Delicious is an online social bookmarking site. Using Delicious, you can put various websites together in an organized manner. This can help so that if you are trying to find information on a topic, you will have multiple websites that are already grouped together for ease.
You can also add people to your network so that you can see all of their bookmarked websites. I could see adding quite a few teachers and creating a network of people who have bookmarked great websites which I can use, or add to my own list of bookmarks. This sharing of information across the world is a great feature of this program.
Another great feature of Delicious is that you can get to your bookmarks from any computer. If I am on my home computer and find great websites that I could use with my students, I don't need to wait until I have my school laptop. I can simply bookmark them on Delicious and I will be able to access them from any computer.
I used it to bookmark websites that would be useful for reading centers for my second grade students. It was very easy to add the bookmarks and to add the titles and tags. My bookmarks are here. Our county has something called a Document Repository in which various websites, activities, lesson plans, etc. are available for teachers to use. While it is a great feature that our county created, sorting through all of the information can take a while. This is why I started to use Delicious. I can bookmark the websites that I find on the Document Repository so that my favorite sites are all together. This will make using the websites easier as I will not have to search for the one I am looking for amongst multiple websites.
To explore the many possiblilities of Delicious, visit this site for 8 tips for better Delicious bookmarking.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Flickr vs. Snapfish
Flickr vs. Snapfish: Which one to choose?
In my previous blog I wrote about Flickr. Now, I am going to show ways that that Flickr and Snapfish are similar and different. Once you review the list, hopefully you will be able to decide which photo program best fits your needs.
Similarities:
- Both Flickr and Snapfish are free (atleast the basic version of Flickr).
- There are multiple ways to upload photos to these two photo programs.
- You can order prints from both programs.
- You can group your photos together in groups or sets on both Flickr and Snapfish.
- You can edit your pictures when using both programs.
- Great, creative gifts can be created using Flickr and Snapfish.
Differences:
- Using Snapfish, you can send in pictures on a roll of film and they can upload the pictures to your Snapfish account.
- Flickr has the maps feature that lets users see where the pictures posted on Flickr were taken.
- The kinds of projects able to be made vary (Ex. Flickr has picture cubes, and Snapfish has mugs).
On way to use Snapfish would be to create an album that can be used in the curriculum. This album I created consists of photos from the Air and Space Museum. These photos can be shown to the students when they are discussing Air and Space. Another way the pictures can be used is each student can take a picture and they can write a story about what they see. Click here for the photo album.
In my previous blog I wrote about Flickr. Now, I am going to show ways that that Flickr and Snapfish are similar and different. Once you review the list, hopefully you will be able to decide which photo program best fits your needs.
Similarities:
- Both Flickr and Snapfish are free (atleast the basic version of Flickr).
- There are multiple ways to upload photos to these two photo programs.
- You can order prints from both programs.
- You can group your photos together in groups or sets on both Flickr and Snapfish.
- You can edit your pictures when using both programs.
- Great, creative gifts can be created using Flickr and Snapfish.
Differences:
- Using Snapfish, you can send in pictures on a roll of film and they can upload the pictures to your Snapfish account.
- Flickr has the maps feature that lets users see where the pictures posted on Flickr were taken.
- The kinds of projects able to be made vary (Ex. Flickr has picture cubes, and Snapfish has mugs).
On way to use Snapfish would be to create an album that can be used in the curriculum. This album I created consists of photos from the Air and Space Museum. These photos can be shown to the students when they are discussing Air and Space. Another way the pictures can be used is each student can take a picture and they can write a story about what they see. Click here for the photo album.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Flickr: An online photoalbum
Flickr is a website that allows users to not only upload photos to share with friends and family, but opens up a a new world of creativity. With a simple to follow self-guided tour, users are able to understand and benefit from the full potential of Flickr. Once you join Flickr (FREE for basic accounts), you can upload, edit, organize, share, create maps, make stuff, and keep in touch.
In order to allow for as many users as possible, Flickr can be used on both PC and Mac computers. There are also multiple ways to upload pictures, such as using email. Once the pictures are uploaded, the fun and creativity can begin. Everyone has those pictures that come out kind of blurry or there is something wrong with the photo. With Flickr, there is no need to discard those seemingly imperfect photos. Picnik, is a partner of Flickr, and, once you give authorization of Picnik to load your photos, you are all set to edit those photos. In the editing mode you can rotate, change colors, sharpen, and change the exposure, to name a few editing options.
Simply uploading and editing photos is not enough. Users need a way to organize the photos into albums, and Flickr's response to this is sets. By creating sets, you are essentially creating photo albums which will organize your photos. If you are a dog fanatic, or love to travel, then the share section may interest you. This is a way for groups of people who are interested in the same topic to meet eachother and share photos of the chosen topic. I could have my students take pictures of nouns and create a folder of nouns. Take a look at my nouns folder. This folder could be used all year during Language Arts. Folders could be made just as iKits are made on Macs. This could create many new opportunities for my students. In order to protect users, there are special safety features set up such as deciding whether the groups should be public or private. Are you more geographically interested in people or things? You can post where you took your pictures on the maps and look at other user's photos that were taken in different parts of the world. This could be very helpful with telecommunication classes. I would use it as virtual field trips with my students. If we were researching Rain Forest animals, we could look on the map for pictures taken in the Rain Forest. The students would able to see different animals in different Rain Forests.
Finally, the most creative part of Flickr: Making Stuff. With Flickr you can make things from calling cards to postage stamps. Some students are good at writing and some are creative. With the vast amount of creative possiblities available through Flickr, my students could create projects to go along with their work. The possiblities are endless with what you can do once your pictures are uploaded into Flickr. Unsure where to start? Take a look at the Flickr blog
In order to allow for as many users as possible, Flickr can be used on both PC and Mac computers. There are also multiple ways to upload pictures, such as using email. Once the pictures are uploaded, the fun and creativity can begin. Everyone has those pictures that come out kind of blurry or there is something wrong with the photo. With Flickr, there is no need to discard those seemingly imperfect photos. Picnik, is a partner of Flickr, and, once you give authorization of Picnik to load your photos, you are all set to edit those photos. In the editing mode you can rotate, change colors, sharpen, and change the exposure, to name a few editing options.
Simply uploading and editing photos is not enough. Users need a way to organize the photos into albums, and Flickr's response to this is sets. By creating sets, you are essentially creating photo albums which will organize your photos. If you are a dog fanatic, or love to travel, then the share section may interest you. This is a way for groups of people who are interested in the same topic to meet eachother and share photos of the chosen topic. I could have my students take pictures of nouns and create a folder of nouns. Take a look at my nouns folder. This folder could be used all year during Language Arts. Folders could be made just as iKits are made on Macs. This could create many new opportunities for my students. In order to protect users, there are special safety features set up such as deciding whether the groups should be public or private. Are you more geographically interested in people or things? You can post where you took your pictures on the maps and look at other user's photos that were taken in different parts of the world. This could be very helpful with telecommunication classes. I would use it as virtual field trips with my students. If we were researching Rain Forest animals, we could look on the map for pictures taken in the Rain Forest. The students would able to see different animals in different Rain Forests.
Finally, the most creative part of Flickr: Making Stuff. With Flickr you can make things from calling cards to postage stamps. Some students are good at writing and some are creative. With the vast amount of creative possiblities available through Flickr, my students could create projects to go along with their work. The possiblities are endless with what you can do once your pictures are uploaded into Flickr. Unsure where to start? Take a look at the Flickr blog
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