Create Live SlideShows from any Cell Phone to Internet

On this blog I often talk about iReporting, mobile journalism, live data collection, documenting field trip experiences, and Scavenger Hunts using students' own cell phones. Another great option is to create live slideshows that document these activities. Using SlideFlickr is one easy way to create a slideshow on the Internet from any cell phone with a camera. I created a screencast tutorial on how to create your own Slideflickr slideshow from your cell phone.

At the beginning of this post is an example of a Slideflickr slideshow. Each slideshow is a live feed from a flickr mobile account (I explain how to get the mobile address in the tutorial). As students send in live photos from their field trip or for their scavenger hunt, the photos will automatically show up in the Slideflickr slideshow (the latest photos will show up first). The slideshows also allow for comments (you can turn this feature off). The slideshows can easily be embedded into any blog, wiki, or website. In addition, you can create multiple slideshows that represent different aspects of the activity. For example for a scavenger hunt on local environment, you could have a slideshow for species, another slideshow for flora/fauna, and yet another one for rocks/minerals. The students would have 3 different email addresses on their phones. They would send their cell phone picture to the slideshow that is appropriate for the image in the picture (e.g. a picture of a fox goes to the species slideshow). Using live slideshows is a great way for parents and community members to see what their children are learning throughout the day.

Besides creating slideshows to document students' activities, you can also create slideshows for any flickr photo feed. For example, if there is a photo feed from NASA, you can create a flickr slideshow on your class webiste that automatically updates as the photos update.