Actually using the technology

Just a short note and a chortle. My assignment was to actually USE photobucket or another photo sharing site, so early this morning my trusty mac and I gave it a go. Dead easy, which is of course the point. I can now understand through experience just how easy it is to begin. I know it will be fun to continue playing and learning on photobucket. This learning carries with it the bonus insight that unless I MAKE another teacher use the new technology, they probably won't, since most educators would rather do the readings, because that's always worked for us before (e.g. all the way through university, particularly if we became adults before the 21st century). In my experience Teacher Librarians love collaborating, but it has to be beneficial to the classroom teacher and her students. So, time, critical thinking, curricular relevance and prescribed learning outcomes all need to be part of the package.

Consulting an Expert Player

To help with my exploration of the world of photosharing I interviewed my 20 year old son about what photosite he uses and why. Tom is a mac-man through and through. It was his love of mac that led me to order my own, one week into this U of A course. Kind of a steep learning curve to begin exploring a new computer while taking my first on-line course....but hey, nothing like immersing oneself to see how well you float!

Anyway, Tom takes and stores photos on his mac and he seems to share images through Facebook as much as anything. He tells me he has used photobucket and found it easy enough. I gave it a whirl and found it straightforward and appealing. Lots of options to view and use(?) other people's photos. I must admit that my initial worry about being confronted with images of scantily clad young folks was somewhat appeased. Useful parts of photobucket are the links to myspace. This seems to be a full service site, but Im not sure just when you start to pay for what you use.

I spent some time on the Flickr site too. Very similar possibilities. I really liked the tour and I was immediately interested in the creative commons details. Sharing art, giving artists both credit and control over how their art is used AND the possibility of comments from a wide audience---this is the internet at its best. The possibilities for students to create, manipulate and display all kinds of work is exciting. I can imagine applications for just about every subject area. Creating videos, which we look at next, could be used to teach processes,(e.g. baking a cake, performing a science experiment, choreographing a dance, giving a speech or even researching in a library!).

My sense is that using multi- media would make any assignment more engaging for most students.

Creative Commons info

Here's the creative commons info that appears on the Flickr site.

Creative Commons

Many Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, and you can browse or search through photos under each type of license. Here are some recently added photos: Attribution License From Piutus From HAM guy From NateBeal From lightscripture From superhua » 6,650,774 photos (See more) Attribution-NoDerivs License From Jessica DeWinter From mtneer_man From mtneer_man From Pixi Toxicination From Jessica DeWinter » 2,234,078 photos (See more) Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License From Joaquin Souyris I. From Kevin Skuce From Kevin Skuce From Spikenzie From Joaquin Souyris I. » 20,143,066 photos (See more) Attribution-NonCommercial License From toniluca From toniluca From seanlisa99 From toniluca From binarydreams » 8,234,124 photos (See more) Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License From shriak From obLiterated From broken glass From micstolz From broken glass » 16,682,983 photos (See more) Attribution-ShareAlike License From Chaval BR From miniteca.org From DanielHP From miniteca.org From miniteca.org » 4,658,875 photos (See more)

"Creative Commons is a non-profit that offers an alternative to full copyright." creativecommons.org Briefly... Attribution means: You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work - and derivative works based upon it - but only if they give you credit. Noncommercial means: You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work - and derivative works based upon it - but for noncommercial purposes only. No Derivative Works means: You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it. Share Alike means: You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work. Add a Creative Commons license to your Flickr photos.

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