Chains

Today I followed a chain of links. Each link offered something new and useful.

I began by following my own advice, which I submitted in my previous post, which was to explore Diigo Lists for resources.

On Diigo Lists, I found the bookmarks of Diane Krause. I followed her profile, which led in turn to her blog. Diane appears to be well networked, with profiles on many sites. I think she would be a good role model in that regard.

On her blog, I found a link to this article:

6 Ways To Publish Your Own Book. There are several websites that allow users to write and sell their own books. There must be many ways to utilize these services in the classroom. Off the top of my head, I can think of anthologies of student work, photo albums, recipe books, and fund-raising.

The aforementioned article is published on Mashable. Mashable looks to be a great website, replete with articles concerning social networking.

One of the posts on Mashable mentioned a collection of depression-era photographs on Flickr. I followed this link and learned about Commons photos on Flickr. Commons photos are public photos. For example, the Library of Congress has thousands of historical photos available on Flickr.

Flickr allows users to add tags to commons photographs. Tags are similar to sticky notes. Many of the tags are attempts at humor. Some of the tags contain interesting information. I think a great way to learn and teach about history is to study photographs, and to analyze the minute clues hidden therein.

Incidentally, Flickr and their partners allow users to do different things with their photos, such as make posters, bookmarks, sticker books, and so on.