That's why it is so exciting to let people know about the launch of a brand-new pilot project the Library of Congress is undertaking with Flickr, the enormously popular photo-sharing site that has been a Web 2.0 innovator. If all goes according to plan, the project will help address at least two major challenges: how to ensure better and better access to our collections, and how to ensure that we have the best possible information about those collections for the benefit of researchers and posterity. In many senses, we are looking to enhance our metadata (one of those Web 2.0 buzzwords that 90 percent of our readers could probably explain better than me).

The project is beginning somewhat modestly, but we hope to learn a lot from it. Out of some 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials at the Library of Congress, more than 3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on our new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist.

The real magic comes when the power of the Flickr community takes over. We want people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves. For instance, many photos are missing key caption information such as where the photo was taken and who is pictured. If such information is collected via Flickr members, it can potentially enhance the quality of the bibliographic records for the images.

He saw traffic on the blog, I Can Has Cheezburger, which he runs with his partner, "Tofuburger" [she refuses to disclose her real name] double each month: 375,000 hits in March, 750,000 in April, 1.5 million in May. Cheezburger now gets 500,000 page views a day from between 100,000 and 200,000 unique visitors, according to Nakagawa. The cheapest ad costs $500 for a week. The most expensive goes for nearly $4,000. Nakagawa, an accidental entrepreneur who saw his successful business materialize out of the ether, quit his programming job at the end of May: "It made more sense to do this and see how big it could get."

Cheezburger's story is unusual in the upper reaches of the blogosphere in that the time between launching and reaching a critical mass of readers who sustain the site is so compressed. But many of the most popular bloggers have similar tales of starting out with a niche idea -- an inside joke, a particular obsession -- and watching it explode. Of course, most blogs linger in obscurity and are read by only a handful of people, and few ever reach the level Cheezburger has. What about a blog like Cheezburger lets it break away from the pack?

The initial appeal of the blog may have been a fluke, but its growth since then has been part of a tightly controlled experiment to help answer that question. Nakagawa and his partner constantly tweak the site to see what draws readers and what leaves them cold.

"We basically have a playground where people keep coming to play, so we're trying to create new games all the time,"Nakagawa says.

iStockphoto pioneered the concept of micropayment stock imagery and was one of the first social networks in the world to actually pay contributors for the sale of their work. It remains the world leader in micropayment stock and is now the global volume leader in all stock photography sales, whether user-generated or traditional. iStock has more than 1.8 million members and an image or video is downloaded from the site every 2.5 seconds.

"Lise is a great friend, a true artist, and has really set the bar high for the members of our community," said Bruce Livingstone, CEO of iStockphoto. "We work very hard to promote our artists, providing training, business cards, partnerships, and advertising that give all our exclusive contributors maximum worldwide exposure. I believe Lise is the first of many who will achieve this milestone, as we have just barely scratched the surface of the worldwide appetite for imagery. What may be her most astounding accomplishment is that by our calculations, she just may be the most prolific stock photographer on the planet."

iStock artists are paid instantly every time one of their images is downloaded. Exclusive photographers can make 40 percent royalties on each image sold, and 50 percent on extended license agreements. iStock promotes its collection and photographers through aggressive marketing and advertising campaigns worldwide, and has many partnerships internationally that increase channel sales potential for its artists.

In recognition of her achievement, iStock is creating an iStock Wall of Fame, with Lise the first member inducted. She'll be joined by many more of the artists she has inspired during her meteoric rise.

"I love the community aspects of iStock so much and have learned a great deal from all my friends there since 2003," said Lise Gagne. "I fell in love with iStock right away, but never would have dreamt that someday it would be my career. But things have a way of working out: I got fired from my old design agency for spending too much time on iStock, and suddenly found myself with all the time in the world to give to photography. Now I hope to hit a million downloads in half the time it took to reach 500,000."

Soldiers serving overseas will lose some of their online links to friends and loved ones back home under a Department of Defense policy that a high-ranking Army official said would take effect Monday.

The Defense Department will begin blocking access "worldwide" to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other popular Web sites on its computers and networks, according to a memo sent Friday by Gen. B.B. Bell, the U.S. Forces Korea commander.

The policy is being implemented to protect information and reduce drag on the department's networks, according to Bell.

"This recreational traffic impacts our official DoD network and bandwidth ability, while posing a significant operational security challenge," the memo said.

