was the lack of tag-ability. The photos I chose did not have tags so I then went into my blog posts and edited them to add labels indicative of the photo and source. A little time consuming but it made me more aware of looking for the tags in Flickr in the first place and more skilled at editing my own blog entries to add them later. A good result.

Dapto Library Tuesday Book Club said...

I find it very easy to just save the photo to my computer (can easily delete when finished) and then upload from there. I always do it this way, but should really try other ways for learning purposes.

As I've pointed out on my blog 'New Life for Libraries', all the different blogging sites seem to be slightly different in their set up, so it is always interesting experimenting with a new one.
That is one thing about technology ... there is always a new or different way of doing it.

Jalen said...

Once I've started doing this lesson, I found it hard to stop. I just kept going because one link directed me to more links which proved to be very interesting. For instance, I would not have known about Picnik if I just stayed focused on the links mentioned in this lesson. I found out that Picnik does online digital photo editing. I've signed up with Picnik (http://www.picnik.com)and will try this out when I've got more time and photos to practice on. I can just imagine how useful Flickr and Picnik can be in promoting library services, events and resources.

Esmerelda said...

A little tricky the first time posting a photo on blog. Obviously the more familiar one is....
I especially found interesting the cc creative commons licensing as I'm a singer-songwriter who copyrights songs through APRA usually but is starting to upload songs onto the web.
Can hardly wait for next weeks little treasures.

Coolink20 said...

I created my flickr.How do I registrate my flickr with you?

Thanks

Coolink20 said...

I created my flickr. How do I register with your program?

pls@slnsw said...

If you are asking about how do your images appear in the photostream you will need to tag them with "nswpln2008" and share. Make sure the pictures are public, or we won’t be able to see them. You will need to upload 5 images to your Flickr account to start things off.

If you are asking about how you register your blog you do that by following this link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=vW0uVvuiHOCHYUmWQT5XMg_3d_3d
Ellen

yiyia said...

Yiyia said,

Like bambino I too found uploading an image to my blog a bit tricky, however I finaly worked it out. I did find using Flickr interesting especially with Picture Australia. I too have reservations about putting images of myself on my blog. I will take some photos of my library and up load them too my bolg spot soon

Jalen said...

I enjoyed flickring and have set up my own account:

http//www.flickr.com/photos/
myflickrville/

I can choose who can see the photos I've uploaded in there, who can make comments and who can add notes and tags. I can even add a licence to the photos. But for purposes of this exercise, anyone can see the photos.

Flickr is not only good for sharing your photos of events, special resources or equipment in your library (that will give others ideas) but can be an online album in itself. You can choose to upload only the nice photos you've taken and save these in sets. So easy to organise!

By setting up my own Flickr account, I have the added bonus of learning how to greet people in another language. The greetings change everyday. Today, it's GUTEN (German for hello!)

Alex Lantana said...

I skipped on to week 4, because uploading photos seemed all to hard (wrong!) - it was all very straight forward and easy to follow when I actually sat down to try.

I had a bit of trouble, though with geotagging using the map. The zoom was a bit touchy - I nearly dumped our library in to the Tasman Sea.

The editing tool was a bonus; a couple of the pics had stray borrowers which i cropped out without having to resort to Photoshop

Alanina said...

The Flickr experience has been fabulous but I'm still on the beginners training wheels. Have had glitches trying to tag photos (finally sorted)and am still experimenting with sizing photos that I want to link to my blog. Like Jalen, I'll be checking out Picnik. Can see a broad application of the Flickr facility for library users, especially for students with assignments. Much to learn!

Ross said...

I have been aware of flickr for some time and even used it to source photos via the creative commons license scheme. However I had not set up an account as I used Google picassa for online photo storage. Whilst I love the picassa software for arranging my photos I am certainly impressed with FLickr (I now have an account). Mosman have done a great job with their library/community group and I will be deploying a similar initiative at my library. Thumbs up to week 3!

Lilly said...

I would like to ask someone for the advice -which one I should select between grant access and deny access, because when I want to post the photo on flickr to my blog by clicking a “Blog This” button above it. I have been directed to the access request page where I have to provide my user name and password and have to select grant access or deny access. Am I wondering if it is safe to select grant access? And what is happening if I select deny access. Can I still post the image to my blog?
Lilly

pls@slnsw said...

Lilly
If you don't grant access you can't "blog this". The granting access allows Flickr to talk to Blogger. It is still secure because of the passwords.

Ellen

Ross said...

You need to select grant access, otherwise it is not possible.

Anonymous said...

There are so many photos that you are able to look at and use! Typing in keywords on "flikr" you realise that there are images for just about everything. Although most are interesting there are some rather inappropriate ones although all websites have these so its nothing uncommon.

AButler said...

