Takin' Pictures

Ah, photos. I just got a digital camera for Christmas, and have been enjoying taking pictures of stuff. 

For example, please enjoy this image of some buildings I walk past on my way to work in the morning. 

I've also posted some photos on Facebook, and shared some on Picasa, though I keep those albums private and only send the link to people I want to see them. 

I tend to think that people don't care that much about most of my family event photos, and also that I don't care that much about having people see them indiscriminately...but it is incredibly nice to be able to share photos with the people I do want to see them, without having to print up copies, or attach them one by one to emails, or (back in the dark ages), get multiple prints developed and mail them to people (what are we, barbarians?).

I think photo-sharing has a lot of uses, because photos can often make clear things that are complex and difficult to explain in words. 

Also, people like to take pictures, and to share them with others, so there's an obvious social component that will be popular. 

Libraries could use photo-sharing features to post pictures of events, nice shots of the library looking libralicious, snapshots of employees, and so forth. It's often nice, while browsing a website, to get a picture of what the people involved look like (although it may also often be the case that I really don't care---it's of minor interest to me to see pictures of the manager of my bank or something).

Of course, some people don't really want their picture on the website of their place of employment, either. I'm indifferent, but I work with people who aren't comfortable with it: they're simply "more private people" and aren't interested in having just anyone with an internet connection be able to look at their picture.

So photo-sharing comes with some privacy concerns, and with the added twist of having people be able to post pictures of other people, not necessarily with the other person's consent or even knowledge. 

This tends to be legal, if the photo is taken in a public setting, but whether it's appropriate can still be a complicated issue. Should the library get permission from everyone in the audience at a poetry reading, before they post a group photo online? 

Should they get permission from parents to post photos that include children? 

Should they just stick to photos of buildings, the way I've done here?

Some buildings are extremely handsome, but what if you live in an ugly town? 

Clearly, this is an area with food for thought.