How to Make the Most of Flickr for Grace Hopper

With the advent of digital cameras, we can all consider ourselves photographers. But what happens to the hundreds of photos you'll inevitably take at this year's Grace Hopper? Instead of letting them sit unopened on your hard drive, why not share them with fellow attendees and those who couldn't make it? The best place to do this is on Flickr!

Each year, a new Grace Hopper group is set up on Flickr where attendees upload their favourite images. For instance, check out the groups from 2007, 2008, and 2009. There's even a group up there for 2010 already. I still enjoy opening up the group for a year I attended and letting the happy memories return. I think this pool of photos is also an excellent way to get first timers excited about the next conference.

Here are a few how-to's to help you get started with Flickr.

How to get an account on Flickr if you don't already have one:

1. Go to http://www.flickr.com/
2. Click on the "Create Your Own Account" button
3. If you happen to already have a Yahoo! account, you can just enter that in the appropriate text boxes (Yahoo! ID and password); otherwise, click on "Sign up for Yahoo!"
4. Fill in the info and click "Create My Account" and follow any remaining instructions.

When you have a Flickr account, you can add photos to your own profile:

1. After you log in, you will see a set of menu items along the top (Home, You, Organize & Create, etc).
2. Click the little arrow beside "You" and click on "Upload Photos and Videos" near the bottom.
3. Follow the instructions on the screen.
4. Add titles, tags (e.g. ghc10 for Grace Hopper 2010), and (if you like) descriptions for the photos. These make it easier to organize and search your photos.
   
5. Once your photos are uploaded you will see them when you click on "You" - clicking here brings you to your photostream, which is just a big long list of all your photos.
6. You will probably want to organize your photos into sets (these are kind of like albums). Play around with the "Organize & Create" menu and be sure to consult the Flickr FAQ as needed.

You can join and add photos to a group:

1. First navigate to and join a Flickr group (for example, the GHC2010 group).
2. Once you're in a group you can start participating in discussions.
3. Above the photos showing on the group's home page is a title called "Group Pool" - this refers to the "pool" of photos members add to the group. You will add photos that are already on your own profile as if the group pool were just another set your photos can belong to.
4. Beside Group Pool click "Add Something?"
5. You can choose up to 6 photos from our photo stream to be added to the group pool. You can do this as often as you like.

Link to or embed photos in other social media:

Once you have your photos uploaded to your profile, you may want to share them on other social media sites or include them in blog posts.

1. Navigate to the photo you want to share. You can do this by clicking on "You" at the top, then clicking on the photo of choice.
2. If you want to share just the link (say, on Twitter), click on "Share", "Grab the link" and then copy the text.
3. If you want to embed a photo like I did below, click "Grab the HTML", change the size if needed, and copy that text. You can paste it into any editor that lets you write code. For example, on Blogger, you can switch to "Edit HTML" and paste the code where you want the photo to appear. Your photo will even be linked back to the original Flickr page so people can see it big!
   

Happy photographing! You'll find more ways to share the Grace Hopper Celebration experience at GHC Community Home.