Thing #11: Flickr Frustrations

First of all, Flickr should have some kind of disclaimer attached to it: "BEWARE: ENTERING THIS SITE WILL MEAN THAT YOU IGNORE YOUR CHILDREN FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME. PROCEED WITH CAUTION."But I guess that's the case with all of these Web 2.0 tools. My three-year-old told me tonight, "Mommy, I want you to get off that computer now." And I did. But now I've emerged from my Flickr fog (and tucked my girls into bed), and I have a slight headache. I think this is how a baby feels when she's overstimulated.

Don't get me wrong: I love Flickr. I see so many possibilities for its use in the classroom/library. I love GraphicaGirl's idea of using images to introduce books, like a pre-reading activity. Using Flickr would be a great way to introduce Bluebonnet Books!

But before I tackle a project like that, I need to vent my Flickr frustrations. Here they are:

1. This is what happens when people tag their own stuff. On one photo I counted 64 tags. Seriously? And I could not see the connection on about half of the tags. I get the idea behind "folksonomy," but it drives the librarian part of my brain a little batty. But it's the price we pay for letting users categorize their own stuff. It's one of those concepts that works well in theory but can be messy in practice.

2.Image overload! It's just so much! I cannot imagine an ADD person on Flickr. I think I now have ADD just from being on Flickr for a few hours. If you don't know exactly what you are looking for, then it can drive you crazy. It did me!

3. I still don't get the Creative Commons thing. I used the link Flickr Creative Commons and then I typed in "Wicked the musical." (Side note: I was listening to the soundtrack during my Flickr excursion. I'm obsessed with Wicked after seeing it twice while it was in Dallas. I know it's not a "lesson" idea that I will use in the library, but it was on mind during this time.) I got 321 results. Wow. So I start clicking away. Most of the images were people's personal photos of their Wicked experience. It was like going to a garage sale and searching through the junk to find some treasure. Well, then I got sidetracked because there are Wicked groups, and so I clicked on that group and the pictures were AWESOME. I especially loved The Western Sky's photostream (that was not included under CC. These had the BIG C.) But then I realized that I was no longer in the Creative Commons. But I found some amazing photos that I would love to use. Can I use them if they aren't on the CC part of Flickr? Why do people put pictures on Flickr if they don't want them used by others? Can we not copy and paste a "all rights reserved" copyrighted image (the BIG C) onto a blog or wiki (and give credit, of course)? Why does this bother me so much?

Anyway, here's my legal, legit pic that I don't think will get me a visit from the copyright police. It's one of my favorite moments when Elphaba sings "Defying Gravity." The picture alone gives me chills. Watching it in person (twice!) was life-changing. I actually wrote a piece about it for the New Jersey Writing anthology that we do every summer with the participants. Here is Elphaba singing, "And nobody in all of Oz, no wizard that there is or was, is ever gonna bring meeeeeeeeeee doooooowwwwwwwnnnnn!!!"

Link to Flickr site where I got the photo
Photo uploaded by "the western sky"