Quest 7 - Photosharing

Photosharing websites have been around since the '90s, but it took a small start up site called Flickr to catapult the idea of “sharing” into a full-blown online community. Within the past two years, Flickr has become the fastest growing photo sharing site on the web and is known as one of the first websites to use tags to create associations and connections between photos and users of the site.

Let's take a look at Flickr and discover what this site has to offer. You can find out how Flickr's tags work, what groups are, and how other libraries are using Flickr to create interesting things. (Some of us here at CCPL already have Flickr accounts, like our Public Relations department, St. Andrews, and Cynthia Bledsoe, to name just three.)

Some of the neatest features of Flickr are actually aren't created by Flickr employees. Like many web 2.0 sites, Flickr has encouraged other people to build their own online applications using images found on the site. Many people have created these third party tools and mashups that use Flickr images. Here are just a couple of examples:

Retrivr - lets you search Flickr photos by drawing a rough sketch and retrieving pictures that "match" the sketch.

fd's Flickr Toys - a collection of lots of Flickr add-ons and toys.

Flickr Graph – creates a visual representation of your connections with other Flickr users.

Before we move on to the Discovery Resources and Exercise for the week, here are 3 thoughts to keep in mind about Flickr photo posting etiquette. When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) is it advisable to get the person's (or parent'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.

Now, on to Flickr for some photosharing fun!


Discovery Resources

• Flickr Tour (7 steps)


• Mediamazine Flickr Tutorials


• Popular Flickr tags Interestingness - Last 7 days


• Flickr Services (3rd party applications & mashups)


• libraries on Flickr

Discovery Exercise
Choose one of these options and complete it for this week's Discovery Exercise.

Option A:
Take a look around Flickr and discover an interesting image to write a blog entry about. Be sure to include either a link to the image or, if you create a Flickr account, you can use Flickr's blogging tool to add the image directly to your post. (You can also include images in your post by using Blogger's photo upload tool.)

--OR--

Option B:
Create a Free account in Flickr and use a digital camera to capture a few pictures of something in your branch. Upload them to your Flickr account and mark it "public". Then create a post in your blog about your photo and experience. Be sure to include the image in your post. (Remember, once you have a Flickr account, you have two options for posting your photo: through Flickr's blogging tool or using Blogger's photo upload feature.)

--OR--

Option C:
Explore some of the fun Flickr mashups and 3rd party tools that are out there. Create a blog post about one that intrigues you. (Personally one of my very favorite tools is FD Toys’ Trading Card Maker. And there’s a ton of librarians out there that have created their own Librarian Trading Card.)

PS: CCPL Tech Stars! image created by Spell with Flickr.

Quest 6 - Tag, You're It!

Tagging is an open and informal method of categorizing that allows users to associate keywords with online content (web pages, pictures & posts). Unlike library subject cataloging, which follows a strict set of guidelines (i.e.Library of Congress subject headings), tagging is completely unstructured and free-form, allowing users to create connections between data any way they want. In upcoming Quests, we will explore a few sites – Flicker and LibraryThing to name two - that allow users to take advantage of tagging. (You're already using one site that allows tagging: Blogger! It calls them "labels" and you can see the labels we've chosen for each week at the bottom of every Quest posted here on Tech Trek 2.0.)

This week we'll exploring two very popular sites that use tagging: the social bookmarking site Del.icio.us, and a popular blog search engine Technorati.


Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us (typed in as http://del.icio.us/) is a social bookmarking manager which allows you to bookmark a web page, add tags to categorize your bookmarks, and share your bookmarks with the world! One great reason to use Del.icio.us for your bookmarks is that you can see your bookmarks on any computer with Net access. (Many library service desks have a certain set of web sites they visit all the time. Wouldn't it be helpful to be able to see those bookmarks no matter which computer you're using right now? Yes, we thought so, too!)

Additionally, many Del.icio.us users love being able to use tags to see how other users have tagged similar links and also discover other websites that may be of interest to you. Think of it as peering into another users’ filing cabinet and also having access to a filing cabinet that millions of people have helped create. We'll take a closer look inside Del.icio.us during the Discovery Resources & Discovery Exercise below.


Technorati

Since we've been using the Tech Trek 2.0 blog and our individual blogs since Quest 2, you might be wondering just how big the blogosphere (aka: the blogging world) is. Well, according to Technorati, a leading search engine / authority on blogs, the number of blogs doubles just about every 6 months, with over 106.2 million blogs currently being tracked by the site. As for tags, over 250 million bits of media are currently tagged on the site! Yes, these numbers are astounding, but as you’ve already seen for yourselves, blogging is easy and inexpensive enough that almost every industry, including libraries, is entering the blogosphere.