Completed section, found some parts a bit confusing but all worked out. Still havnt got my blog "butlerblog" as a link yet?

Cant figureout why?

pls@slnsw said...

Please e-mail the web address of your blog to us again on nswpln@gmail.com

Ellen (PLS)

Sonya said...

The staff at Inverell decided to create a library Flickr account and post our photos as a group exercise. We found that actually setting up the account was the hardest part of the process - adding and tagging the photos seemed quite straightforward.

Delli said...

I must be reading something wrong because I found the whole Flickr thing very confusing. I've downloaded my photo from my own file, not from flickr because I couldn't work out where to add the flickr photo to my blog. I will have another look at it all when I'm less likely to be constantly interrupted!

pls@slnsw said...

Further help for uploading an image from Flickr


The easiest way to upload an image to your blog from Flickr is to

1. register for a yahoo e-mail address
2. use the yahoo e-mail address to log in to Flickr
3. search for an image to upload
4. go to the main screen for that photograph (for example http://www.flickr.com/photos/darrenstone/395110954/)
5. at this screen (when you are logged in to Flickr) you will see a small icon above the photograph saying "blog this"
6. click on this and you will then be asked to link your blog to the Flickr account (you must agree to this or nothing happens)
7. You can add text to your blog post at this time, or you can edit your blog post from your blog dashboard.

Jennifer said...

I have created a Flickr account, and followed the steps above, but when I get to "6. click on this and you will then be asked to link your blog to the Flickr account (you must agree to this or nothing happens)" I follow the various options and get either an error message, or it takes me to my Dashboard and I can't see anywhere where it says to allow Flickr. I'm getting frustrated -- surely it's not that complicated! Can any one help me here please?

pls@slnsw said...

Yes - this is a problem a few others are having. Posting an image from Flickr to Blogger shoudl not be timecomsuming or difficult, but the technology connection is not working for some people.

You can find out a bit more about the Flickr/blogger issue by following the links here http://knownissues.blogspot.com/2007/10/we-are-aware-and-currently-working-to.html (note only a small percentage of people experience this problem - not a consolation).

Things which may help fix the problem
clear the cache
allow popups

I would suggest encouraging staff who are having the technical problems to move on to week 4, and come back to week 3 later on.

You might find something helpful on the Flickr FAQ list http://www.flickr.com/search/forum/?q=blogger

Ellen (PLS)

Learner 2.0 said...

Re: flickr - I'd just put up photos that I'd want to be public - it looks great for scenery, local studies type images, and for libraries collaborating with communities around themes.

Unknown said...

I actually for a change didn't have any problems and found it useful. Even thought the library I work for doesn't have a Flickr account I found it interesting that others have taken photos of one of our branches. Makes you think about who is taking photos and when.

not drowning waving said...

Once I got the hang of uploading it was really easy- the hard part was chosing the image from Flickr!- so many to chose from, it's easy to get sidetracked. It was a bit frustrating that some were hard to see (not very good photos originally) and with many I kept thinking 'what is this one all about' and also 'what were they thinking uploading this!'

gorg winehouse said...

I'm impressed by the quality of the content of Flickr. Being an open forum I was expecting to see alot of low-level pics but some are quite nice.

Jerome's reading said...

I finally mamaged to post an image on to my blog. It took a while and I needed the help of a fellow member of the staff to show how to do it correctly. Learning 2.0 way I just couldn't do it. Learning 2.0needs to fix this.

Welsh exile said...

Found this very interesting and if I had more time I think I would use this service.Kinda like looking over strangers photo albums. I like looking at photo albums. Would be a great way for libraries to share photos

Adventure said...

At last I managed to upload images! I had found this very tricky as I didn't recognise the image icon on the toolbar. Still finding managing a blog quite challenging, probably because in real life I'm not sure why I'd ever use one ...

Jerome's reading said...

Finally, I have posted a video from Youtube on to my blog - Jerome's latest reading. It took a while but with instructions emailed to me from NSW Public libraris learning 2.0, I have finally achieved it. I can tivk it off my list of things I still need to do in Learning 2.0. Thank you.

Kim Noor said...

KimN
created the blog and posted pictures and videos in various categories. Found some fascintating stuff of personal interest to me. Is their a way of grouping each category within the blog? What steps do you take?

pls@slnsw said...

The easiest way to 'group' things together in your blog is to give them tags (add them at the bottom when you make a posting). Then you can bring together everything that has the same tag.
Mylee (PLS)

Corplib said...

Does blog comment appear immeadiatly ? If not there will be several copies of my comments as I try to publish ;-)

Have created flickr images, I had problems uploading multiple images, however this may have been a local firewall problem.

On a whole much easier than I first thought & would be happy to use - will lok at uploading my recent canada/alaska trip photos for all of group & family to access.

