Thing #7: Tag clouds

The aim of ‘Thing #7’ is to have some fun with Wordle, the tag cloud generator.

 A tag cloud is a visual depiction of topics (tags) on a website. Tag clouds are usually single words displayed in different fonts and colours to show the importance of each tag. The size of the text is reflected in the amount of times the word is used in the text box. If you use a word several times the size of that word will be bigger than words that appear less frequently.

Tags are usually hyperlinks that lead to a related content so the choice of tags used is important and should clearly represent your topics and target audience.

Websites such as Flickr use tag clouds to enable users to find other images related to the tag. Users can see hot tags from the last 24 hours and the most popular tags of all time.

Task  – Create a tag cloud using Wordle

1. Go to the Wordle website: http://www.wordle.net

2. Click on ‘Create’

3. In the ‘Paste in a bunch of text’ section, type in as many words as you can that relate to your experience of 23 Things so far. To prevent two or more words being separated in the image, put the ~ (tilde character) between words that go together

4. Click on ‘Go’

5. Play around with the different formatting options available (Edit, Font, Layout and Colour)

6. Click ‘Save to public gallery’

7. Give the tag cloud a title and username, then click on OK

8. Copy the code displayed at the bottom of the page, and paste it in your blog along with your views on using tag clouds.

Read the FAQ section to read more about how to add the tag cloud image to your blog.

Internet librarian, Phil Bradley, also recommends Tagxedo, so you may like to play with that too

Thing #6: Image generators

The aim of  Thing #6  is to play with some image generators.

Image generator websites are used to manipulate text and images to create new images. The three image generators in your task provide different services.

Task

Explore the three image generators below and then upload the saved images to your blog and write a post about your favourite image generator and your experiences in creating the images

A) Letterjames can be used to manipulate text into an image.

 1)     Go to the Letterjames website: http://www.letterjames.com

2)     On the ‘Products’ tab, select ‘Images and E-Cards’

3)     Select one of the categories

4)     Type in text and select ‘Create image’

5)     Select ‘Download image’ and save to your H: Drive

 B) Big Huge Labs can be used to create lots of different products from blog headers and profile widgets to magazine covers and pop art posters using your images.

 1)     Go to the Big Huge Labs website: http://bighugelabs.com

2)     Select the product you wish to create

3)     Upload an image or connect to your Flickr account to use images from there. If using your Flickr account you will need to follow the steps to sign in and authorise your photos to be used.

4)     Click on ‘Create’

5)     Click on ‘Save’ or ‘Share’ if you wish to Upload to your Flickr account

C) Cooltext.com can be used to create logos or button designs.

 1)     Go to the Cool Text website: http://cooltext.com

2)     Select a logo or button design

3)     Type text and select your preferences

4)     Select ‘Render Logo’ or ‘Render Button’ (depending on which you’ve picked)

5)     Select ‘Download Image’

Thing #5: Creative Commons

Back by popular demand, sorry for the lull and thanks for the prompt …

The aim of ‘Thing 5’ is to find out about Creative Commons and how the re-use of original content can be controlled by its owner. 

Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organisation which offers copyright licences for creative works such as photos, music, text, etc. It allows the author(s) of the work to share their work under a licence chosen on the Creative Commons website. Websites such as Flickr, Google and the White House use Creative Commons.

Task

You will be exploring Creative Commons and the task will to a Creative Commons to copyright to the text in your blog.

1)     Go to the Creative Commons website http://creativecommons.org

2)     Click on ‘About’ and explore the ‘Learn More’, ‘Licenses’ and ‘Who Uses CC?’ sections.

To add your Creative Commons license

3)     Click on ‘License’ on the green title bar at the top of the page

4)     Click on ‘a list of things to think about’ and read the information given.

5)     Go back to the License section and complete the details on the page deciding whether you wish to allow your work to be used for commercial purposes and whether you agree to your work being modified.

6)     In ‘Source Work URL’ you will need to paste the link to your blog and select ‘Select A Licence’

7)     Select the Licence you wish to apply

8)     In the ‘Have your own website’ section, copy the text in the box and paste on to your blog.

Thing #4: Photos, images and Flickr

The aim of ‘Thing 4’ is to explore Flickr and to think about how you might use images at work.

Flickr is a photo management website allowing you to upload, organise and share images online. Images can be uploaded from a variety of sources (including computers, mobile devices and the web) and can be displayed on the Flickr website, shown in RSS feeds or emailed to people.

Images can be displayed publicly or privately (for only select people to view). Descriptions and tags can be added to all photos uploaded.  A tag is a keyword that is assigned to the photo that allows users to find information related to the word used. The words beach and animal could be used as tags on Flickr if you had a photo displaying a donkey on a beach. Clicking on the tag could lead you to find other photos tagged with the same word.

Task: You’re going to create a Flickr account, upload some of your own photos, tag them and add descriptions to them.

1. Go to the Flickr website
2. Click on ‘Create Your Account’
3. Log in using an existing or creating a new Yahoo! ID account (it has to be Yahoo but an account can be set up at this stage if you do not already have one)
4. Choose a Flickr screen name
5. Personalize your profile (making sure to customize your Flickr URL)
6. Select ‘Upload your first photos’ and follow the on-screen steps to upload some of your photos
7. Add a description and a tag(s) to each image and click ‘Save’ at the bottom of the screen.
8. If you have friends that use Flickr, connect to their accounts using Step 3 on the welcome page.
9. Explore the Flickr website and find the different features available to you. Make sure that you read the Community Guidelines.
10. When you have finished exploring, make sure you ‘Sign Out’ of your account.

Further Task (optional)

You may wish to explore how to edit your images online using free image editing software packages such as Picnik.  You will need to connect your Flickr account to the Picnik site and try using the different editing tools available and save them back to Flickr.