Just pick it up...but photograph it first

I discovered something really interesting  at the NAAEE conference in Ottawa. I am pretty excited to share Litterati with my classes. I was initially drawn to some photographs that were on display at the conference. It turned out they were all Instagram photos submitted to #litterati. There was a summary posted of what Litterati was and there was a description beside each photograph from each photographer. I was amazed at artistic view that was being applied to litter found all over the world.

               

                                

Basically, the idea behind Litterati is simple: snap a picture of litter, post it to Instagram (#litterati), and then pick up and dispose of the litter. I was also fortunate to attend a workshop with a wonderful presenter, Nate Ivy, during the conference and I was able to learn a variety of practical uses in the classroom.

                                

What is being created is a database of litter around the globe that can be organized by location and type of litter (plastic, paper and cigarette butts being the top three types of litter), as long as it is tagged on Instagram as such (#plastic, #paper, etc.). Users have started tagging by brand name after seeing common brands such as Starbucks and McDonald's frequently posted. I'm thinking that we will discover a lot of #TimHortons here in Canada.

                                 

Have a look at this video with Jeff Kirschner, the founder of Litterati.

To date (according to the stats displayed on the Litterati website), over 77 000 pieces of trash have been logged with only approximately 350 pieces in Canada. That doesn't mean Canada doesn't have a problem with litter (it's a problem everywhere...except Ottawa appeared to be exceptionally clean...it was difficult to find litter to photograph). It just means that we need more Canadians on the Litterati Team!

I'm pretty new to Twitter and Instagram and the Litterati idea has motivated me to use it more. I see so much potential in these forms of social media in their use in the classroom. I will begin with sharing this post with my classes and get the word out there. I'm looking forward to seeing where this takes us.