Today we learnt to use Flickr. I have just looked it up on Wickipedia which described it as "an image and video hosting website, web services suite and online community." Wickipedia also stated that Flickr is widely used and, as of October 2009, had 4 billion photos.
Impressive.
Impressive.
My experience as a first time user? Not so impressive. In theory Flickr should have been easy to use (just follow the instructions,step by step and upload your photos). In practice, it was a little more complicated.
Firstly, the computer at Polytechnic kept logging me off, telling me my time was over. How caring. But I am currently doing the OHS unit and I KNOW I can spend more than 10 minutes at a time on the computer!
After the usual trying to find a username that was not already in use and taking photos of unwilling participants, I was ready to upload my photos. The Upload Your Photos For First Time Users seemed a safe bet, "seemed" being the operative word. Not so. After two frustrated attempts my hand shot up, my mouth formed the word "Leonie" of its own volition and I was off!
Another attempt with Leonie (Oh, and another log off) and I was still getting nowhere. Finally Leonie suggested that we try another link to "Upload your photos" further down the page, in writing so small I never would have noticed. But ... it worked!
So I labelled my photos, tagged them and posted them pubically all before the end of the lesson (this part was easy!)
While Flickr appears to be a good idea and I can see how some organisations and libraries can benefit from having their photos up for all to see, I don't know if I would ever PUBICALLY post any photos of my personal life. I prefer my life at home to be just that, personal.
It seems to have put my photos in a vertical row - does anyone know a better way of putting them in???
Hi Maria,
ReplyDeleteYour blog looks really good.
The first time I used flickr I had a huge amount of problems. So don't worry you are not alone. When I tried uploading photos they would not completely upload. Once I got home however it all went fine. This time (touch wood) they are working. So far at least.
Janey
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ReplyDeleteyes we are learning to engage in the technology with all its little frustrations. But the opportunities for sharing information are just awesome. If we can just learn that it is always the site/machine/system's fault and NEVER our own so to keep on trying!
ReplyDeleteVery good (and funny in places) post, Maria. It is good to hear we are not alone in our frustrations, too.