Reverse Photo Search

I always learn something on the Tech Chick Tips podcast. Several months ago, I heard about www.tineye.com and tucked the idea away. I got a chance to try it last night.

The Set Up

I was speaking with Vicky about potential projects for the coming school year. The conversation drifted to digital citizenship on the Internet. I wanted to share a lesson idea with her, but it was in ActivInspire. As I captured screens and put them into PowerPoint, I realized that I didn't copy the citations onto the flipchart when I made it. I wanted to upload the PowerPoint to Slideboom, but needed those citations first.


I always search for Creative Commons licensed photos and usually look for Attribution 2.0 Generic first on Flickr...but how to find it.

TinEye Reverse Image Search

I decided to give TinEye a try. Anna and Helen made it sound like you just take any image and send it to the website, so I removed all the extra words and buttons that had been on the page and took a screen shot of the image on the Mac. It turned into a simple PNG image. I uploaded the image to TinEye and WOW there were several sites that had used the same image.

An even bigger wow is that as I wrote this post I was on a different computer. Rather than go downstairs to load the image to Blogger, I opened the PowerPoint I had put on Slideboom and captured a screen shot of just part of the image. Tineye found it again! It wasn't even as sharp as the original.


There was still a little work to do. On some of the sites I found, they didn't cite their source. On others, only http://www.flickr.com/photos/emeryjl was cited. I had to use the logic that I would have used when I originally found the photo. I thought I would have typed Facebook, so I entered the word facebook into Flickr's search bar for the user hoyasmeg and it turned up!

No So Lucky the Second Time

I had a second image and was not so lucky with TinEye. I imagine TinEye does not search Flickr. I went to Flickr and tried to remember what I would have typed to generate the image. I don't know what my original search was, but I tried patrick parade boys since the image I wanted had two boys who were at a Saint Patrick's Day parade. No luck. Then I tried patrick parade boy and there it was!


What I Learned
First, it's easier to cite your sources when you find them. No surprise there. Second, TinEye is a great way to do a reverse image search. Third, know your patterns. I usually look for images in Flickr Attribution 2.0 Generic. Finally, think through keywords you might have used and if that fails think through keywords pertaining to the image as you are looking at it.


Sounds like a good lesson for the students this year.

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Image Citations:
Emery, James. "Looking at Facebook photo_2008". hoyasmeg's photostream. 2009 May 9. 2010 Sep 5. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emeryjl/3495302347/




"Kids in the Parade". greenmelinda's photostream. 2007 Mar 18. 2010 Sep 5. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreengirl/426156665/


"Boy watching parade". greenmelinda's photostream. 2007 Mar 18. 2010 Sep 5. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreengirl/426147755/


Murphy, William. "I REFUSE TO MOVE". infomatique's photostream. 2007 Mar 17. 2010 Sep 5. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/425315081/

K12 Online Conference - Delicious Things

I started the K12 Online Conference off with the presentation, I Like Delicious Things: An Introduction to Tagging and Folksonomies by Chris Betcher. I will be inviting teachers in my building to my room soon to get them started with the K12 Online Conference. Since many of them are just Getting Started, I thought I'd view all the sessions in that strand as they are released so that I can recommend different presentations.

When Blogging Remember
If you are blogging about a K12 Online experience, remember to find the tag for the presentation on the far right of the K12 Online 2008 Schedule and use it as a label for your post. Chris' session is k12online08gs04. The tag will be picked up by Technorati. Others will be able to find reflections on the same session easily.

The Presentation - Tagging and Flickr
I really enjoyed the format of this video. Chris opens up the concept of tagging with a visual image of the Sydney Opera House. He uses his Flickr account to explain how tagging is useful. It seems like a great way to begin talking about the concept of tagging and why it would be helpful to someone. Even though I use tags in Flickr, my first instinct would have been to talk about tagging with bookmarking websites.

The Presentation - Tagging and Delicious
After giving an overview, Chris does expand on the uses of tagging with the website known as Delicious. He demonstrates the use of tags in bookmarking websites. I think he used very clear examples that someone who was just getting started could easily understand. He also kept the theme of the Sydney Opera House. We begin to learn about the use of tag clouds, too.

The Presentation - Wordle
As a final example, Chris demonstrates the use of Wordle's website to generate tag clouds out of any type of text. I learned that the United States Presidential speeches are available to turn into tag clouds. What a unique way for students to analyze what was important in different times. I have to follow the links in his presentation area to learn more.

New for 2008
One new feature of the K12 Online Conference is the use of Voicethread to create "Cup of Joe" reflection areas. I wasn't sure if I should listen to the conference presentation first, or preview the Voicethread's three essential questions posed by Chris Betcher before listening. I ended up listening first. I took a quick look at the three essential question on the Voicethread and will have to come back to this new feature later.

Technorati Tags:
[k12online08gs04]

Videos For School

This morning when I was going through things I have in Google Reader, I came across a link to a Google Video. I have had students talk in class about how Google keeps information about everyone in a file. This video can explain it all in lay language. Afterwards, we can discuss anything the kids don't understand. The link was from the Commoncraft blog's del.icio.us links that the Google Reader picked up. If you haven't seen them yet, Commoncraft has several outstanding videos about RSS in Plain English, Wikis in Plain English, and Social Bookmarking in Plain English. The are short, to the point, and fun.

Next, I learned about Flickr from Jeff Utecht. I heard about his blog, The Thinking Stick, when I was listening to a podcast and decided to check it out. All in all, a great day for learning and preparing for next year.