Photo sharing options

Flickr is my favorite photo sharing website and has been for over a year– I especially like the free Creative Commons Flickr Search site for finding images for my presentations. In my workshops about digital storytelling for teachers, Flickr Creative Commons is always the #1 website I recommend for finding story images. Not only can images be used legally for republished presentations, but the fact that images are “tagged” by the photographers who upload them helps increase the chances that a search for a particular keyword will actually yield relevant results.

The recently published “Wired Test” magazine (reviewing over 300 different electronic gadgets and gizmos just in time for pre-holiday shopping) includes on page 50 a list of popular photo-sharing sites. The three it mentions I have heard of before are Flickr, Buzznet (popular with MySpace users because of integration with the site) and WebShots. The two I have not heard of or explored much before are:

Tabblo: A browser-based environment for photo-based storytelling using different templates and textual annotation options. Tabblo integrates with Flickr, has privacy controls, supports visitor commenting, and integrates with blogs and other DSN sites.

Zoomr: A photo-sharing service focusing on geo-tagging and connections empowered by geographically linked images, using Google Maps.

I am not an advocate for teachers and students using DSN sites like MySpace at school for instructional purposes, but I DO think there is tremendous power in socially networked photo sharing sites that should be leveraged constructively and appropriately in schools. Digital storytelling projects provide a natural venue for novice and expert learners alike to learn about ways to effectively utilize sites like Flickr Creative Commons, discuss copyright / intellectual property issues, as well as Internet safety and appropriate use.

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On this day..

• Cisco Meraki Lab Workshop (October 2015) – 2015
• DEN Tech or Treat: Playing with Media – 2011
• NetPotential 2011 Conference Notes – 2011
• One of my favorite Oklahoma Classroom Blogs – 2011
• A touching story about Dad, the hero – 2009
• Visualizing social media publishing – LIVE – 2009
• Getting Started with Oral History Interviews – 2008
• Research-based suggestions for the digital storytelling process – 2008
• Professional development submission requests integrated in K12Online08 blog – 2008
• U.S. Citizens: Contact your elected officials about Change Congress – 2008