So how does a person get their blog listed on Technorati, and how can you tag your posts with keywords to make them more findable in a Technorati search? The answer to the first question is that your blog is probably already being captured by Technorati if you're using very popular blogging tools such as Blogger, LiveJournal, WordPress. However, if you want to join the party and have your blog officially listed on Technorati and also take advantage of the site's other features, you’ll need to claim your blog yourself. As for tagging posts with Technorati tags? That's pretty easy, too. All you need to do is add a little bit of HTML code to the bottom of your post (see the example at the end of this post) and Technorati will pick up these tags when it checks (or web crawls) your site. Of course, as a popular blog & media search tool, you can use Technorati to locate blogs, videos, video blogs, and music. You can search for keywords within blog posts, search for a particular blog post, videos, or music files that have been tagged with a certain keyword, or search for blogs that have been registered and tagged as a blog about a certain subject (like photography or libraries). The best way to understand what Technorati can do is to try searching it, which we will do as part of the Discovery Exercise.



Discovery Resources

Otter Group Del.icio.us tutorial (12 min video) - Talks (among other things) about how to use Del.icio.us tags to find new websites on any topic. [Edit: Another video to try in case this one doesn't work is Getting Started With Del.icio.us.]

Us.ef.ul: A beginners guide to Del.icio.us

Several Habits of wildly successful Del.icio.us users

Technorati Review Part 1 and Part 2 - from the Recommended Web Tools Blog

Technorati Redesigned - Get Realigned Here - a good overview of the current version of Technorati's interface, which changed this past May. (Many Technorati tutorials out there still cover the previous version.)

Technorati Popular features



Discovery Exercise
One half of this week's exercise is about Del.icio.us. The other half is on Technorati.

Part One: Del.icio.us

1. View the 12 minute Del.icio.us tutorial to get a good overview of its features.
2. Check out Del.icio.us by looking at the TechTrek20 account that was created for this exercise. Note: In this account you will find lots of resources that have been highlighted or used throughout the course of the TechTrek 2.0 program.
3. Try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by a lot of other users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags that they used to categorize this reference?
4. Create a blog post about your experience and thoughts about this tool.

OPTIONAL: If you’re up to the challenge, create a Del.icio.us account for yourself and discover how this useful bookmarking tool can replace your traditional browser bookmark list.

Part Two: Technorati

1. Take a look at Technorati's Advanced Search and try doing a search for “Library 2.0” in Keyword Search, in Tag Search and in the Blog Directory. Are the results different?
2. Explore popular blogs and blog searches. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results?
3. Create a blog post about your discoveries on this site.

OPTIONAL: If you're up for a challenge, learn how to tag your posts by with Technorati tags so users can find your posts on Technorati. Create a post about something. It can be anything you want. Then add the HTML code to the bottom to tag it as “TechTrek2.0.” You may also want to consider claiming your blog and creating a watchlist. (NOTE: When adding HTML code, you'll want to make sure you're in Blogger's Edit HTML tab.)

Technorati Tag: tags del.icio.us technorati

Quest 5 - Tech Trek Playhouse!

Time out for fun!

Your Quest this week, should you choose to accept it, is to catch up with Quests 1 to 4 if you need to, then we invite you to have some fun! How? Try exploring some of these interesting websites this week! You are NOT required to post a blog entry about any of them. We just want you to have a good time exploring!

Discovery Exercise

Here are some websites you can explore!

• BigHugeLab's Trading Card Maker - Upload a picture of you or someone you know to create a customized trading card! People always enjoy goofing off online, and sites that offer interactive photo fun are always popular.



• Simpsonize Me! - Speaking of unexpected fun & photo manipulation, who would have guessed that a website advertising Burger King & the Simpsons Movie could be so much fun? Upload a picture of yourself and the site will turn you into an animated Simpsons character!



• ImageChef - Trading cards and Simpsons characters are great, but what if you want to spice up a blog post or web page with a unique graphic? Check out ImageChef, where you can put your comments on their pictures. (Want to see an example? There are two right here in this post!)



• Pandora - But what do people listen to while playing with all these pictures online? Try Pandora, a site that turns the Web into your own personalized radio station! Type in the name of a song or the artist, and the site automatically builds a customized station that plays only songs by that artist or sound like that song!



• Craig's List - Ever been to Craig's List? It's a lot like the classified ads in the paper, only they're free to post and free to search online. Find a friend or a date, a ride to share, garage sales, used furniture, books, a job, or discuss topics of interest--all with people who live just in the Charleston area!



• Palmetto Biz Buzz - Another local interest site is Palmetto Biz Buzz, where you can read & write reviews of businesses in South Carolina. Look up your most or least favorite business to see what other people think or share your own opinion online.



• Trip Advisor - The next time you plan on heading out of town, you might want to remember Trip Advisor. You can search over 10 million reviews of hotels, vacations and more travel-related stuff. If you want to sound off about your trip, you can post your own review to share with other people if you want.

Want more fun sites to explore? Quest 6 is right around the corner!