Photo Sharing

Photo Sharing is an activity that can be used in a wide variety of manners.

Photo Sharing can be used in schools for educational purposes. Students can find pictures of places, events or activities that they are studying using tags and tag clouds. Educators can share, promote or store documents of school events. For example, pictures of field trips, graduation, school events or school projects can be embedded on the school’s website or blog, enabling parents to see them immediately. Educators can also create motivational and personalized posters, magazine covers or CD covers using the application flickr toys. In the classroom itself, teachers can grab feeds from photographers, or anyone who posted pictures for that matter, and discuss them in class. History teachers can give students a walking tour of historic buildings. Architecture students can photograph buildings and present them to the class through a slideshow. Science teachers can photograph plants or animals and share it on the class website or blog or through a slideshow. Language teachers, specifically foreign language teachers, can post pictures of words, places or events that they are studying and have the students describe them. Foreign language students can practise the language they are learning by leaving comments on the photos in that language. Finally, Photo Sharing can be a gem for media literacy students, as they can model and critique pictures or create a visual story through flickr visual. Photo Sharing can also be used between students themselves for projects or assignments by sharing photos or information on the topic chosen or assigned.

Photo sharing can be used in one’s personal life as well. Individuals can post pictures of their family, of events they have been to, activities they have done or places they have travelled to to share with family and friends. They can also find like-minded people who traveled to the same places as they did or are interested in the same type of activities or events as they are. This can lead to discussions on the subject. Information can be shared and friendships can develop.

As a student studying business, I believe that Photo Sharing can be used in businesses as well. On a practical level, Photo Sharing allows co-workers to share business photos, business projects and business proposals quite easily, which enables co-workers to view and approve documents with little difficulty. Photo Sharing can also give a human face to the company, allow the company to connect and interact with potential customers, provide links to the company’s website and blog, create visuals to integrate into company websites and blogs and create maps for websites or blogs by tagging pictures with addresses. Photo Sharing also allows customers to view images of the company’s products and, in certain cases, it can be used instead of a company website.

Most photo sharing sites seem to be quite safe and provide users with the option to make photos private. This is advantageous as many people do not want strangers to view personal pictures, especially pictures of children or loved ones, and they certainly do not want their pictures posted all over the Internet. That being said, many people assume that their posted photos are private even though they may not make the necessary changes to ensure that their photos do, indeed, remain private. Pictures that are not private can be viewed and commented on by the public. These pictures can also be copied and posted in different venues on the Internet. Of course, pictures posted by an individual person are generally considered his or her property and are subject to copyright. Nevertheless, some people may choose to disregard this fact and use the pictures for their business or personal use. Often, no malice is intended. The user just needed a picture of something and this picture fit his or her criteria. In addition, with the advent of photo shop and similar programs, pictures can be altered, sometimes in very negative manners. This can create a concern for people who wish to post personal pictures and allow them to remain public. It is important to note that most Photo Sharing sites have privacy settings. However, the individual must make a conscious effort to set the settings to ensure that his or her privacy is protected. In addition, in the event that one’s pictures are stolen or doctored, even though the individual may be protected by copyright, it is a big headache to fight and prove that the pictures are, indeed, one’s property and to undo whatever damage was done.

On the other hand, the benefits of Photo Sharing services are tremendous. Family and friends can view and comment on pictures of their loves ones. Some Photo Sharing sites even provide professional prints of pictures for a fee. People can connect with like-minded individuals. They can gain information on places they have been to or places they want to go and activities they have done or activities they want to do. Educators can use photo sharing as a tool when teaching their students. Schools can use Photo Sharing to promote or share school events with parents, sometimes even while they are happening. Business can use Photo Sharing to gain new customers and promote their company. Co-workers can collaborate on projects or proposals. Finally, photo sharing can be of great benefit to the individual who wants to discover new places or new things and, through viewing public tagged photos on the subject, can visit the places and learn about the things he or she never thought possible.

Some of the information in this post was taken from Web 2.0 by Ann Bell