OpEdNews - Diary: New on OEN-- Images, DIversity and more

Diversifying OpEdNews.com We've said it before, but really can't say it too often. We want all kinds of content on the site, not just political. Have a great recipe? Share it. Did you take an awesome vacation or hear a story of someone doing something special? Tell it, with or without pictures. Did you buy a new piece of technology, or learn a new windows control function, tell about it. Review movies, books, restaurants, stores, TV shows-- the sky is the limit. Seriously. We want and need more of this kind of writing. Tell your non-political friends. Tell writing and journalism instructors.

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Contributions are way down, so we've added some more ad slots. Some are paid based on page views. Others are paid only when you click on them. If some seem interesting to you, and only if, please do click on them. You'll be helping OEN. Currently only about one ad in a 1000 page views is clicked on.

Or, if you have never given to OEN, or if it's been a long time, please click here to make a donation.

Good news. The Week, a major magazine picked up senior editor Rady Ananda's article on the first gay prime minister in the world-- in Iceland.

A few new developments:

Instead of saying 27 comments, after an article, we're using a comment icon so it will read 27 .

Adding IMAGES to your articles, diaries and polls on OEN

Images are inviting, visual ways to grab reader attention in a way alternative to text. Including images on our front page and in articles will do a lot to engage more right brained, younger, alternative culture readers. They liven up the look of the site and engage first time visitors in a different way.

We've learned that there are millions of "creative commons" images that we are permitted to use on our site on Flickr.com. So let's have fun with this and use them.

We've added the ability to display large images to the front page-- to H1 headlines and H4 headlines.If you're postin an article, we're going to look for images for headlining, as an extra reason to headline. So please consider adding images to your content submissions. Or, if you are visually inclined, we're looking for image collections.

For example, during the Gaza invasion, there were tens of thousands of images showing demonstrations. A collection of such images would be a very cool way to cover the story. And there were incredible images from within gaza-- and photo-stories would be an excellent way to evoke emotions. So keep the idea of doing photo-journalism without taking the pictures yourself.

Try this:

How to find images on flickr for use on OEN.

type a key word or words into the flickr.com search field.

when results appear, click on the advanced search link next to the search entry field. Then, scroll down and you'll find a check-off box

Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content

check that off and scroll down to click the search button. These images can be used, WITH attribution.

There are two ways to insert the image. Either way, use the small version you find in the search results, not the larger one available when you click on the image.

One way is to download the image to your hard drive, then upload it to OEN using our multimedia button.

The other way is to hilight the image and copy and paste it to where you want it.

Either way, you'll want to copy and paste the By...photographer user name that is displayed next to the image you copy. That's all you need for attribution, but it's a must.

We've been doing a whole lot, behind the control panels, to make OEN work better. You don't directy see those results, but they're empowering our 45 editors to do a better job. Please do check the SECTIONS button of the navigation bar at th top of the pages to see how some of our other new features work.

We're looking for suggestions for more HOT Page topics.

thanks and best always,

rob kall