Method 5

Watched YouTube video. It looks so easy.
Took Flickr Feature Tour, and signed up for a Flickr account. Liked notes in Community Guidelines about appropriate content, and not violating copyright laws.
Explored Flickr Popular tags. Typed in viola, and there was only one photo of the musical instrument on the first page!
When looking through Interesting photos from the last 7 days, I was surprised to see that The Whitehouse has a photo stream. I would expect it on their site, but didn't expect it on Flickr.
I looked through some of the library pages, and read discussions on whether or not libraries should direct patrons (specifically children) to Flickr. I also read through discussions of whether or not libraries should include photos of people without their consent.

On the discussion of whether or not libraries should use Flickr, I viewed Hennepin County Library's photostream. They must have had permission to publish that student art on the web.

Michael Stephen's blog post and the responses pretty much report what I had always heard about public places.
I tend to agree with the last poster's stance. Don't take photos of people who ask you not to, and remove photos upon request. Of course this was one person's experience, but she reports only one person asking to have their photo unposted. I have taken many photos of my library and events in it, but have only posted those with no people in them just to be on the safe side.

I work in a public school library. Among my duties is collecting a number of registration forms. One of these is a Consent to Photograph form. I haven't counted, but roughly 1 in 5 parents say NO, they do not want their child photographed or interviewed. I send a list out to the staff so that they know who to edit out of any photos. In some cases, the students want to fill out another form so that they can be in the photo. I take photos, but don't publish them on the web. I may eventually include students, but as for now, I will limit photos to displays and backs of people.

I dug out my camera from where it has been since last May, thinking, I've got the perfect photos for this. Unfortunately, the battery was dead, and the charger had not been stored with the camera. So, not having access to a camera or a library until Monday, I was wondering what to do when I remembered that about 2 weeks ago, the tech dept. gave us outside access to our library catalog. My catalog has a photo of my library that I took with no identifiable people in it. The problem is that is is quite small and I am unable to save it in the correct form. I found another cheapy camera and managed to upload a photo to Flickr. Since I have had a cold and runny nose all day for the last two days, I had to crop it so that my red nose & lips aren't visible. Now my blog has a profile photo. Now that I've seen how to do it, I can add photos of library events. We are scheduled to have a RIF distribution in 2 weeks. I'll try to add some of those photos.




I searched for a photo with a creative commons licence to make sure that I wouldn't be violating a law by using a copyrighted photo in my blog. I found a beautiful photo of a tiger looking so gentle that he looks like you could pet him.

I think that I am more likely to use this on a personal level, first. I want to learn how to link Flickr to facebook. What about photos my daughter takes? She's too young to have her own account; as her guardian, can I upload them on her behalf, giving her credit? What about people's vacation photos? Do you have any idea who that was that you handed your camera too and said "Can you take our photo?" The photos on facebook are including many people who may not know that they are there. My wall contains a photo of me, my brother and my sister. My brother has no clue that his photo is on there. I don't know if he would object or not. I chat with my sister all the time so she's seen it and not objected. I want to be really sure that I know what I am doing before anyone from work sees my work.

The whole idea of is it O.K. to post people's photos without their consent is a concern. For example, we had the author, Viola Canales, visit my school and speak with the kids about a month ago. I took photos, but by posing, was she granting permission to have them posted on the web? Is she enough of a celebrity that it doesn't matter? What about the photo of me and her together? I don't remember who took it. That person owns the copyright, so they should be the one to post it. It is difficult to make an interesting presentation of events in the library without including photos of real people.


I like the fact that I can find something in Flickr and have it show up in my blog without having to monkey around logging in, cutting & pasting and so forth. I see potential for promoting upcoming events at the library. I am hesitant to use people photos, but can create a link from the library homepage to show what is coming up. There are some photos that I could use as the library had a facelift this past year. It was given a fresh coat of paint, 30 computers, and new bookshelves. I could post photos of those. My windows are decorated with student artwork. What kind of permission would be needed to post those online?

Extra Credit.

The photos in Picasa seem to have a more professional look, probably because the more serious photographers would prefer this to Flickr. Flickr seems to be aimed more at the general public. I see it as more likely to be used by teens.
From the You Tube video, it looks like Picasa has many more features. This seems like it is more for someone
who wants to do serious photo editing or to create professional looking presentations. It seems to be much
more powerful, but much more complicated than Flickr.