Straight from flickr to uvic.ca: The University of Victoria features student photos selected by a panel of faculty members on its website homepage

May 9th, 2007 Karine Joly 4 Comments

I’m currently doing some research for an upcoming feature article to be published in the Canadian publication, University Affairs, which explains why I’ve spent some quality time lately with the websites of a few Canadian institutions.

As I was looking for contact information, I noticed a photo at the bottom of the right column of the University of Victoria’s homepage.

A single click brought me to the page of the Flickr group created by the University of Victoria, a group strong of 54 members and 458 digital shots at the time of this writing.

To get one of their shots on the university homepage, students just need to submit their photos via the flickr group or by emailing the communications office. Submitted photos are then reviewed by a faculty member (will be by the communication team over the summer for the reasons you can imagine) who selects the winner and provide detailed feedback.

What a neat idea to generate interest among student photographers and the campus community at large!

The University of Victoria is even going further in tapping into its flickr talent pool by inviting passionate student photographers to submit their digital shots to be considered for inclusion in its institutional publications:

Have you taken an amazing shot of life on campus?

Want to share it with students who are considering attending UVic?

Then you’re in luck! UVic’s Student Recruitment Office invites you to submit your photos of life at UVic – your photos could be featured in university publications – if any of your photos are selected, you’ll be paid and you will be credited as photographer.

Interested? Contact commcoop@uvic.ca for more information.

Very smart, don’t you think? Anybody else doing something similar? Post a comment to let us know!

4 Responses

  1. Hey Karine,

    Robin Sutherland, the senior web guy at UVic, also introduced this a couple of years back at The University of Western Ontario before moving out west. Western’s group is up to nearly 900 photos and 90,000 views.
    Cheers!

  2. Leo Charbonneau says:

    Hello Karine,

    The University of Western Ontario has also been using flickr for some time, although it doesn’t look like the university is contemplating using them for other marketing purposes. Look to the bottom right of the home page.

  3. Ted Hattemer says:

    While we are not using Flickr for our collaborative photo album, here at Ohio State University we offer a way to submit photos of people doing what we call “O-H-I-O.”

    O-H-I-O is a “cheer” that four people (or fewer if you use objects to represent letters) perform by each forming one of the letters in O-H-I-O with their up-stretched arms. It sounds trivial, but actually has a lot of meaning for Ohio State students, staff, alums and residents of the state.

    Here is the copy from the website:

    It started out as a simple football cheer, something for late 19th Century fans to shout during football games. But these days, “O-H-I-O” means the whole package: strong athletic traditions, major school spirit, and the academic achievements and outreach efforts that make The Ohio State University the great place it is.

  4. Bradjward says:

    We’ve been doing something similar at the University of Illinois at Springfield for a little over a year now, but pictures come via email instead of through Flickr. It works great and gets the entire campus community involved.

Got a question or comment?