Using an Apple TV and a Flickr account to automate the display of student art work

The walls of our district offices are filled with student art – and I love that, but I’d really like to enable even more student art work to be on display.  So I spent some time yesterday connecting a Flickr account to a TV display.  The idea of is simple….  An art teacher could use a standard Flickr account (www.flickr.com) to store photos of student projects.  If they create a set (sort of like a folder) of specific photos/projects, we can target that specific set to be displayed on a TV.  The teacher could then control which photos are on display at our offices and the TV would take care of automatically running the slide show.

We’ll most likely add some extra TVs for art work displays this fall, and my guess is that several of our schools will also be using the idea to display extra art work in their hallways.

Here’s the setup and tricks that we found related to it….

We used an Apple TV ($99) and an HDMI cable to connect to the TV.  Of course, the TV also has to have an HDMI connection.  Connect the Apple TV to the wireless network, then go to setting to make sure the Apple TV is set to never sleep.  In the screen saver settings, select Flickr for your screen saver, connecting to the specific Flickr account and set of photos you want to display.  I then set the display mode to random, which means that the way the photos are displayed will change approximately every hour.  For the Start After setting, I set it to 2 minutes, meaning that if someone activates the Apple TV, the slide show will automatically kick back in after 2 minutes.  I’ve let the screen saver run for several days on a TV display and so far it seems to run well and doesn’t ever break from the screen saver mode.  Looking forward to seeing more student art work….

UPDATE:  In further testing, we found that if the Apple TV is running continuously, then it doesn’t receive any new pictures that the teacher uploads to Flickr.  However, we solved that with a simple Christmas tree timer.  We set the timer to turn the Apple TV off each night at 1am for a few minutes, then power it back on.  As soon as its back on, it takes 2 minutes for slide show to kick back on and at that time it will look to Flickr to update all the photos.

EdCamp is coming to Crestview Elementary Sept 28th, 2013

Saturday, Sept 28^th  EdCamp is coming to Des Moines – and specifically to Crestview Elementary.

What is EdCamp?
It’s a free event where educators gather to share and collaborate on topics of their choosing.  There are no official presenters/guest speakers.  Instead, the group creates a schedule of interested topics the morning of the event.  Read more at:  http://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-edcamp-kristen-swanson

Where can I find more specifics about the EdCamp Des Moines?
Website is:  https://sites.google.com/site/edcampdsmia/home

Which classrooms will be used?
The event will be using the cafeteria, media center, art room, and most of the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grade classrooms.

If my room is being used – what do I need to be aware of?
Just as you would for any other community group using the building – we’d ask that you make sure that any valuables or items that need to be protected are put away.

It looks like registration is already full… is there any way I can still attend?
Yes, you’re still welcome to attend.  It’s a free event – so we won’t turn you away!

Why is this happening at Crestview?
The organizers of EdCamp Des Moines were looking for a location in the Des Moines metro area.  Several Crestview and district staff stepped up to offer Crestview as a potential site.  Several CV staff and district staff will  on site to help manage the event.