Flickr

Name of Web 2.0 Application: Flickr URL: [|http://www.flickr.com/]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [] **Flickr** is a [|photo sharing] [|website] and [|web services] suite, and an [|online community] platform, which is generally considered an early example of a [|Web 2.0] application. In addition to being a popular Web site for users to share personal photographs, the service is widely used by [|bloggers] as a photo repository. Its popularity has been fueled by its innovative [|online community] tools that allow photos to be tagged and browsed by [|folksonomic] means.

Flickr allows photos to be tagged (tagging is a Web 2.0 technology) and then searched by the tags. Flickr has an RSS feed, so that the user can subscribe to any number of fees. For example, [|photos tagged with Iraq]. One interesting feature about tagging photos is called [|Geotagging], where it is possible to tag an image with latitude and longitude information. For example, here is a [|geotagged photo of Burks Oakley in Glacier Bay, Alaska].

Use of the Web 2.0 Application in Teaching and Learning: Flickr would be useful in my online class. Students could upload pictures of themselves, their families, their neighborhoods, etc. - this would help to personalize the class. I could see that a course in political studies would benefit from the RSS of photos tagged with Iraq or with Washington, DC. I could see that we could structure an online discussion around a photo in Flickr. Students could post photos to Flickr and then link to them in their blog postings. Of course, students in a graphic arts class could upload photos of their work to Flickr - which then could lead to online discussions. I could create a group in Flickr (see: []) and have everyone in the class join the group - and the Flickr groups include a discussion board for dialogue. In doing a Google search for how to use Flickr in college teaching, I found additional ideas: I guess we could even have a discussion of digital copyright in dealing with images that others have posted to Flickr.
 * Ask students to record and reflect on their research by storing images in blogs or sets;
 * Encourage students to set up networks to see what their classmates are doing;
 * Encourage students to subscribe to groups and pools to increase their exposure to a subject by viewing a wide range of images