The armed services have long barred members of the military from sharing information that could jeopardize their missions or safety, whether electronically or by other means.

The new policy is different because it creates a blanket ban on several sites used by military personnel to exchange messages, pictures, video and audio with family and friends.

"Yahoo Photos will get a lot of Flickr features, and there are a lot of other areas around Yahoo that will also be Flickrised where Flickrization would be good," Fake said in a blog post about the acquisition. "Yahoo Photos and Flickr have different kinds of users with different needs, and will remain separate for the foreseeable future."

Since Flickr IDs were merged with Yahoo IDs, I've seen problems at Flickr that I hoped wouldn't invade. My photos have been faved by people intending to use them for their own profit, trolls have driven by some of my favorite groups and taken a shot, and hackers played some serious games with people’s heads and accounts at the end of March. I attribute a large part of this disruption to the accessibility that the Yahoos had when their ID worked seamlessly with Flickr, since it was concurrent with the merge.

Research just out by Hitwise has indicated that although the number of people visiting web 2.0 inspired sites (think YouTube, Flickr etc) we're really a bunch of couch surfing voyeurs who are around to spy on what others are doing, rather than actively participating.

The data collected by Bill Tancer (analyst at Hitwise) showed that just 0.16 percent of visits to YouTube are from those creative people uploading their homegrown videos for the rest of the us to see. Which leaves a whole lot of us hanging around for the spectacle alone.

The research also identified the grand total sum of only "two-tenths of one percent" of visitors to Flickr that were actually uploading photos.

Flickr collections visually differentiate themselves from Flickr sets by using the mosaic-style icon you see in the screenshot above. Unfortunately it looks like collections are Flickr Pro-only, though any plain old Flickr account holder knows you don't get enough sets with you free account to have much of a need for collections anyway.

Is there a quirky landmark in your town? An unsung hero or an eccentric? Do you frequent a little-known locale that has a claim to fame — or deserves one? We want to know about them. MSNBC.com will be featuring notable locations across the U.S., submitted by you. Send us photos and videos of the best-kept secrets in your area.

Photolurkers spent most of their time online flicking through photograph albums posted by strangers

Then there are photolog sites like Flickr. While most of us would rather die than be caught surreptitiously browsing through someone else's photos, there need be no such qualms about the private pics people put up on these sites. Haliyana Khalid and Alan Dix at Lancaster University in the UK have studied this new practice of "photolurking". Most people they interviewed who used Flickr and similar sites spent time each day browsing albums owned by people they had never met. They do this for emotional kicks, Khalid and Dix suggest: flicking through someone else's wedding photos, for example, allows people to daydream about their own nuptials.

Blog streaking: Revealing secrets or personal information online, which for everybody's sake would be best kept private.

I decided to educate Microsoft about the use of images licensed under Creative Commons and hosted by third-party sites by using the same tactics employed in its own fight against piracy, but with a little twist. I edited the Goatse image to remove depictions of anything that might be considered offensive, and placed the Creative Commons circle logo covering up the focus of the image. The modified image was meant to send a message to readers of the Internet Explorer team's blog that the new picture was out of place, and ensure quick corrective action from Microsoft. I was unsure how many employees in the software division would get the subtle reference to Microsoft's own anti-piracy efforts.

He wasn't pleased that Microsoft used his photo on a commercial site, without attribution. In addition, he said, the use of the photo violated the Flickr terms of service by not linking back to the site.

"Basically they stole one of my photos and put it on their blog," Kennedy said. "I decided to make them very aware of that fact."

Presumably, they are. The updated RSS Team post now concludes with an apology to Kennedy for the improper use, in addition to an apology to readers who saw the second image. What's your opinion of what Kennedy did? Was he justified? Should be interesting to see what people think of this one.

I'm sure that gets everyone 16 and under to laugh, but is that really the best way that Niall could have gotten the image taken down?

I don't think so. Unprofessional, especially for someone who used to work at Microsoft.

Remember Niall, maybe someday this Web 2.0 bubble will end and you might need to go back to a company and look for a job. I know that doesn't seem probable right now, but I've been there.

Starting tomorrow, the photos and videos submitted will be placed throughout Reuters.com and Yahoo News, the most popular news Web site in the United States, according to comScore MediaMetrix. Reuters said that it would also start to distribute some of the submissions next year to the thousands of print, online and broadcast media outlets that subscribe to its news service. Reuters said it hoped to develop a service devoted entirely to user-submitted photographs and video.

