Thing 3: Flickr

Photos and Images: Discover Flickr

Photo sharing websites have been around since the '90s, but it took a small startup site called Flickr (now owned by Yahoo) to catapult the idea of “sharing” into a full blown online community. Flickr uses "tags" or what we would call keywords to help identify and search photos.

For this exercise, you are asked to take a good look at Flickr and discover what this site has to offer. Find out how tags work, what groups are, and how people and other libraries are using Flickr. Today you get to choose - scenario 1 or scenario 2. Either way, you'll be asked to blog about your experiences in your Thing 3 blog entry...

Scenario 1

1. Take a good look around Flickr following the links above and find a photo you'd like to blog about.
2. Add a blog post about that photo and be sure to include either a link to the image or a copy of the image itself in your blog posting**. You can either use Blogger's photo upload feature or Flickr's blogging tool (you'll need to set up a Flickr account for this). Blog about the experience. How could Flickr be used in libraries and how could it be used for academic research?
   
   **A quick word about photo posting etiquette…when posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) is it advisable to get the person's permission before posting their photo in a publicly accessible place like Flickr. Never upload pictures that weren't taken by you (unless you have the photographer's consent) and always give credit when you include photos taken by someone else in your blog. Also, you might want to check out the Creative Commons licensing explanations in Flickr - you can search by license type.
   
   Basically, if the photo is labeled "Some rights reserved" under Additional Information it's ok to post it on your blog if you credit the photographer.
   

Scebario 2

1. Create a free Flickr account.
2. Use a digital camera to capture a few photos or email yourself some pictures from home.
3. Upload these to your Flickr account and tag at least one of the images “UCI10things” and mark it public.
4. Create a blog post about your photo and the experience of getting it loaded to Flickr (be sure to include the image in your post - use Flickr's blogging tool or Blogger's photo upload feature.)
   

Discovery Resources:

• Flickr Learn More tour (6 steps)
• Mediamazine Flickr Tutorials
• Flickr: Popular tags Interesting- Last 7 days
• Flickr Services (3rd party applications & mashups) and here's another Flickr site that lets you create movie posters, CD covers, magazine covers and so on.
  

From this point on is optional!

More Flickr Fun:

Like many web 2.0 sites, Flickr has encouraged other people to build their own online applications using images found on the site. Through the use of APIs (application programming interfaces), many people have created third party tools and mashups* that use Flickr images.

Here are just a sampling of a few …

• 
  Mappr - allows you to take Flickr images and paste them on a map.
• Flickr Color Pickr - lets you find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color.
• Montagr – create a photo mosaic from photos found on Flickr.
• Discover more mashups, web apps, and Flickr tools.
  
  

Advanced, optional exercise: Explore some of the fun Flickr mashups and 3rd party tools that are out there and add a blog post about one that intrigues you.
A fun tools is FD Toys’ Trading Card Maker. And there’s a ton of librarians out there that have created their own Librarian Trading Card.

So have some fun discovering and exploring some neat little apps. And if you're up to the challenge while you’re at it, why not create a trading card of your own. :)

* Mashup Note: Wikipedia offers some great articles that explain mashups. Basically they are hybrid web applications that take features from one application (like Flickr) and mash it up with another (like a map). In this example, you get Mappr (http://mappr.com/).

Congratulations on finishing Thing 3!

Thing 2: Blogging (Part 2)

Keeping Track and More About Blogging

Congratulations on completing Part 1 of the Blogging Exercise! Your blog is where you and the Learning 2.0 Team will track your progress with the 10 Things or So. Before you start in on this set of blogging exercises, don't forget to complete Library Learning Thing #2 and add your first post or two to your blog.

Blog Exercise

Part 1: Find Blogs of Interest to You in the Blogosphere

Assignment: Use each of the suggested blog search engines below to find a blog about academic libraries or any other academic topic of interest to you. Next, try searching for a non-academic topic of interest to you.

A Few Words About Blogs

There are numerous blogs - some sources claim that 100,000 new blogs appear everyday - and there are many search engines to help you find blogs. Companies who design blog search engines are constantly working to improve the flexibility and usability of their search engines. If you are interested in learning more about this, a brief article about the issues involved in creating productive blog search engines is available in the Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition) from June 1, 2006, page D1, entitled, "New Tools for Searching Blogs..." Additionally and for future reference, Ask.com has a handy list of blog search engines available here.

The blog search engines we will use for this exercise are:

• Technorati

Technorati is one of the leading blog search engines "...Currently tracking 86.1 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media." Try Technorati's advanced search to find blog directories by topic, for example: academic libraries or medieval manuscripts. You'll learn more about Technorati and tagging in another exercise. For now, we'll focus on its blog searching capability. Try your keywords in the advanced search.

• Blogscope

Blogscope will allow you to focus your search through its list of related links. The latter show up on the right side of the screen next to your search results. Check out its popularity curve and correlation discovery functions. See if and when your keywords were used most frequently and see what other terms relate to it. For more information about the latter functions, see the Blogscope About page.

