Challenge for Thing 4

Fallen Tree Next to Home picnik version, originally uploaded by thedexterzero.

I thought picnik and flickr working together was really fun. This is where I could see students having some fun at the third grade level. They could take photos as backgrounds and then edit in their characters or details for their own narratives or reports. This sort of instant impact leading to a finalized product is pretty amazing. The ability to immediately post it, too, is something we digital immigrants are amazed at. We also sometimes argue the risks. I don't know if that is a self-esteem thing to make ourselves feel better or if that knowledge replaces the lack of knowledge we sometimes feel. For example, I could see how some cyberbullying could come from the power of picnik and flickr. You could really be cruel with someone's image.

Inappropriateness would be the only con I would foresee with this site. I think it is cool and fun. Students would think the same, too. It is easy to use and with permissions being given to all the sites life is easy when you want to upload the image.

I did go to Picasa and Smugmug. First, Smugmug only has a 14 day trial. I hate that. I rarely even try those because I don't like doing all of the login work to give my the abilities to do things and then see those abilities gone in two weeks. Not worth my time. So, I only looked at the page and didn't see anything that stuck out. Picasa is a Google product and it took me through the steps of making all of my Google products one. That was impressive. Then, it also allowed me to download an Updater that would work with my computer (I am an Apple user) and iPhoto. It was cool, but nothing different. Maybe I was still being influenced by my positive experience with picnik.

I definitely feel like I have learned a lot in the past 40 min. Before I thought flickr.com was just a place to get images. Now, I am a participant in supplying those images, realized I could edit those images, and saw how I could connect between multiple sites. I am pretty excited.