Archival Functions of Flickr
Our focus here will be on the archival functions of Flickr. The following content identifies and then explains the processes that are involved in what we describe as archiving images.
Upload - A free Flickr account for allows the storage of 1000 images. For the teacher who can make use of an account for personal and professional activities or just wants not to have to worry about limits when it comes to the account he/she wants to use in the classroom, the $50 per year account makes a lot of sense.
It is probably helpful to think in terms of image collection both as the collection might be helpful to you as an educator and as it might be part of the learning activities of your students. We tend to focus mainly on student projects, but we all can take advantage of images to improve our presentations. I took advantage of a lab I knew was being conducted in an advanced “brain and behavior” course to take some pictures I now use when I teach the Introduction to Psychology. I could find similar images in many ways, but part of the message involves explaining to beginning students the experiences that are available in advanced courses.
The first step in building an image collection is getting the images from a camera into the storage location. There are several different ways to upload images to a Flickr account. You can connect to Flickr from a computer and upload a collection of images you have stored on the computer. You can upload images from a phone that has a data plan. You can even upload images (or videos) by setting up a unique Flickr email address that you can share with others. The subject of the email is assigned as the title for the photo and the information included in the body of the email is stored as the description for the photo. The photo itself is sent as an attachment. The email address is assigned by the system (use this link once logged into your account http://www.flickr.com/account/uploadbyemail/) and the random “name” assigned as part of the email address can be easily changed by visiting the same web page and clicking a button. So, you can create an email address for the duration of a project and then change the address when the project is completed. If the new address is not shared, this would terminate uploads from those given the original address. A strategy like this might be a way to allow multiple students to contribute images to the same Flickr account.
Age issues - There is no policy regarding who can view images (this would not be practical since public images are public images). To obtain an account, you must indicate that you are at least 13 years of age. Your age is not displayed as part of your public profile (if you reveal your profile). Teachers need to consider this limit. With younger students, the teacher should really be the individual working within the site. Students can still view the images collected.