• Sphere

Use Sphere for news-related blog searches specifically. It connects news stories to blogger content. For example, if you search for news stories about libraries you will also be able to find related blog entries. Try it, enter a search and when the results come up, click on the link "Related Content."

• Blog.Ask.com

The location for Ask.com's official blog provides a search box that allows you to search blogs or the web in general. The page also lists the top ranked blogs linked to from the RSS aggregator, Bloglines (something you'll learn more about in Library Learning Thing #5a ). Type in your keyword and select "blogs" and see where it takes you.

For help finding academic library blogs, try LibDex, an index of library-related blogs or LisZen a Library Science search engine.
NOTE: your favorite web sites, academic or non, may have blogs, too. Check your favorite sites for blogs, too, if you'd like.


Part 2: Post to your blog

• Write about your blog search experience in your blog:
• Which blog search, if any, did you prefer over the others? Why?
• Did any work better for academic or non-academic searches? Which ones and how so?
• Do you think you'll add any blogs to your reading list?
• If you use a different blog search engine, tell us which one and why.
  

Fun(ny) Blog Link:

People spend time ranking and rating blogs. Check out the "Bloggies" an award site for best blogs. The 2007 nominees and winners are listed here.

Help with Posting & Editing Your Posts

How to Post:

• Login to your blog and either view your blog and click on post or, from the dashboard screen, click on new post. Either way, you will be able to post to your blog.
• If you want to come back to your post later, save it as a draft, don't click on publish. If you are ready to post your comments, click on publish.
  

Editing your Posts:

• From the dashboard menu, select manage "posts" and then click the edit box, this will allow you to change the text.
• To edit, click on the edit link next to the post you want to update. When you have completed your edit, select publish to repost the edited entry.
• To delete a post, click on delete. Blogger will ask you to confirm deletion of the item before it removes it.

Congratulations! You are now a blog consumer and creator.

Thing 2: Blogging (Part 1)

Learning Objectives

Blogging (Part 1) Set up your own blog & add your first post

Blog. A not-very-attractive word that is nearly ubiquitous today, but what exactly does it refer to? The original term ‘Web log’ was in short order abbreviated to ‘blog’, and these refer to any Web site that displays usually short, frequently updated, topical entries in reverse chronological order—that is, with the most recent additions first. Although this has always been possible on the Web if one knew how to code Web pages from scratch, blogging applications dispensed with this by giving would-be Web authors an easily configured interface into which their text (or other content such as video, audio, graphics, news feeds) could simply be entered. Blog templates can be used as provided, or additional design elements can be added, moved, or deleted at will.

So what do people do with blogs? The possibilities are endless: online diary, independent journalism, social commentary, restaurant reviews, updates for family and friends, news and activities on a particular theme, project, or hobby…really any- and everything that interests people. And it’s all free!In order to keep track of your progress through the 10 Things or So, as well as to find out for yourself how easy it is to blog, this exercise will tell you how to set up your own Web log using Blogger, one of the most popular online blogging services. (If you already have a blog using different blogware such as LiveJournal, TypePad, or WordPress, feel free to use it for your 10 Things or So entries.)

You can get started blogging in three easy steps:

#1: Create an account. Go to Blogger and click the Create Your Blog Now arrow. You will then create a Google (Blogger’s parent company) account, which will also work across all of Google’s other services. Be sure to write down your username and password for future reference. If you already have a Google account, you may log in through it and skip this step.

#2: Name your blog. Don’t get too hung-up on naming your blog—this can be changed later if you like. Name it anything you wish and, yes, you can remain anonymous (although the Learning 2.0 Team will need to know who you are). You’ll also need to give your blog a Web address (URL) which you can’t change. You’ll need to remember the address; better write that down too.

#3: Choose a template. Again, this design can be modified or changed at any time.

Your blog is up and running!

Before adding content, you’ll want to avoid confusion by keeping in mind the difference between the Dashboard view (where you manage your blog by creating and editing content and design) and the view the public will see:

To post entries, edit, and design: Go to the Blogger site and log in. You will then be in the Dashboard view.

To see the public view of your blog: Go to the URL address for your blog, which will be http://______.blogspot.com, ______ being the unique identifier you entered in Step 2. This is your blog as the public sees it.

If you run into problems or would like more information about blogs and using Blogger, take Blogger’s Quick Tour .

Now add a post or two. What to write about? You’ll definitely want to create a ‘discovery’ post for each of the 10 Things or So you’ll be exploring. Please clearly label each entry in your blog with the number and the Thing to which it refers (for example “Thing 2: Blogging”). Each of your posts should tell what you’ve discovered and learned. Feel free to share your experiences: what worked for you, what didn’t; what surprised or frustrated or pleased you; tips and suggestions for using and applying each Thing.

Happy blogging!

UCI Libraries 10 Things or So Exercises

The Learning 2.0 Program's List of 10 Things or So exercises will be posted here. The Learning 2.0 Team will post at least one new "thing" and exercise per week. A link to the Learning Objectives for each exercise, starting with Thing 2, will be provided, too.

Have fun!

Thing 1: Welcome & Read About the Program

Welcome

About This Program