BP10_2009112_Flickr_lessons

Using Flickr in Educational settings


http://flickr.com/

In searching for classroom lessons related to Flickr.com, I found many good ideas for quickly and easily building slideshows of Flickr images based on key words, which could be used as an automated image backdrop for a lecture. While this is a simple way to build a rotating panel of images, it is risky because there would not be the opportunity to screen for incorrect tags or inappropriate images. This may cause a sudden and unexpected distraction from the presenter's flow to the audience, where the out-of-place image would disrupt rather than support the presentation. Also, this process relies on user tags being applied to images, which may not be available for some more esoteric or abstract keywords and topics.

If I was a teacher and if I had a classroom, I would try out some of the following lesson ideas using Flickr images:

• The obvious start is to have students create their own Flickr.com accounts, and upload their own images to share with their classmates and with the world!
• Another idea would be to have students search for posted Flickr images based on keyword topics from current study areas. Science and social studies may be easier to find images for, because there are many literal descriptive objects available to photograph. Math and philosophy topics may be more difficult to find images for, as the photographer would have to represent some kind of an association or analogy for these more abstract ideas.

I joined the group [One Letter] which has members post square photos that are single alphabet letters. These can be searched and sorted by character, and can be used as initials, as drop caps, and to build words in a ransom-note kind of style. There are several ways that this could be used in different academic areas:

• for photography, to take and post pictures of different letterforms to the One Letter group on Flickr.com, indicating the font if possible.
• for typography, identify the pictured typeface and determine its identifying features.
• for graphic design, compare photos of signage to photos of posters for text being used in a display context. Describe how the three-dimensional aspects add to the impact of the letterform as it is being used, as compared to a two-dimensional representation.
• for language arts, find an appropriate visual image to use as a title cap or chapter drop cap, so that the colors, style and context of the letter image contribute to the tone and feeling of the writing. Choose one best and worst example for each instance, pick letter that is a very good fit, and one that is not a good fit at all. Describe why the visual aspects of the letter image contribute to or detract from the written content.

http://www.typographykicksass.com/

This site uses the One Letter Flickr feed to dynamically build and visually represent typed messages. Users can submit a message that can be viewed privately and send it to an email address. If the message is tagged to be viewed by everyone, it is then added to the rotation of messages on display. This is an easy way to generate randomized letter-image phrases, but the messages are not screened so may be inappropriate for school or professional use.