Step-by-step instructions on how to share your images with the Encyclopedia of Life (http://www.eol.org) using Flickr (http://www.flickr.com)

4. Go to the EOL Images group homepage http://www.flickr.com/groups/encyclopedia_of_life Click Join This Group and become a member. You will need to accept the basic rules of the group in order to join. Scroll down the group homepage to learn more about the group before you begin. Join the EOL Group

5. Click on the blue arrow next to the “You” menu near the top of your screen. Options will appear. Drag your pointer down to click on Upload Photos and Videos Upload your photo

6. Click Choose photos and a dialogue box will open:

7. The dialogue box allows you to select the file you want to upload. Larger file sizes are best.

8. Now your selected photo(s) should appear on the upload list. Make sure the privacy is set to “Public” and then click the pink button that says Upload Photos

9. Once Flickr finishes uploading the photo, a green checkmark will appear. You can add the description now but let’s try adding it later. Instead, go back to the You pull-down menu and view your photostream, Flickr’s name for its display of your most recently-uploaded images.

10. The photo will be added to your photostream (see image on the left of this slide). Click on the photo. You will see many options. Click Add a tag near the top of the list on the right. A tag provides information about what is pictured in the image. A special kind of tag called a “machine tag” will help a machine (a computer program) place this image onto the correct EOL species page. A machine tag is different from a regular tag because it has an equals sign = in it. You can read more about machine tags here

11. Type the taxonomy tag very carefully into the box that opens. Leave a space between tags. If binomial, the entire tag must be enclosed in quotes so that the computer does not think that the species name, (which is typed after entering the Genus name and including one space), is a separate tag. BEST TAG “ taxonomy:binomial=Genus species” After you type in a machine tag (readable by computers with an equals sign) that contains some taxonomic identification into the box that opens, click the blue ADD button. You should see the tag appear on the right. If it is your only tag you should see it under tags. If you have some non-machine tags (no equals signs) it will show up under a machine tags heading.

13. If you have a regular tag (one that doesn’t contain an = to be read by the computer) your machine tag shows up in a special section. Here in the red circle, we clicked on Show machine tags to see it. It does not matter whether your machine tag appears with the regular tags or in the machine tag category, as long as you have a tag somewhere that contains an = and some accurate taxonomic information!

14. Now we’ll look on the right side of the page and click (edit) next to All rights reserved under the heading Additional Information. Change the License

15. By clicking (edit) next to All rights reserved on the previous page, you now see the following options. To be eligible for inclusion on the EOL website, you must choose one of the licenses marked by a red circle: If you are going to be submitting a lot of photos to EOL, you will want to change your default license so you don’t have to set the license one at a time. Read more at the thread about licenses. Change the License

16. Now that your photo is public, has an acceptable copyright license, and contains a machine tag…click the “Send to Group” icon above your photo. Send to Group Add Your Image to the EOL Images Group Pool

17. If you’ve successfully added your image to the Encyclopedia of Life Image pool, you should now see it on the front page of the EOL group homepage. Thank you for contributing!