Legislation proposed for blocking social software?

Yesterday I posted about a school in my region that has blocked the blogosphere from its district computers. Meanwhile, David Warlick wrote “You May Not Get to Read This Blog” in which he says “Because we still treat information as something that we can hide behind a wall, and we continue to teach that way to our children, they do not realize the dangers that their information represents to their personal safety and future well being.”

Also in this post he links to “Censored for Violence” in Wesley Fryer’s “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” in which he says “Simply put, because as educators we should strive to remain relevant to students and engaged in their development of literacy skills. Social networking websites are going to continue to grow FAST in the months and years to come. We need to help students make better decisions about the information they share about themselves online, in MySpace and elswhere. In some cases, it is hard to speak intelligently about something if you have little personal experience about it yourself.”

Tonight when I went back to the Warlick post to write about it, I find that David has added additional information from Andy Carvin (who writes “Learning Now” on PBS Teacher Source) that makes my blood run cold. “New Federal Legislation Would Ban Online Social Networks in Schools and Libraries.”

Carvin states that proposed legislation “would update the federal law that currently requires all schools and libraries receiving federal E-Rate money (the government program that subsidizes the cost of Internet access) to filter inappropriate websites. The amendment to the law would be even more specific, restricting access to interactive online communities.” He (and others who comment on his post) compare this development to COPA.

Will it never end?

Access at the library – or not?

Libraries have a unique opportunity to be a leader for the citizens in their communities to be fully involved in the networked world. Or — libraries have the ability to close their eyes to the needs of the citizens and become irrelevant. I fear that some libraries are choosing the route to irrelevancy.

For instance, I shared some ideas with a teacher about how blogging is used in classrooms to motivate students to think and write. We explored possible ideas to implement, and she went back to her school all excited. Trouble is, she was told that in her district, access to any blogging is forbidden and blocked. It appears the decision is based on fear and a desire to protect the students from exposure. Trouble is, the school is abdicating their opportunity to teach cyber safety to students who will almost assuredly find another avenue to social computing without the enlightenment of teachers who would model constructive participation in their Web world.

Equally disturbing to me is the attitude of some public libraries that they don’t see their responsibility to their communities as including assistance in using E-mail. In fact there are libraries that reserve access to the Internet to “research” only which definitely does not include E-mail or other sites such as MySpace.

If the library is the community’s information utility and the professionals who work there are not resources and models on information technology (which really has become more business-as-usual that revolution), who else is there to do it? In the recent strategic planning process at a member library, the planning committee made a strong statement that they wanted their library to be a cutting edge technology leader.

So, what have I seen as good library leadership models in blogging (as an example of employing new technologies or modes of communication)? Just a few examples:

David Warlick (2 Cents Worth) quotes teachers on students’ use of blogging in Why Kids Blog

The front page of the Ann Arbor Michigan Public Library is the Director’s blog in which she invites comments – and the community does talk to her

Mabry Georgia School District website is a communication tool with the superintendent and teachers blogging assignments, reading lists, and a repository of podcasts of presentations, meetings, etc.

The Teen Zone Blog at the Wilmington Massachusetts Public Library

The Waterbury Public Library Blog

. . . . and last but not least, 9 of our members (thus far) are getting on board and have at least stuck their toe in the water. I’m particularly proud of our blogging libraries – directory

Pronounce it correctly, please!

Having spent most of my adult life as a misplaced Cheesehead, I’m thrilled by this site. Now I’d like to send it to every school of public broadcasting and make it required reading. I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve heard a story about a beautifully named Wisconsin location where the broadcast journalist renders the name unrecognizable. Besides learning the native language, the site is a guidebook to Wisconsin — http://www.misspronouncer.com/

Searching — if you’re a librarian

I caught a new ask.com commercial on TV this morning. The setting is in a library! The speaker is an academic-looking guy (maybe a TA?), comparing the search to how librarians do it.

Hmmm, sounds like the influence of Gary Price, MLIS, Director of Online Information Resources for ask.com

Additional info – posted 05 May 2006

According to Barry Schwartz, of Search Engine Watch, the star of the ask.com ad is Apostolos Gerasoulis, one of the founders of Teoma, the search engine behind Ask.com. The ad was filmed in the bookshelves at Rutgers University and is about how librarians search. You can see the ad at http://about.ask.com/docs/about/televisionads.shtml

Further info on the Ask commercial – posted 09 May 2006 on SELCO Librarian