Teach42

Day 25: Add a quick 1000 words to your posts /Teach42/ – My blog posts tend to be fairly text heavy, but one … http://tinyurl.com/5c6ww4

I’m a sucker for pictures in blogs. When I write a blog and don’t include some type of media, either a photo or video, it just doesn’t seem dressed and complete. I love using Creative Commons at Flickr. (Also use a lot of my own photos.) Look forward to using Stock.xchng. My travel blog is where I really get to play with images. http://www.shaniaroadtrip.blogspot.com

Martha Thornburgh´s most recent blog post.. Why I Blog

YES, yes; I agree and you can also use text colour, size, italics etc to enhance just text posts. I noticed my blog in October had so much text it was boring. So throughout November I made a real effort to use more visuals. What a huge difference it makes!
Thank you for the copyright information, I sometimes get confused with the codes and the correct way to attribute to Flickr.

Shaun Wood´s most recent blog post.. South Africa

Me too, I put photos in just about every blog blog post in order “illustrate” my point or to provide additional resources for teachers to integrate into their lessons.

Jim Beeghley´s most recent blog post.. President Lincoln in Gettysburg

While you’re right that there are screenshot tools built into the Mac, there is a superior alternative: Skitch!. Back in June I did a quick post for web2.0Wednesday that I made entirely in Skitch, showing off some of its capabilities quickly without having to write a lot. It’s honestly one of the best tools I use for throwing in quick pictures.

I need to try and use picture in my posts a little more often, I know, and I’m trying to work on that.

Dan Callahan´s most recent blog post.. What I’m thankful for: my PLN on Twitter

Re: Windows Screenshots

You don’t need any third party software to take screenshots in Windows. It’s extremely simple, but perhaps not well known.

To take a screenshot, simply press the Print Screen button (above the Insert button on most keyboards). That will take a screenshot of the current screen and store it in the clipboard.

You can then load any image editing program – even Paint – and Paste the image into an image file.

It would help to have a better third party image-editing program available to touch up and fix the screenshot. In that case, GIMP is a great option. It’s free and it’s open source. In GIMP you can also go to File -> Acquire -> Paste as New to create a new document sized to the screenshot that you just took.

On the topic of images and copyrights, another option for legally free pictures is the Open Clip Art library. It’s a pretty big collection of free-to-use clip art. Although I don’t find it particularly easy to navigate, there’s some good stuff in there if you dig long enough.

Brian´s most recent blog post.. Another Computer Saved by Xubuntu Linux

I challenge anyone to find one blog post of mine without either a photo or a video. I don’t click publish until I have one or the other. Just my little rule.

Dean Shareski´s most recent blog post.. I like it when things just work

Same here, Dean… my posts tend to be a bit on the long side. Therefore, even if I wasn’t such a visually-oriented person, I would make adding images a practice- just to break up the text a bit.

However, I find that on my blog, I take a TON of time finding just the right illustrations for what are sometimes complex concepts. I, like Dean, would challenge folks to find more than one post without an image.

Here’s the real kicker:

My principal informed me last week that she refers to my posts to not only me -but to others- by the first image on the page. She won’t remember a title, but she can say: “yeah… Nash had a quote on that in the ‘tree trunk’ post, or was it the ‘traffic light’ post.”

To me, that was huge validation of my careful work of illustrating my thoughts and ideas with images. That, or she is just a really visual person.

Unless they are my own photos from Flickr (and they often are), they are always MLA cited from the “Son of Citation Machine” -many thanks to David Warlick. I saw the way he very boldly credits photos- and now I teach everyone who comes to me for help to cite in much the same way.

Finally, I absolutely love giving amateur photographers a different, and wider, audience. I think the idea of powerfully remixing shared content is one of the most exciting things around today for creative-minded people. Also- always say thanks in the comment box of the artist’s Flickr page. Even though CC is the rule, I still say thanks and “I hope you approve of this use.”

…just me.

Sean

Sean Nash´s most recent blog post.. Where are the seeds in an orange?

Using images is such an important part of blogging yet it is a area that most bloggers struggle to appreciate all the aspects of it.

I’ve written a series on using images here. The most important aspects bloggers have to appreciate is copyright and image use – which I have covered in this post. Even then it was hard because copyright is a complex topic and I’ve tried to make the explanation simple.

The other aspect people get caught out with is forgetting to resize their own images before uploading. I’ve seen users use up all their space by uploading digital photos without resizing.

Yes I’m well known for my screenshots (that can I say not all readers of blogs like ). I use SnagIT daily for blogging and my own teaching so was worth every cent I paid.

Been looking for a graph applications for being more creative — thanks now have something extra to use.

Sue Waters´s most recent blog post.. Tips For Making Virtual Classroom Sessions More Interactive

Great anecdote Sean. I’ll be looking closely at your work, not to find the pictureless post but to admire your stuff.

Dean Shareski´s most recent blog post.. Things you learned in School

[...] I am most thankful for.  I bring you my love(s) and I bring them to you in a Demboesque “image means a thousand words” -type format.  I might have been hesitant to do this a year ago.  Tell me I am too open [...]

I’ve tried to do this quite a bit. I agree that it’s important. It’s also how I distinguish between those things on my blog that are written by me, and the generaic delicious posts that just post what I’m bookmarking

http://www.shortcomp.edublogs.org

Shortcomp´s most recent blog post.. Crosswords

[...] Steve Dembo says “Without a doubt, there’s no better way to grab someone’s attention than by incorporating [...]

[...] twenty-five in the 30 Days to Being a Better Blogger series was yesterday and asked us to look atDay 25: Add a quick 1000 words to your posts. Essentially, we were asked to consider using more photos. Virtual schools [...]

[...] Throughout the month, Steve at Teach42 has been writing about how to become a better blogger. The tip for day 25: Add a picture. [...]

[...] Day 25: Add a quick 1000 words to your posts … of your audience is most likely going to be exhibiting more characteristics of digital natives than immigrants, it bears considering the fact that natives tend to prefer multiple modes of media, and will gravitate to visual media before written. There are four types of images that you may typically … [...]

[...] Day 25: Add a quick 1000 words to your posts My blog posts tend to be fairly text heavy, but one thing I’d been trying to do in recent months is to add a little color to them by including images. Without a doubt, there’s no better way to grab someone’s attention than by incorporating an image that piques one’s curiosity. Considering that most … [...]

[...] Day 25: Add a quick 1000 words to your posts – Teach42 [...]

OpenPhoto.net is another great place to find CC pictures.
http://www.openphoto.net/

Heather Dowd´s most recent blog post.. Web 2.0 and Diverse Learners