1st draft

Picnik

This course should take about an hour.

Requirements & Prerequisites

  • Internet Connected Computer with Flash 9 (for picnik) and Quicktime (for screencast)
  • Basic Use of PC
  • Basic Use of Browser
  • Knowledge of basic internet navigation

On this page… (hide)

  1. 1. What
  2. 2. How
  3. 3. Why
    1. 3.1 Examples
    2. 3.2 Possible drawbacks
  4. 4. Practical
  5. 5. Discussion
  6. 6. Followup

1.  What

Picnik is an easy to use online image editor. It allows you to edit images uploaded from your computer, from an online source or even directly from your webcam. It is integrated with several other online services, for example flickr.

2.  How

All the work is done inside a browser, picnic is a flash application, you need to have at least 150 kbps from your broadband connection and the Flash 9 plugin. The site says:

At minimum we recommend that you have Microsoft Windows XP/Vista, Mac OS X or Linux, with a 1GHz processor or better, and at least 512 MB of RAM. You will also need a web browser such as Internet Explorer version 6.0 or higher, Firefox 2.0 or higher, or Safari 2 or higher.

Follow this screencast it should give you an idea of how picnik works in a a few minutes.

As you can see picnik has a very straightforward ‘workflow’:

  1. Upload, or load a photo from a website, webcam etc.
  2. Edit: rotate, crop, colour correction, sharpen or remove red eye. Theses features are clearly set out in tabs across the screen, online instruction is clear and unobtrusive.
  3. Create: Add effects, borders, text, ‘stamps’ and blocks of colour.
  4. Save.




3.  Why

Picnik is easy to use, costs nothing. Children have no trouble using the features which are more powerful than say paint or Microsoft Picture Editor which are often used on school computers and are free.

A feature of Picnik is you never have to worry about making a mistake; ‘Undo’ can take the photo all the way back to its original state one edit at a time if you choose.

Children would be able to use the same tools at home if they have a suitable computer and internet connection.

3.1  Examples

A couple of examples of children’s work. In these cases picnik enabled the children to work in a way that the software on their computers would not (layers, borders, transparency)

Burns Day Pictures Children in my class (Primary 6) took photos of the school Burn’s Day Festivities, they were easily able to upload the photos to picnik, add text and a border and save then to their computers.

P6 Project Examples of CD covers created by children. Drawings were scanned or photographed, the children uploaded them to picnik added titles and borders before downloading them. The pictures were used as covers for music CDs the children were creating. The Children were very happy with the result and felt that they editing gave their pictures the ‘professional’ touch.

3.2  Possible drawbacks

The fact that this is an online application my give some school networks a problem, if you lose your internet connection you will not be able to use the application. Using it with a slow connection my frustrate children. Some school computers may not be loaded with the most recent version of Flash.

The use of pictures found on the internet may lead children to believe that they can use these images without regard to copyright. It may be helpful to introduce children to a source of creative commons pictures or one copyright cleared for use in school. For example Flicker Creative Commons photos or a library such as Pics4Learning

4.  Practical

Take a while to try out and play with picnik. Upload a suitable picture and work through picnik’s menus. You may want to try and make something useful, a poster for your class for example, or just play around.

5.  Discussion

Try to think of where this could fit into your work in class or preparation. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of using an online editor. Think about the specifics of this tool, if you would use it in the classroom what would it be good for, what might the children the children find difficult.

6.  Followup

Try out other ways to get images into picnic. Children my enjoy uploading their photo from a webcam and trying out the effects. If you have a flickr account you can edit your flickr photos in picnik when browsing the flickr site, just click Edit on the flickr photo page.