"There is an ongoing demand for interesting and iconic images," said Chris Ahearn, the president of the Reuters media group. He said the agency had always bought newsworthy pictures from individuals and part-time contributors known as stringers.

"This is looking out and saying, 'What if everybody in the world were my stringers?'" Mr. Ahearn said.

The project is among the most ambitious efforts in what has become known as citizen journalism, attempts by bloggers, start-up local news sites and by global news organizations like CNN and the BBC to see if readers can also become reporters.

Users will not be paid for images displayed on the Yahoo and Reuters sites. But people whose photos or videos are selected for distribution to Reuters clients will receive a payment. Mr. Ahearn said the company had not yet figured out how to structure those payments. The basic payment may be relatively small, but he said Reuters was likely to pay more to people offering exclusive rights to images of major events. For now, no money is changing hands between Yahoo and Reuters, but if Reuters is able to create a separate news service with the user-created material, it will split the revenue with Yahoo.

The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that seeks to empower citizens to capture, post and share photographs of democracy in action. By documenting their local voting experience on November 7, voters can contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America.

With citizen's images and the information that accompanies them, the Project becomes a research tool on how voting happens in America and how it can be designed to be easier, less confusing and more enjoyable. The project intends to collect photographs of every polling place in America, so you are encouraged to participate no matter where you vote, how large or small your polling place is, what kind of ballot you use, or what your party affiliation.

Starting now, whenever you see someone looking truly awful-or truly chic-take a photo and show the world! Use your digital camera or camera phone and upload, or just browse, rate and comment on other people's photos. Remember, we're talking fashion commentary, not personal attacks. So play fair, and have fun!

You, the user, agree that the photo(s) you are submitting are taken by you, or by someone who has given you the right to submit them. All Don'tspotting photos must be taken in a public place. (emphasis added)

And now Glamour gives you the chance to nominate that bitch in your office who always insists on wearing cropped tights and gold bangles for the former and yourself for the latter. It's called Don'tspotting - and you are the catty paparazzi, responsible for stopping the fashion faux-pauxs from taking over New York. Or, wherever.

They created a blogging purse by hacking fashion (handbag and fabric), hardware (Nokia 6682, pedometer, GPS device, custom stamp, breadboard, wires, soldering iron) and software (CSS, APIs) in less than 24 hours to produce a working prototype. The custom-designed handbag is rigged with a pedometer and a Nokia 6682. Every 10 steps (this is programmable), the pedometers triggers the 6682 to take a photo. The 6682 then uses Yahoo! Research Berkeley's Zonetag mobile client to geotag the photos and upload the photos to Flickr.

My cell phone was stolen last Friday. I had it disconnected and arranged to get a replacement. It had been set up with the excellent service from ShoZu to automatically upload all pictures taken with the phone to Flickr. So today, completely surprisingly, I find pictures on my Flickr account of the family of the person who took the phone. I'm not sure they knew what was happening (they replaced the SIM card with their own, clearly, but probably didn't notice ShoZu), I have no way to find my phone with these pictures.

Update: I still have many people saying that this episode is a hoax, and/or I am a marketer. Please, this was not marketing, I have no connection to Shozu, the story is accurate and happened exactly as I've recounted. I simply posted the story to my blog, that's all. I really am just some guy that this happened to. Thanks.

Art teacher Tamara Hoover has resigned from her job at Austin High School, extinguishing a firestorm that began when nude pictures of her online were brought to the attention of school administrators.

Hoover submitted a resignation letter Wednesday and, pending expected school board approval Monday, will receive a $14,850 settlement from the Austin school district, several months' salary.

"The district believes strongly in an individual's right of free expression, but as we all know, such rights are not absolute," district officials said in a statement Thursday. "The district and Ms. Hoover disagreed as to the propriety of explicit nude photographs of her and others in sexually suggestive poses being placed on the Internet, and its impact on students and families, and thus, on Ms. Hoover's ability to be an appropriate role model and effective classroom teacher in AISD."

Hoover said she's sad about the outcome but will focus on moving forward. "I wasn't prepared to stop teaching. I never wanted to resign from teaching. I don't think this is the most ideal outcome. I was definitely impressed by (the district's) willingness to come to the table. I just wish they would have done that in the beginning."

