Week 3 - Things 5 - 7

Thing # 5
I am having a lot of fun exploring flickr. Before today, my only experiences using flickr has been viewing pictures that others have sent me.
I have been using lots of other photo sites - depending on the prices & projects that I have been doing. (Snapfish, Winkflash, & Shutterfly have been my favorites). I used these because I knew you could order prints & other photo gifts, & they do also have sharing features. I had no idea before today that you could order prints or do other projects through flickr & though of it only as a "photo-sharing" site. (I do wonder what people think of the quality of the prints?)

As a mother even just thinking of pictures brings up pangs of guilt & panic in me. Our family pictures are mostly in boxes & various drawers throughout the house. I like to think I am a "scrapbooker" but really I am just a buyer of scrapbooking materials. My oldest son is 7 1/2 in "real life" & about 3 or 4 months old in his scrapbook ... my poor youngest son is really 3 & he may never have a scrapbook, but at least all of his pictures are digital (reminder to self: back up your pictures onto disk) - & I have created picture dvds for him...
I am going to have a lot of fun exploring flickr some more, & deciding if I should put all of our digital pictures in their. (They are spread out throughout the various sites I mentioned before & I do use Picasa by Google - but not their web album, so that may be another option also)

As a librarian & teacher, I have never considered using flckr in a classroom or library setting. However, I loved the fact that you could locate pictures from all over the world using the "world map" and "places" features. This seems like it could be great in 6th grade social studies as they study various continents & countries, as well as with foreign language classes.
Of course my questions are: will the students stumble upon anything inappropriate? (Or maybe I can locate specific pictures first) Will I even be able to access flickr from school? Unfortunately our Internet filters have been in extra high gear this year & even though I can send the URL to our technology director & request that it is unblocked, things seem to "reset" each week (or maybe every day) & that access to certain sites is blocked again. I spent a lot of time in the beginning of the year with this issue, & lately I have found it easier (although not better) to work around it.

Thing # 6: flickr mashups & 3rd party sites
I am amazed at everything you can do with flickr! Of course, I found myself thinking as a mother 1st (think of how much money I have spent to have my son's sports cards & magazine covers made in all of those photo packages each season throughout the year... and of course I already mentioned I am not the best mother when it comes to pictures so I am not even sure where many of those have ended up)

I loved the "Curriculum Connection" ideas listed on CSLA's site, & it helped me to start thinking about other projects that could be done using some of these applications. Yahoo Trip Planner is perfect for foreign language classes that typically have done "brochures" of countries. The posters, magazine covers, trading cards, billboards, captioner & CD covers can be used for projects throughout the curriculum. The following projects came to mind to me right away: 6th graders chose an attraction to be a "new wonder of the world" - 8th grade science studying national parks could make billboards - use the map features, make magazine covers, 5th grade explorer or revolutionary biography projects could use almost any of these, 7th grade poetry could also advertise poets or poems using almost any of these features.
I am looking forward to using these some more & hopefully they will work from school also - so I can share these with my teachers. At the very least, I have some ideas for when my own children have projects to complete at home.

Thing # 7: Technology Related Blog Post

I will start out by continuing along with the theme of photos...
I was very resistant to purchasing my 1st digital camera. We purchased it the day before my 3 year old son was born (my husband had left our traditional camera in a friend's car after attending a Patriots game. He is VERY lucky we had a camera just in time!) With the exception of the past year (for some reason this year I really haven't printed any of my pictures ,- another thing that is on my "to do" list) I have been printing ALL of my digital pictures. Even the ones that did not come out that great, even though I know I can delete them or I can choose not to print those, I have trouble doing that.

My favorite photo related toy is the tiny digital video camera I bought last year. At first it was only available at Target, & then Amazon, but I think now there are other versions coming out & it is on the same platform of the "disposable video cameras" you could buy at CVS. Here is the link to the company: http://www.puredigitalinc.com/ (now they have even newer, cuter ones available!) My camera holds 60 minutes of video & then you just flip it open & connect to the USB port on your computer & it downloads quickly with the software included on the camera. This has been the best thing to help me with my motherly guilt, because I wasn't one to lug around our older, much larger video camera - but this fits into my pocket & is so easy to use. It is not great for capturing those hockey or baseball games, but awesome at close-up events. This would also be great for classroom use because they are so easy to use & very durable so far. (Mine has dropped several times & still works great). It could be used for interviews, presentations, etc.

My favorite site to use with my digital video and pictures is http://www.onetruemedia.com/. This lets me upload my pictures & videos & play it in a "montage" or sliedshow... I also add background music. I have been purchasing the DVDs for myself & gifts for the grandparents, but you can also view and share online for free.
This would also be a great alternative in a classroom to PowerPoint presentations. You can add slides for "captions" describing the pictures or video that you import - & it could be used for just about any class. Not sure if this will work but if anyone wants to see an example of what it can do this is my latest video (it is Christmas, 2007) http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_shared?p=493e60d516fda19a94f6f9&skin_id=1604&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=email
I have upgraded my account beyond the free one - so I have other transitions, colors, & fonts that are not available in the free package... but the free package would still work great in a classroom.

My last topic for today is something I just got "invited" to this weekend. "Good Reads" http://www.goodreads.com/ Although I really have never used MySpace of Facebook, from what I can tell this site may be on the same idea, but focused only on books and reading. You can quickly add books that you have read (searching their database or Amazon's - complete with book jacket pictures) - rate it easily by clicking on the # of stars, & then add your own reviews if you want. You have "friends" (mine has started with people in my book club) & you can see what they are reading or have read, read their reviews, etc. I have really been having a lot of fun with this so far. You can set up groups & make them private or public - so perhaps it could be used as a classroom or library. Students would need emails to register, so at my school that could be difficult - I'm sure most students have emails at home, but at school we don't provide student email & we are not able to access outside email... sites such as MySapce are blocked for "social networking" so I have a feeling when I check this, it will also be blocked. However, I have been enjoying using this site so far & am looking forward to trying it out at school & figuring out if there is a way I could utilize it with students.

(update: I have just figured out how to add my "bookshelves" to my blog... I added the professional & children's & ya bookshelves. I think you can also click on links & get to my reviews... I will keep playing with these sites as long as my kids keep behaving, or until the Patriots game starts!)