Update on photosharing programs

Well, last year, I posted an entry on photo sharing programs and their pros and cons. Since then, there have been some changes, so this is just an update from the last blog.

Flickr:

nothing further to add



Photobucket:

nothing further to add


Ringo:

Because of competition with other photo sharing sites, particularly Flickr, Ringo.com closed their doors around May of 2008. It really didn't bother me b/c I actually forgot I even had photos on the site.



Kodak Gallery:

The only update I have for Kodak is they made a new rule basically. Anyone can set up an account with them, but in order to keep your account, you must purchase something from them at least once a year (I think it's a year, may be a quarter). I've closed my account there. It would be good for anyone who actually plans to make purchases through the site though. They have some great things to get and I considered making a few purchases through the site, just never did.


Yahoo! Photos:

This one was probably my favorite, but it closed!!!! Boo on yahoo for that!

Ok, I got this from a friend online and had to share: Lalapalooza heads! LOL! This site is hilarious! It's a mash up that was created for Lalapalooza 2007. I really don't see how something like this could be use by libraries, maybe as a way to show the fun side of librarians. Here is mine:



Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

Flickr and other photo sharing programs

Well, I haven't done much with posting, have I?? LOL!

Well, last week was about Flickr and I decided that since I already have Yahoo! photos, photobucket, ringo, and kodak that I'll do a comparison of sorts.

First off, I know that PMCLC seems to think Flickr is best thing since sliced bread, but really I wasn't impressed with it. Now if I started with Flickr when it first came out, yes I would have been, but I found others more adaptable to what I want. One thing I learned a long time ago, when you're gonna say something negative, always say the negative first, that way you end on a positive note, so what I'm gonna do right now is list all the negative things about the various sites.

Flickr:

• Photos are toooooo small. It claims you can adjust the size, but every time I tried, it did not change one iota! Compare this photo at Ringo: Compare this photo at Ringo with the exact same one at Flickr. It is the exact same photo, upload first at Ringo, then the same file uploaded to Flickr. Ridiculous!
• Well, this is kinda both: positive: they have groups, negative: even if you group the photos into specific albums, the display page shows all the photos, so what the heck is the point of grouping? Here, take a look and see for yourself: my flickr album. I was going to include a link to my photobucket, which I really like, BUT I have some photos that are other folks and they may not like for me to share them with the world (a private wedding, retirement parties, etc) and I'll be commenting on that as a negative in a moment. Yahoo! photos does it the best.

Photobucket:

• If you want to be able to share your photos, you have to make ALL of the public. You cannot "hide" any to keep them private. You do have an option to share each individual private album, but you have to also share your password in order to do so! Awful!!! It also appears that you can only share the album on mysapce. It could be that if you have an account you pay for, you might have more options, but a freebie account is very limited as far as that goes.

Ringo:

• You can't add a new album! If you upload pictures and then later decide you want to create an album for that type of picture, you have to re-upload them into that album! Stupid! Maybe there is a tool to move them, but if there is, I haven't found it yet.

Kodak Gallery:

• I really don't have any complaints here, but then again, I don't use them much.

Yahoo! Photos:

• No complaints here really.

Now for the positives! Yeah!!

Flickr:

• Comments section for photos is a bit longer than the other programs
• more bells and whistles, although I haven't used them
• pretty straightfoward and easy to get around

Photobucket:

• This is one of my favorites. The ONLY problem I have with this is when you upload photos, you have to make sure you say what album you want it uploaded to, but even if you don't (which I usually forget), you can very easily move them to the correct album. You can move individual photos or as a batch.
• Everything is viewed in albums and there are subalbums as well. So you can have an album of your parents and subalbum by date! I like that option, even though I haven't used it yet.

Ringo:

• Ringo is a pretty good one as well. It's more of a social networking via photos, so if that's what you're looking for, that's a good place for it.
  

Kodak Gallery:

• What I really like about Kodak is you can purchase prints right from the site. (and they're having a sale right now, $0.10 a print instead of $0.15, just FYI, not sure how long it will last).

