Social Networking as Discussion

The Ubiquitous Librarian has a write-up of a talk given by Facebook executive Mike Murphy on the benefits of social networking sites. Without stating it overtly, Mr. Murphy makes the case for how Facebook promotes dialog and problem solving. For example, he says that the way users talk with friends is a blend of pop culture and serious issues, with a lot of focus toward making decisions. He also points out that social media is about active sharing.

Beyond anything else, I am struck by the fact that social networking sites create discussion where otherwise there might only be isolated points of view. Given that we worry about a passive culture inspired by television and other modern media, this interactivity seems a boon. Certainly not something we should cut off in libraries because of the potential for abuse.

Other interesting facts about Facebook:

• Facebook is the 7 th most popular website in the United States .
• 10 million users and over 50% of them sign in daily.
• Each person has less than 1% of access to the total facebook user base— it requires confirmation to see beyond your network — privacy control is spectacular

Parents on MySpace

Michael Stephens published a post recently on libraries teaching parents about MySpace. (The original post idea came from the Youth Tech blog.) The concept is great. Rather than block social networking sites altogether, better to become more informed about them. Using education in concert with technology-based security solutions is really the best option of all. And who better than a public library to offer it?

Speaking of banning social networking sites, it looks like DOPA is dead for now. Maybe when Congress revisits the issue they’ll discuss the fact that there are compromise solutions worth considering.

Banning Internet Access

A school district in Alaska has blocked students from open Internet access. Websites are off-limits unless they end in .gov or .edu, or unless the principal grants a special dispensation.

I read this news first in a Library Stuff post, and was relieved when I linked to the full Anchorage Daily News article to see that people are at least making cogent arguments against the policy. For example, one parent points out that the “system will deprive students of an essential research skill: the ability to distinguish between useful information and bunk.”

I have two thoughts to add. First, when are kids finding time to surf for porn at school? I can’t imagine they’re able to complete projects if they’re wasting time on the Internet, and wouldn’t that be a warning sign for teachers to investigate? In other words, it seems unlikely that there’s a tremendous amount of truly sneaky porn surfing going on.

Second, the article talks about the district’s existing filtering system, which blocks sites based on text analysis. Kids are getting around the blocks with Web proxies. Once again, it’s clear that text analysis isn’t sufficient in the fight against porn. However, why not investigate the other options instead of banning the Internet altogether?

Why Text Analysis Isn’t Enough

There’s a fascinating blog post over on Network World about spammers getting around OCR analysis with animated .gif images. In this case, the technique is quite sophisticated. Spammers are layering animated images on top of each other. Each image looks like nonsense alone, but merged together they read like normal text.

Given how technically advanced spammers (and other purveyors of unwanted content) have become, it amazes me that most people are still relying on pornography filters based solely on text and URL analysis. Multimedia is in. And to assume that you can block pornography without a tool to analyze images is naive at best.

Save Your Space Campaign

There’s a post over at Mashable about a campaign called “Save Your Space” designed to get a million signatures on a petition asking government to amend the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA).  Currently DOPA is written so that it prohibits schools and libraries receiving federal funding from allowing access to social networking sites.  As I’ve written before, the idea of completely blocking these sites is ridiculous.

However, what’s interesting about the campaign is that it didn’t come close to reaching its goal of a million petition signatures in one month.  I have to wonder why.  Is the social networking generation apathetic, or can they simply not imagine a world in which they can’t access sites like MySpace and Flickr? 

Again, I know that some people are against blocking anything on the Internet.  But for all the wrath that debate can stir up – a debate in which I believe it’s possible to reach a middle ground - it’s amazing to me that so few people can be bothered to sign a petition on something as extreme as DOPA.

Striking a Balance

If this doesn’t say it all, I don’t know what does.  From the L.A. Daily News:

“County library officials are trying to strike a balance between the right of library patrons to access information online, and the concerns of those who don’t want to see offensive content on library computers.”

Interestingly, even though the library profiled in this article is installing more permissive filtering software on adult computers, adults will still have to ask librarians to unblock sites they want to see.  The frustration I’ve heard from librarians and educators (including on the comments section of this blog) is that having to unblock filtered sites is an extremely inefficient process.  So why are people still using software solutions that block entire sites rather than just the offensive portions?  Are people not aware of the alternatives?

Addendum to “Search Engines” Post

There are search engines and there are search engines.  LibraryCrunch has a post about searching in Amazon for “blue man group toys”.  The result was rather unexpected.  I doubt Michael at LibraryCrunch was terribly disturbed, but suppose a kid had followed the same path?  Most parents wouldn’t be terribly pleased.

Search Engines

A number of kid-friendly search engines have showed up in the press recently.  These services puzzle me a bit because they attack the problem of protecting kids online from one limited angle.  Yes, kids probably use search engines a lot.  But how many of them have been caught off guard after simply typing in the web address www.whitehouse.com instead of the legitimate URL, www.whitehouse.gov?  Search engine software isn’t going to help much there.

Cross-Country CIPA

Local stories about CIPA (like the excerpt below) pop up all around the country.  

From the Tribune-Star in Indiana:

“In another matter, the board will have a second reading on proposed revisions to its computer and Internet use policy.

The school district is making revisions to make sure it’s in compliance with the Child Internet Protection Act, a federal law.

There are no major changes, but the revisions clarify expectations of employees and students who use school computers.“

On the one hand it’s comforting to see continued public discussion.  On the other hand, it often appears that compliance with CIPA is more difficult than it should be.  The double-edged sword of regulation.

Flickr

Flickr and other photo-sharing sites appear to be the latest library battleground.  To avoid displaying pornographic material, some libraries are completely blocking these sites; an absurd tactic. 

Not only are photo-sharing sites fun, but they’re also a great educational resource.  What better way to open a window into another culture?  Or witness current events from a citizen’s perspective half a world away?  Savvy educators are already using tools like Flickr to get their students engaged in learning.  These tools should be available in the public library.

For anyone who wants to achieve a middle ground, it is possible to block only images that are pornographic, rather than an entire photo-sharing website.  Some folks will complain about blocking anything on the Internet, but I do believe we should set some boundaries for kids online.  If anyone is interested in bringing a new solution to their library, please let me know.  This is exactly what we created Guardware for.