Now, If you’re not familiar with flickr, you are missing out on a very versatile photo storing and sharing site that is kind of like an archives or library. A lot of their tools help you organize and categorize your photos while also making it easy to share and discuss as well. Think of it like hundreds of little streams all feeding into a river. Once the photos are on flickr they become a part of the larger pool (you can protect them however, as well) and you can view everyone else’s stream and see what they are pouring while they can do the same to you.

Here’s a view of the organization page where you can see I’ve created a set of images that I’ve chosen from all of my photos which I can scroll through at the bottom.

I like to see how flickr ranks my photos in terms of “interestingness.” You can view lots of stats on your images, but this stat I believe comes from a combination of views, favorites, and what flickr deems as, well… interesting. This is also how they find images for their Explore page – where everyone’s photos come together and the best from the day is listed 1 to 500. If you’ve never checked it out, you really should head over there – there are some amazing things on flickr.

I found that I’ve had 9 images “explored” by going over to Big Huge Labs and just entering my flickr id. They have tons of other tools you can use with flickr which allow you to do even more with view and organizing on flickr. I found my best explore listing has been at #54 with this classic image of Matt and Sarah:

I hope you enjoyed my musings on a tool I’m sure you’re all familiar with…. or maybe not? So if you have questions let me know and go check out what kind of photos I’ve been taking for the past few years + start adding your own!

(photo used under creative commons license from AnyaLogic on flickr)

I’m excited for this historic day, and though it would be fun to be with the thousands who’ve traveled to D.C. (including my parents!) I’ll be watching from home. That’s where I’ll start at least. Most people are familiar, if not involved in the conversations that technology has allowed us to take part in. From blogging and micro blogging to photo and video sharing it’s easy to get a closer look at events from people who are involved.

I was browsing through flickr and came across the amazing photo above. If you’re not familiar with flickr, well… yes you should take a look! Whether you have photos to share or want to see what’s going on at an event or area, it’s the largest network of photos from people around the world. Flickr 101: You can tag photos so that they are searchable, place them on a map so you can see what’s happening in an area, and add similar photos to a group pool where they can be viewed together and talked about. I found these Inauguration photos from the group Inauguration 2009 and am excited to see what people post throughout the day. If you’re reading this and have something to share from the inauguration leave a comment or add to the conversation!