So I’ve been spending some time with Flickr the past couple of days just kind of exploring more deeply what the potentials of the tool are. It’s an amazing site, not only because of the really great photos (I got sucked into this photoset earlier) but because of some of the conversations I found people having around them. Obviously a lot of potential for classroom use.
But here’s the thing. Today was the first time using Flickr that I ran across something that I felt was inappropriate for younger kids. And I’m not talking about bad photography. I flagged it with the “may offend” label, but I’m not sure exactly what that did. And I spent a little time digging around trying to see what the site’s policy was. Anyone know how it works? Aside from close monitoring, is there anything a classroom teacher can do to avoid photos like those from coming up? If not, I’m wondering how much of a negative impact that will have on teacher’s being willing to try it…
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Actually, just found this thread…
I think when we look at services like flickr we should ultimately be envisioning education-specific versions that are more controlled/secure/private. I don’t think, for example, that it would make sense for thousands of schools around the country to depend on flickr. They need their own repositories that are just as cool as flickr.
C’mon. While I’d love to see a school-only Flickr, I can’t imagine recreating a resource that’s already out there. It makes more sense to teach students to navigate carefully and responsibly, dealing with the “uh-oh” moments, instead of re-inventing the wheel. We don’t have enough time or resources as it is. And, I suspect, and I hope that I’m wrong, that there aren’t too many companies working to create content for schools that is cooler than Flickr.
Maybe I don’t want to see a school-only Flickr.
Looking at the flip-side, do you really want millions of school kids flooding flickr with crappy assignments?
Old wine, new bottles? Do we really want millions of school kids doing crappy assignments, period? We have got to find ways to flip the frame of reference here; and my point lately is that there is no flip-side. We are either frogs who have jumped out of the hot water, frogs getting ready to jump, or dead frogs. I am reminded more and more of “Calvin Ball” than I am of the grand old game.
I agree with Terry. I certainly don’t want crappy assignments. Or to be a dead frog. But why create a separate space for the kids when they could learn so much from the adults? And vice versa.
While I don’t think we can ever recreate Flickr just for school, I would be nice if there was an interface for schools that would only show “appropriate” images. Right now, I can’t use Flickr with teachers in the schools I support since it is block by our filter. So there is a great resource out there that can’t be accessed by thousands of teachers and kids.
If there was a tagging system where images could be tagged for children under 12 and a “kid” interface it might open up this resource to schools.
jim
Jim, I understand the pragmatics, but as Will says these new distributed “lower-archies” just aren’t amenable to that. It’s Calvin Ball and we make the rules up as we go. If schools can’t do that, then they will be on the sidelines. If schools can do that, then my guess is they won’t be called schools anymore. We already have learning institutions that work from the ground up–online, massively multiple narrative structures like “World of Warcraft”. Flickr is another “school”. Furl and de.lic.ious are yet more. While we are working at getting Flickr to be more kid friendly, the kids are using it with their cellphone cameras. That’s the real pragmatics of the situation. I can smell the exhaust and hear the laughter of our students as they jet away to God knows where.
Terry, the Calvin Ball analogy is perfect. We’re all just making this up as we go along. I can’t believe Flickr is being blocked at some schools, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. And Tom, can local repositories really be as cool as Flickr?
Bud is right. Use E-Rate and buy a dedicated server for your student’s images. It is too important.
Believe it…the largest school district in San Antonio blocks Flickr because it falls under the free pages category. The also block blogger. Used to be they just blocked the blogspot domain, but now it’s the whole sha-bang. You know what else I found out recently? This district I work for has a policy in place that say all student and teacher produced work must be hosted by a server within the district. That means, even if blogger weren’t blocked, kids wouldn’t be able to use it because publishing to a server outside of the district would violate the AUP. Shall we compare narrow-mindedness notes?
Re: Can local repositories be as cool as flickr?
Well, by online community standards, a single school district is pretty big. If students across a district were systematically taking photos of their work and activities and uploading them, it could be a lively community for learning by teachers and students.
It takes a bit of a conceptual leap to go from cool classroom ideas to what could actually be implemented as a long-term district policy. Everyone must use flickr isn’t a good idea. Photo storage/publication is a service which should be provided by the school, district or state, and there is no reason it can’t be done well.