Flickr, Hot Sites and Panoramic Images
Flickr is a free image management and organization tool. Most people use it to upload and share their photographs, but other images like digital art, clip art, and primary documents can be uploaded as well. These images can be grouped into online albums (“sets”) and slide shows, and shared publicly or with a select guest list. In addition, Flickr provides tools with which users can create captions and add comments to these images. Educators are using Flickr to promote visual literacy; support history, social studies, and math curriculum; and develop digital storytelling projects. Examples of how Flickr can be used with primary documents and photographs can be found at jlearn2.0 at Flickr. Click on each image for more details.
There are a number of places to find images related to Jewish life. Below are a few suggestions to get started - also check online archives and museums.
Jacob Richman has collected a number of “hot sites” of Jewish interest, including links to Jewish clip art and photographs that depict every day life (neighborhoods, shopping, arts and crafts) and special events (holidays, aliyah, snow in Jerusalem) in Israel. See especially Jacob Richman’s Jerusalem Picture Gallery and Jacob Richman’s Ma’aleh Adumim Picture Gallery.
Panoramic images provide viewers with a more immersive experience. Take a look at the Israel Panorama Gallery, especially the Bedouin Goat Market and The Shuk! which create environments through interaction, images and sounds.
3D Israel Virtual Tours of Israel represent another type of learning experience.
Be sure to become familiar with fair use and copyright issues. American Memory provides a good overview and the Creative Commons section at Flickr discusses licensing issues and options and offers links to images according to licensure.
Start your own image collection on Flickr or a similar site!