Visual Tools
The world wide web distinguished itself from the internet as a whole in three ways. The first two were access and ease of use - hyperlinks. The third, however, was pivotal. Graphic images were suddenly everywhere. This, combined with the rise of scanners and digital cameras, and the lack of artistic talent among computer geeks meant that a lot of images that were protected by copyright began showing up on the web. As copyright holders began to crack down on illegal use of their property, photo sharing sites began to rise as a way to provide access and control of visual intellectual property.
Flickr is one such site that has flourished. The secret to their success is the robust tagging system used for the images they host as well as the sense of community they have cultivated. The funny thing is that much of what sets Flckr apart from their competition is that the site was built using code and tools created for a web-based massively multiplayer online game.
As just one example, a teacher can use Flickr Maps (remember what I said about robust tagging) which uses geolocated image tags to organize images based on geographic location.
Puesta de Sol by Antonio Chacon (Morocco)
Other areas teachers may want to explore within Flickr include the commons which seeks nothing less than to archive all of the world’s publicly-held photography collections and image portfolios where teachers or students can create their own collections. A teacher could assign students to create a story based on a series of photos in a collection or a student could create a presentation using visuals they add to their collection.
Differentiation and diversity can be addressed in this way as well. Students may react to images in ways that words alone can not inspire. For some students a picture is truly worth a thousand words. A collection as large as Flickr’s also insures that the student should find no shortage of images that look like me. The power of identity is easy for those of us who grew up in the majority to overlook. Flickr makes inclusion much easier for teachers to address. (Again, robust tagging is the key to quick retrieval.)
I have focused on Flickr as they are the 800 pound gorilla when it comes to image sharing. However, the strategies will work the same with most any photo sharing service that supports meta tags and collections.
The world wide web distinguished itself from the internet as a whole in three ways. The first two were access and ease of use - hyperlinks. The third, however, was pivotal. Graphic images were suddenly everywhere. This, combined with the rise of scanners and digital cameras, and the lack of artistic talent among computer geeks meant that a lot of images that were protected by copyright began showing up on the web. As copyright holders began to crack down on illegal use of their property, photo sharing sites began to rise as a way to provide access and control of visual intellectual property.
Flickr is one such site that has flourished. The secret to their success is the robust tagging system used for the images they host as well as the sense of community they have cultivated. The funny thing is that much of what sets Flckr apart from their competition is that the site was built using code and tools created for a web-based massively multiplayer online game.
As just one example, a teacher can use Flickr Maps (remember what I said about robust tagging) which uses geolocated image tags to organize images based on geographic location.
Puesta de Sol by Antonio Chacon (Morocco)
Other areas teachers may want to explore within Flickr include the commons which seeks nothing less than to archive all of the world’s publicly-held photography collections and image portfolios where teachers or students can create their own collections. A teacher could assign students to create a story based on a series of photos in a collection or a student could create a presentation using visuals they add to their collection.
Differentiation and diversity can be addressed in this way as well. Students may react to images in ways that words alone can not inspire. For some students a picture is truly worth a thousand words. A collection as large as Flickr’s also insures that the student should find no shortage of images that look like me. The power of identity is easy for those of us who grew up in the majority to overlook. Flickr makes inclusion much easier for teachers to address. (Again, robust tagging is the key to quick retrieval.)
I have focused on Flickr as they are the 800 pound gorilla when it comes to image sharing. However, the strategies will work the same with most any photo sharing service that supports meta tags and collections.