flickr

== =**Description**=

[|Flickr] is currently one of the most popular photo-sharing websites on the Internet. It allows its users to upload 100 MB worth of images and videos for free each month. In addition, its users automatically become a part of the Flickr community, which allows them to share their photographs and/or videos with others around the world. The Flickr community interacts with each other through discussion boards, Flickr mail, blogs, and comments left on photos. While the photographs and videos are viewable to the Flickr community, users have the opportunity to tag their photographs and videos to make it viewable to the public (allowing search engines to put them on the Internet.) If users decide that they want to upload more images and videos, they have the option of buying the pro account for $24.95 a year. Pro account users have unlimited uploads, storage, and collections. They can view the statistics on their account and browse and/or share without looking at all the advertisements.

=**History**=

In February 2004 [|Ludicorp], a company from Vancouver, created and launched the earliest version of Flickr. It was originally created as a tool for their multi-player online game called //Game Neverending// in which players could upload their photos and share them online. One of the first tools it featured was a chatroom called FlickrLive, which allowed its users to exchange images (real-time). Most of their users uploaded images found on the web rather than images they took or created. They were also able to tag their photos, mark their favorites, and group their pools of photos as well as interestingness. In less than 2 years it became so popular that computer programmers [|Caterina Fake] and [|Steward Butterfield], also the owners of Ludicorp, decided to cease production of their game. Yahoo! bought Ludicorp and Flickr in March 2005, which meant that all content had to be moved from Canada to the United States. In addition, Yahoo! shut down their popular Yahoo Photos service because they felt Flickr met the needs of the changing Internet social community. Since then, they made many changes to Flickr. On March 16, 2006, Flickr services were changed from beta to gamma showing their commitment to constant improvement. In December 2006, the amount of uploaded images on free accounts was increased from 20 MB to 100 MB. As a pilot project, The Commons was added to Flickr on January 16, 2008. This allowed the public to view and share their knowledge on the events, places, artifacts, and people in The Library of Congress' photography collections. In February 2007, Flickr faced some criticism when they required their users to use their Yahoo! ID rather than their old account ID. Finally, on April 9, 2008, paid subscribers were allowed to upload videos that were 90 seconds long and a maximum of 150 MB.

=Impact on Teaching and Learning=

Without stepping foot outside of the classroom, students are able to see the world through using Flickr. This great teaching tool allows teachers to access the website in the classroom for free. The best part about it is that it teaches by showing. Since people from around the world upload photographs of their friends, the foods they eat, the places they frequent, and the clothes they wear (just to name a few) onto this website, teachers are able to easily access these photographs from one place instead of searching for them on multiple websites on the Internet. In partnership with the Library of Congress, Flickr allows its users to search and view historical pictures for free in what is known as [|The Commons]. This is a great tool teachers can use because they can view photographs depicting the history of our nation and the world. Rather than going to a museum to see historical artifacts and portraits, teachers can easily show them to their students by selecting the particular photostream and album they want to view, selecting the "view as slideshow" icon, and displaying it on their computer screen.

=Practical Applications=

Photographers, college students, teachers, travelers, entrepreneurs, and bloggers are just some of the people that use Flickr. Most of them upload their images and/or videos onto their photostream, [|geotag and tag their images], search through other peoples' photostreams from around the world, leave comments on other their photos, and create personal blogs. For educational purposes, Flickr can be used in many ways:


