Image Hosting and Sharing
Beyond the obvious advantages of having archival images on the Internet to increase access and discoverability into your collections, hosting images on the net is the perfect way to manipulate simple webpages to look more interesting or to give more detail on a specific item. Basic HTML tags can enhance a traditional text-based record with a visual description through photo slideshows or clickable images.3rd place:
Picasa is Google's photo sharing program. You can download a client for your computer or you can use just the web version. I like Picasa because I am HUGE Google product user (Blogger, Gmail, Google Calendar, iGoogle Homepage, Google Earth... You name it, I use it!). It's nice that when I blog and upload a picture through Blogger, it is automatically hosted in a blog-specific Picasa album for future use. There is a slideshow feature, which is essential these days for a photo sharing site, but it lacks any customization. There is only one layout choice and in order to obtain the embed code, it takes 4 or 5 clicks through a navigational path that is clunky and complex. Additionally, when you upload an image through Blogger, it is automatically put into your Picasa album, even if you've never used or wanted to use the site. It seems a bit like cheating to gain users.
2nd place:
Flickr, the Yahoo based photo site, has gained notoriety within the archives/library world with the Library of Congress' Photostream. It's very easy to use and since it's so popular, there is a bevy of other users that are already on the site who can browse other photostreams, allowing for additional access points into your collection. Plus, they allow geotagging, which is a pretty cool feature. However, keeping in mind this is a review of the free version, there are so many limitations. The free version only gives you 100 MB of space per month and only the 200 most recently uploaded images will appear. There are embed-able slideshows, but like Picasa, it isn't very customizable.
See what you think: Archives Reboot on Flickr
1st place:
Photobucket is a great site to use that gives a lot of bang for a $0.00 price tag. Granted, like Flickr, there is a Pro version that gives even more, but this review is for the free version. Not only does Photobucket allow for slideshows that are easily manipulated and completely customizable (they offer over 75 different templates). There is also a built-in image editor that gives you the option to add several different effects or fix various problems, like color. Photobucket also keeps statistics on your photos, both as individual photos and as an album, allowing you to track which of your images are most popular, even if they've been embedded into a third party site, like a digital catalog on your institution's site. Unlike Flickr, you don't have to have a site-specific account logon. If your organization already has a Facebook account, you can log in with that! It's always nice to cut down on various usernames and passwords. For the free version, you get 500 MB of space (overall, versus the 100 MB per month with Flickr) and 10 GB/month of bandwidth. You also get a custom URL for the root album and the video uploading limits are 10 minutes long, as opposed to 90 seconds with Flickr. The only deterrent to using Photobucket is the annoying advertisements. Many ads are videos, so sounds sometimes come on when you use the actual Photobucket site. However, if you are using it merely as hosting in order to embed the images/videos onto another site, there are no ads that will appear.
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