Corplib said...

This is a test post - can not leave comment RSS - not liking my password - if this works do not know what ihe go is !!

Jack Russell said...

This is my personal Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8822983@N08/
My work Flickr site: sitehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/26602074@N06/

Rather than linking individual photos to a blog I add a Flickr badge.

I try to maintain a semblance of authority control and recommend APT: http://www.picturethesaurus.gov.au/search.html
to other users who ask about it in group postings, and would pay more attention to tags when I'm contributing to the Powerhouse Museum Tyrell Today site http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum/2759444436/

In the long run people will use more or less tags to suit their purpose and there will never be any standardisation so - "Live with it!"

Snow said...

I've just completed Week 3 and uploaded some photos to my blog. Found it really tricky but persevered. Found it useful and encouraging to read the comments from others.

Snow said...

I looked at Dorothy's Blog and became excited as I thought this would help me make my photo on Flickr public but flagging the photo and making the suggested change would not save. At least I'm being successful in loading my photos to my blog now. Thank you, I'm having fun!

Naomi said...

I had trouble trying to use the blogger.com image upload, and was happy to find once I signed up to flikr and gave posting an image via it to my blog, things ended up being fairly straightforward and easy.

I'll need to give blogger a few more goes I think...

Linda said...

I like flickr and starting to get my head around it. Looking forward to being able to add some of our library's photos to flickr in the near future...

Linda said...

Really interested in flickr and looking forward to using it to load up some of our photos from our local history collection.

WillC58 said...

Had to think around the issues of having PCs at work and Mac at home to do this stuff with. But using images with any images support platform, such as Flickr, is much easier with a Mac - they are far superior in the graphics area.

This has great potential for use within any library program - especially storing and accessing local photos, and in particular Local History images.

twinplusone said...

I finally did it. Now that i have taken the time to work it out, i found this to be a great tool. My new problem is going to be getting off "flickr" to finish the rest of the course

miss emerald said...

Have attempted to do this exercise using the Blogger photo upload tool - with no result 2 hours later. A nightmare! Followed all instructions several times, but ended up with a blank post which I then deleted. Will try tomorrow with Flickr's blogging tool - hope it doesn't take 2 hours or more to work out!

pls@slnsw said...

Don't forget you can ring for help.

Ellen (PLS)

monica.swrl said...

I skipped this step when I was doing the tutorial at work, but now that I'm at home I'm adding some pics (I had some pics of the library branches on my computer).
I hope it all turns out !

Marrickville Reads Blog Coordinator said...

Mosman Library are doing some wonderful things with Flickr (and the rest). I can see lots of opportunities in this system for increasing our levels of engagement and interaction with the community.

Unknown said...

Uploading photos to the flicker account and sharing with the public option to check interests from people other than the librarians and exploring hot and popular tags to increase visitation to your photo-stream is ideally recognisable.

Maria said...

I have spent a good bit of time exploring Flickr and finding pictures for my blog. I can see the potential for communication over distances and between people. Flickr could also be very useful to backup your personal photos. For public viewing, I think it would have special appeal to visual people who prefer to look and examine than to read dense text. The best guidance in the use of Flickr and the Blog came from the State Library staff in the comments section at the end. Thanks for your help.

jules said...

I've been finding downloading of images of Flickr rather difficult. I can now download an image, but it goes into its own new blog entry. How can I add an image to an existing blog entry.

bloggersbeware said...

I have finally managed to move around flicker. It was quite easy once I actually sat down, with out disrputions, to get on with it. Although I only posted generic photos, I will be using it more from home. I explored and commented on an old war photo, it was great to see such a pictue on there. without flicker, I wouldn't have knowning it even existed.

newtechgirl said...

Uploading was very straightforward but once I had several photos up the issue of organisation into some meaningful order became obvious - I can see why upgrading to a paid membership would be useful. Keeping tagging consistent is another issue that would need to be addressed, if loading many photos.

Anonymous said...

I tried to 'Blog This' but I get an error messaging saying: Loading blogs...
"You currently don't have a blog set up to publish to."

I have a Yahoo account and a Flickr account

Help!

pls@slnsw said...

You need to set up the link so that Flickr knows it is okay to blog to your blog.

The first time you want to blog a picture you will need to fill in some details, so slect Share this, them the blog option and follow the prompts.

Brea said...

I enjoy Flickr for the artistic value more than a place that I would upload photos for friends and family to see. If I were trying to share my photos with family and friends I would be more inclined to upload directly onto Facebook.
I understand that all your photos are in one place for easy sharing, it is just not something that I do personally but can appreciate how others would like the system.

Janice said...

I found this a little difficult, not posting the photo but creating the account and then finding blogger. but its done now.