Yahoo! Photos:

• Not only can you buy photos for the same price as at Kodak for the tradition 3x5", but they are cheaper the bigger size you get. You can also buy gift items like mugs and stuff with the photos on them, even puzzles, luggage tags, and ceramic tiles! Also, you can choose to have the photos sent to you (so you pay shipping), or for a slightly higher price, but not shipping, you can pick them up at participating Target stores. Hmmm, I'm starting to sound like a peddler for Yahoo! Photos! LOL I swear I'm not!!! :o)

Well, that's the end of my review. Basically I think it just depends on what you're looking for. Flickr is apparently good for the bells and whistles, just not really my cup of tea. Yahoo! and Photobucket fit my needs more.

Week 1: Learning Habits and the Lifelong Learner

Howdy folks!

Well, I'm getting off to a bit of a rocky start! For those who don't know me, I'm deaf, and apparently I've been missing some things during the lunches...like what we're supposed to be doing! LOL (read: laugh out loud)! So, I'm trying to get all caught up! For our first "assignment", we are supposed to watch the lifelong learning video and give our feedback on the easiest and hardest of the habits for ourselves, they we are supposed to create our own Learning Contract. So, let's get started!

7 and 1/2 Habits...

The video (located here) lists the following 7 and 1/2 habits of successful lifelong learners:

• Begin with the end in mind (i.e., developing goals, and I imagine STICKING to them! LOL)


• Accept responsibility for your own learning (i.e., actively pursue knowledge and don't just expect folks to hand it to you)


• View problems as challenges (this means mind change for most!)


• Have confidence in yourself as a learner


• Create your own learning toolbox


• Use technology to your advantage


• Teach and mentor others


• Play!

I find lots of "easy" things for me to do on this list, I'm always setting goals, or mini-goals in order to achieve a bigger goal, I've always accepted responsibility for my own learning and have plenty of confidence in that, I use technology to learn things consistently and I teach what I learn (aka, "each one teach one"). The two that are hard for me are play, which I'm talking in the context of free time, just having fun away from work, away from school, away from ALL my research projects, etc. I just don't have much time to play. "Play" in the sense of messing around with technology and learning it, that's different, that's easy for me. The hardest for me is viewing problems as challenges.

I'm a pessimist by nature, so if something goes wrong, I get a "doomed" mentality automatically. The past couple years I've made great progress in this, but I feel like I still have a ways to go...but I'm getting there!

The Learning Contract

Next, we needed to make a "learning contract" with ourselves. I'm putting mine up here so all y'all can see. I decided that for this series of brown bag lunches, I want to look at how Web 2.0 can help or hurt communication for the deaf and blind. "Web 1.0" was a Godsend for us "deafies" who have a difficult time communicating verbally, but there have been a few Web2.0 things already I've come across that leave me (and other deaf folks) out!

Goal: How do web 2.0 tools aid the deaf and/or blind? Or do they provide a bigger hindrance than web 1.0?

Obstacles: Could be that web 2.0 is really too knew to assess disability accommodations accurately. Could be that since I’m deaf, I may run into problems with accommodations.

Toolbox: Access to the internet. Feedback from someone who is blind (my old roommate!) . Feedback from someone who is deaf (ME!).

Resources: Not sure at this point. Any ideas?

Path to goal:
1. view “syllabus”
2. think about each weeks assignments and discussions and how they can relate to disability accommodations.
3. Get feedback from ex-roomie

Check in: I will come back to my learning contract each week of the lunches to see how it could be revised.

Sign here: [this is me digitally signing my learning contract]

Well, that's it! Let me know what you think!

So what's this blog about anyway? Huh???

Hey y'all.

It's me, your friendly neighborhood library clerk/genealogist/historian/archivist! I'm creating this blog for a work assignment...sorta! LOL The State Library of NC, as well as other NC state agency libraries are doing a "Web 2.0" brown bag lunch series. We are following along with the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County's Web 2.0 training blog entitled "23 Learning 2.0 Things", which they began in 2006. (http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com The point is to get librarians accustomed to the Web 2.0.

I also plan to use this after the exercises just to talk about things related to work and school, etc. after we finish in May. Every week or so will be a new blog related to this brown bag lunch series, and my thoughts on that weeks particular assignment.