Recently came across two examples of using Flickr that caught my attention — for being both theme driven and focused on something local.

The first uses an individual Flickr account to take a quirky look at the history of an art institution, the second creates a Flickr group to document the fate of a local landmark. We often think of Web 2.0 applications as being geographically non-specific. Using very different approaches, these make use of Flickr to explore and share images that focus on a specific sense of place.

Every Chair at the Visual Studies Workshop is a project by Luke Strosnider that includes over 500 images. The  Midtown Plaza group  is organized to document Midtown Plaza in downtown Rochester — the first urban shopping mall built in the 1960s, and now slated for demolition.

The “Every Chair…” Flickr account functions as both exhibition and catalog. With all the added benefits of being on Flickr — including the ability to use online commenting to share thoughts with with the artist and others viewing the images. A lot of photographers might hesitate to publish work online this way. To address this, the uploaded image sizes are limited to 600 x 800 pixels, and each full-size view includes “© All rights reserved.”

The Midtown Plaza group includes a discussion page that allow people to share information about the Mall, including one thread on trading photographer’s experiences dealing with security and another with a link to a 1963 promotional film on Rochester featuring Midtown Mall.

A single image on flicker can be linked to — and viewed from — another website.  Flickr feeds can send groups of images to another blog or website. Both save on server space, since the individual image files remain stored on Flickr.com.

So if you have a digital camera and/or digital image files to share, why wait? Check out — and make use of — Flickr.com.

“For this series, we’re hoping to uncover the elements of graphic design in cinema by exploring artists and examples that exhibit great design.” – Michael Neault, Associate Programmer, Motion Picture Department          

The program includes:

• Thursday, April 3 — a program of short films by Bauhaus masters Hans Richter and László Moholy-Nagy
• Thursday, April 10 – British Television Advertising Awards 2007
• Thursday, April 17 – The Films of Charles & Ray Eames
• Saturday, April 19 – Helvetica — With 7:00 pm lecture by Charles Bigelow
• Sunday, April 20, 5:00 pm — Helvetica
• Thursday, April 24 — Saul Bass and the Art of Title Design, followed by Bass’ award-winning short, Why Man Creates?

All films are screened at 8 pm, with the exception of Helvetica (shown at 5 pm) at the Dryden Theatre, located at 900 East Avenue, Rochester, NY.

From us to you!

Click image at left to access a full-size, printable version of the Valentine’s Day card.

And to help celebrate further, here’s a sample of online smooches — from movie history to animated film to flash website. Enjoy!

• The lost kisses scene from Cinema Paradiso on You Tube
• ‘Tulips’ from The Animated Life by Jeff Scher on the New York Times Blog
• New Yorkers pucker up at www.ny-kisses.com

The only question, then, is why manufacturers don’t actually bother doing what’s right. I’m sure they have all kinds of excuses for compromise: “That would cost money,” “That would set us back a month,” “That would limit sales in Eastern Europe” whatever.

In his weekly email newsletter, The New York Times technology columnist, David Pogue describes the difficult process of comparing and reviewing a personal technology product. At the end of his post (not the review) comes a brief but reasoned — and at the same time impassioned — plea for good design: Designing What’s Right for Consumers.

From those of us who face using constantly evolving technologies on a daily basis — as well as those of us that make design decisions for a living — thanks David!

In the early 1990s Jon Garlock and Marilyn Anderson photographed and interviewed hundreds of union workers in nearly 40 different Rochester union worksites, documenting a wide range of union labor — industrial, construction, communications, transportation and public and service sector jobs — and creating the exhibit “Rochester: A Community of Workers.”

It was my privledge to design a version of this photo and text exhibit for the web, which can be viewed at: www.rochesterlabor.org/exhibit/

In addition to showing the online exhibit at the November 17 Lyceum, sector overviews were given by Tom Privitere (PEF), Dan Maloney (UAW 1097) and Ray Kuntz (Laborers 435). Each of them spoke about changes since the photographs were taken in the early 1990s and led discussion about about the future of work and unions in Rochester.

Thanks to Walter at adhub.com for his annual invitation to the adhub’s holiday greeting card promotion. Because the card promotion includes a web link from the individual company profile, participating was great motivation to update the DaysWork website, which has been dormant for way too long.

Also, a special thank you to the folks at RochesterLabor.org and Cornell ILR - Rochester for allowing us to be involved in some great projects during 2007.

Last, but not least, we’re pleased to have established a relationship with a new web hosting service, thesecretlabs.com. Nothing can beat having a local service provider!

of What’s Organic, my blog about organic food and products — exploring issues around the production, labeling, marketing and consumption of all things organic.

and Pro Arte Maya, website of the artist Marilyn Anderson. Her site includes images and publications about Maya arts and crafts, as well as information on the Pro Arte Maya children’s education project in Guatemala.

There’s more in the works, but if we told you we’d have to — you know –