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.
September 6, 2006 at 7:27 pm
[...] 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. [...]
October 31, 2006 at 5:47 pm
[...] 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. Explore posts in the same categories: Internet, Tech, parents, education, MySpace, Kids, Libraries, Web Filter [...]
November 4, 2006 at 10:31 pm
[...] 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. [...]