(I’ve been a bit busy recently, and I’ve missed out on pointing at a lot of things that some very clever people have been doing on the web. This is the first post in a series, where I try to remedy that.)
There’s really very little on the web that can beet Flickr for sheer, utter geekery. Lifehackers and organizational fetishists and headcases from around the globe have taken full advantage of the medium, and there are some beautiful things to be found.
A not-even-barely-complete list of Flickr groups, and pretty pictures, may be found after the cut.
The Moleskinerie Flickr Group
Devoted to sketches, doodles, and art in, around, and using Moleskine notebooks.
The Getting Things Done Flickr Group
You never knew there were so many ways to use index cards.
Origami Tessellations
This has nothing to do with organization, but it’s just so damn pretty.
Annotated Things Groups
The notes feature on Flickr is just a wonderful way to layer detail into an image, and use it to tell a story. Dave Gray has created a set of groups based around this premise, and they’re all great.
Wave your mouse at the stuff in those pools.
Tea Sketches
Put a teabag on an index card, long enough to make a stain.
Now, draw something around that stain.
Inspiration Boards
I love these glimpses of other peoples’ internal landscapes, as reflected in their work environment.
It’s trite to say that there’s no limit to what you can find in Flickr, as inspiration for your own low-tech stuff; if you were an immortal who never slept, and had nothing else to do in life, it’s conceivable that you could see it all.
But given our limits in attention and time (not to mention the painful effects of sitting at a computer all day), it’s pretty clear that there really is more than you can ever actually consume.
So, while this is hardly the sum total of what I’ve been aware of on Flickr, if there’s something you don’t see here and I haven’t mentioned, drop me a line. I’d love to see it.
(Also, if you suspect that this whole post was just an excuse to noodle in Flickr and play with TextMate’s new image upload and blogging tools, then you’re absolutely right.)