Here's an account of how Flickr tags are being used Visual Ethnography ... thanks antropologi.info for the link !

Excerpt :

"Last year, when I was offered the opportunity to teach a course on anthropology and photography at Haverford College, I immediately knew I wanted to do something with Flickr. I have to admit that it was exhausting correcting papers with dozens of hyperlinks to photos on flickr. But it was also fun. I especially enjoyed seeing the various ways students used Flickr's tags to come up with interesting paper topics. "

and more .....

"I especially enjoyed seeing the various ways students used Flickr's tags to come up with interesting paper topics.

• One student looked at how people interact with art on camera. Comparing art in the museum, with public art.
• Someone looked at the "what's in my bag" meme, comparing it to John Berger's discussion of oil painting as a depiction of wealth.
• Another student looked at depictions of the disabled, which raged from offensive, to inspiring, to practical.
• Similarly, another student found offensive pictures of fat people presented as social commentary. She also had interesting things to say about pictures of fat cats.
• T-shirt irony was surprisingly wide-spread.
• Two students looked at tensions between the individual and the group in specific subcultures (raves and Catholic nuns respectively).
• Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital was well explored in relation to out-of-focus pictures from rock concerts. (And nicely compared with off-stage shots.)
• I was surprised at how many pictures of public displays of affection one student was able to find.
• Wigs offered fodder for one student to contemplate beauty, the male gaze, and transgendered fantasy.
• Speaking of the gaze, one student looked specifically at pictures of people looking at themselves in the mirror.
• People imitating fashion photographs made for interesting comparisons with Adrian's book.
• And, surprisingly absent from pictures of the Cayman Islands were pictures of the people who actually live there."

Nice .... there are some more anthro-geeks Tris!

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