About ITC
Newsletter: Fall 2007
Photo Hosting in a Snap with Flickr
by Dr. Gina PhippsOne of the most popular and interactive photo hosting and sharing sites is Flickr. With Flickr you can annotate photos with titles, descriptions, and notes that pop up over specific areas of a photo. You can also “tag” (see Del.icio.us article) photos with keywords you generate and drag and drop photos onto a world map to tag photos by place, called “geotagging.” Others who view your photos can post comments and add their own notes. You can share photos with specific individuals and groups of users or with anyone who has access to the Internet.
From an educational standpoint, you can use Flickr to share course-related images and to require students to upload and annotate photos for course assignments. You and your students can also download and use the photos of others in your presentations and projects since many photos are available for use under a Creative Commons license.
Flickr is free and requires no software download to use, although you may want to download a utility that makes photo organization and uploading easier. A premium package, available for $24.95 per year, allows for unlimited uploads. If you are comfortable browsing the Web, filling out online forms, and attaching files, you will find Flickr easy to use.
As with most free Web services, advertising appears on Flickr but this seems to be limited and not too intrusive. Flickr is owned by Yahoo! and there’s an extensive terms of service agreement. You can use Flickr with Online@UT by linking to Flickr from any area within a course site that allows external links or by pasting the Flickr URL into most text boxes.
Resources
Flickr's home page
The Teaching Files: X-rays
Tell a story in 5 frames (Visual Story Telling)