 * **Data-Collecting and Assessing.** Similar to a portfolio, which holds the best work (or sometimes all the work) created by students. Since students learn different art techniques and principles in school, they will be able to show their understanding by creating pieces of art using clay, watercolors, canvas, acrylic paints, craypas, etc. These art pieces can be displayed on the student's personal Flickr page by taking a digital picture or scanning the image. Then, the art pieces will be displayed on the website for the public to view. Since the Flickr page will act as a portfolio, the teacher can easily assess the student's work without carrying heavy art pieces home and risk ruining them.
 * **Learning About History and Geography While Building Relationships with Students Around the World.** As a tool to supplement lessons, Flickr can be used to help teach geography and cultures around the world. Teachers are able to show exactly what people look like in other countries at this moment through the [|Creative Commons] portion of the website as well as searching through the geotags. When using geotags, the user can type in the name of any place in the world. Geotags will instantly create a photostream of the results from all users as well as show a map of the world where the images were taken from. An example of using Creative commons would be if a teacher wanted to supplement their lesson on education in Brazil. They could easily find it in the [|Creative Commons] section by typing keywords in the search bar. Not only can students and teachers view pictures but they can interact with students and teachers from other countries; message them questions about what life is like in their country. In exchange, they can upload pictures of themselves and those things they feel are important to their culture so their friends from around the world can see how their cultures are similar and/or different. Similarly, if teachers wanted to teach historical events or important people in history, they could find pictures on Flickr to supplement their lesson in [|The Commons] section.
 * **Photo Storage and Fostering Parent Involvement.** Educators also use Flickr as a class photo album. Students, parents, and/or teachers can easily upload digital pictures or videos taken on class field trips or taken in the classroom onto the class' Flickr page. To make the page private, a username and password can be used so only certain people have access to the page. In addition, images and videos can be downloaded from the page to the student's separate, personal page or onto their computer. For example, older students and adults can take pictures and videos from their class' Flickr page and place them in their own blogs. They can also manipulate and/or edit the images to make the quality look better or more appealing. If students have a Blackberry smartphone, they can take pictures with their phone, upload them onto their Flickr page, and geotag the image so people around the world will know where the picture was taken.

=Demonstrations and Examples=

media type="youtube" key="8RqvKXgQc9w&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425" //This video is a Flickr tutorial for first-time users.//

media type="youtube" key="QLo4355l6QE&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425" //This video shows what users can do with Flickr besides uploading pictures.//

media type="flickr" key="86905479@N00" ARG0="&lang=en-us&format=rss_200" width="500" height="500" //This is a slideshow of images taken by a teacher, who refers to herself as [|nmirela], from Bucharest, Romania.//

media type="flickr" key="38116636@N00" ARG0="&lang=en-us&format=rss_200" width="500" height="500" //This is a slideshow of images taken by an artist, who refers to herself as [|sunshine's creations], from the United States.//

=References=

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 * 1) [|Flickr - Welcome to Flickr]. Flickr. Retrieved on 9-29-2008.
 * 1) [|Wikipedia: Flickr]. Wikipedia. Retrieved on 9-29-2008.
 * 1) [|USATODAY.com – Flickr of idea]. Jefferson Graham, USA Today. (2-28-2006). Retrieved on 9-29-2008.
 * 1) [|USATODAY.com – Yahoo photos going dark as Flickr shines on]. Jefferson Graham, USA Today. (5-4-2007). Retrieved on 9-29-2008.
 * 2) [|Blackberry - Flickr for BlackBerry Smartphones]. BlackBerry, Motion Limited. (2008). Retrieved on 9-29-2008
 * 3) [|Flickr - nmirela's Photostream]. Flickr. (12-27-2007). Retrieved on 9-29-2008.
 * 4) [|Flickr - sunshine's creations Photostream]. Flickr (9-29-2008). Retrieved on 9-29-2008.

=External Links= = =


 * 1) [|Flickr Web Services]
 * 2) [|Flickr Help/FAQ]
 * 3) [|What is Flickr (and Hot Tips for Using It)]
 * 4) [|Flickr Blog]
 * 5) [|Flickrvision]
 * 6) [|Flickr: Explore Interesting Things from September 2008]
 * 7) [|Flickr Map]

=About the Author=

Rayna Sumida, Educational Technology (ETEC) Master's Program student. Enrolled in the ETEC 602 course. rayna@hawaii.edu