Photobucket dominates the category, with a 44% market share. It surpassed Yahoo! Photos in January, and its share of visits increased by 34% in the four months from February 2006 to May 2006. Flickr, my friends should be happy to note, has also been growing rapidly, increasing 44% in the past four months, and up from a rank of #9 in this category one year ago (week ending 6/18/05). Slide has also taken off this spring, with its visits increasing more than ten fold in the past four months.

Photobucket, Slide, and Imageshack are all image hosting sites, and MySpace is their primary source of traffic. In fact, MySpace was responsible for 76% of Slide's traffic in May 2006, 56% of Photobucket's traffic, and 50% of Imageshack's traffic. The growth of Photobucket and Slide go hand in hand the growth of consumer generated content and social networking sites, as I've reported before. It's amazing to consider that the 1.39% of the downstream traffic from MySpace that goes to Photobucket could be largely responsible for Photobucket's category dominance.

The photos, which were posted on Flickr.com by her partner, depict Hoover in the shower, lifting weights, getting dressed, in bed and doing other routine activities.

Her abrupt dismissal highlights a new concern for employees: Your boss has Internet access, too.

"People don't realize when they put their entire diary out there, they're giving very private information to the public," said Kate Brooks, director of career services for liberal arts students at the University of Texas at Austin. "You never know what's going to appeal to someone or disturb someone."

The school district said the photos were inappropriate and violate the "higher moral standard" expected of public school teachers. As a result, she's become an ineffective teacher, she was told as she was escorted out of class last month.

1. The website is artistic photography and very good at that.
2. I never told kids to "go see me" at the website.
3. The website is not mine and I have no control over what the photographer posts, nor do i know what she is going to post
4. The website is not pornographic.
5. I have been recognized by the board year after year (2 weeks before may 19 board recognized me again) for outstanding achievments as an art teacher..YET I am supposedly ineffective.

The Webcams come bundled with LifeCam Dashboard software, which lets the user zoom, tilt, and pan the Webcam. An optional software service called "One-Touch Blogging" automatically publishes pictures free to the user's blog on Microsoft's MSN Spaces. After the LifeCam snaps a picture, the software automatically logs a user in to MSN Spaces and posts the picture as a new blog entry, Cowan said. Users can add text to the photo blog entry before publishing it.

Both Webcams have integrated microphones with a noise-cancellation feature, Cowan said. When a user speaks into the microphone, the Webcam creates a sound funnel that automatically cuts down on echo and room noise, Cowan said.

The $100 LifeCam VX-6000 is aimed at tech-savvy users looking for a feature-rich Webcam that offers robust performance, Cowan said. The round Webcam has a 71-degree wide-angle lens and shoots video at a 1280-by-1024 pixel resolution.

The $50 LifeCam VX-3000 shoots video at 640-by-480-pixel resolution and is designed for budget-conscious buyers. It doesn't have a wide-angle lens.

Over the last year, we've been asked 15,381 times, "How about printing? When are we going to get printing!?" Today we are happy to answer: "Today!" For now it is U.S. only (we know! we're working hard on rolling it out everywhere!). You can order prints to be delivered by mail, or pick them up at your local Target store for one hour printing, even. In both cases, you get 10 free 4x6" prints to get started.

Since the beginning of the year, traffic on image-hosting sites overall has shot up 406 percent to more than 14.7 million unique users, Nielsen/NetRatings said. The number of people using the sites represents 10 percent of the total U.S. Internet population.

The top referring sites for the top 5 photo-hosting sites were blog-hosting service providers MySpace.com, Xanga.com, LiveJournal, Blogger and Microsoft's MSN Spaces, the research firm said.

Girls between the ages of 12 and 17 were the biggest users of photo sites, accounting for 15 percent of the total number of users, Nielsen reported. Teenage girls were two-and-a-half times more likely to visit an image-hosting site than the average user.

"It's not that incredibly surprising," Gibs said of the use of photo sites by teenagers, who have been quick adopters of the "fun element of blogging."

To some extent, teens are copying celebrity-magazine photos that are surrounded by text giving a description of what's shown, Gibs said. Many teens post pictures of places they've been, as well as of themselves and friends.

"Interestingness is a ranking algorithm based on user behavior around the photos taking into account some obvious things like how many users add the photo to their favorites and some subtle things like the relationship between the person who uploaded the photo and the people who are commenting (plus a whole bunch of secret sauce)."