Bud the Teacher

    Since I first posted on filtering and my frustrations this morning, I’ve had some time to think more about them.
    And I’m getting angry. 
    Hear me out.  If a librarian, administrator, or other education professional, working in a public school, removed a resource from a classroom based on an arbitrary set of personally constructed and ever-changing "policies" that exist only in private or in that individual’s head, I think we would get angry.
    But when it happens with a website, or, worse yet, a collection of websites that might contain the wrong keyword, "blog" or "Gothic" or "sex," for example, we say, "Gosh, isn’t that frustrating," and go on with our day.
    Isn’t that censorship?  Of course there’s a difference between blocking an explicit sexual site and banning Shakespeare, but most of the filters block far more than sex.  And they do so based on the ideas and thoughts of a select few, working in the dark.
    That’s wrong.
    Now — enough complaining.  What’s there to do?  I sent out some e-mail just now inquiring about filtering policies around the country.  I went to the same folks I’d go to if someone were proposing the banning of a book in my community.
    We’ll see what they have to say.  What do you have to say?  Am I wasting my time worrying about such?  Am I right?  Somewhere in between?  Everybody’s got a filtering story.  What are we doing about them?
    I can tell you this — Dean’s district seems to have the right idea.

    I understand the need/desire to filter the Web at schools.  I also understand the desire to balance public appropriateness with the availability of and access to knowledge.
    But I’m getting really tired of people with little or no knowledge of blogging and other Web 2.0 technologies blocking all such technologies first and forgetting to ask the questions later.
    Does your school district have specific policies for what gets blocked, what doesn’t and how you challenge such?  If you want to keep or remove a book from a school in most Colorado school districts, there’s a written policy to follow.  It outlines very specifically what happens when something is challenged and what the criteria are for removal. 
    But when it comes to a website, it seems that IT people get to decide.  When I’ve asked around in two northern Colorado school districts, I’ve been pointed to vague board policies, not specific criteria for what gets blocked and what doesn’t.  One district told me that they do have some criteria, but that they wouldn’t share them with me.
    How does it happen in your neck of the woods?   At what point are we censoring and not filtering?
    And why are we treating websites differently from books?
    And why aren’t we angry about this?

    It’s hard to type with only 9.82 fingers.  Last night, I had a run in with one of those fancy vegetable choppers.  Ended up in the ER until 2am last night because the bleeding wouldn’t stop.  I counted myself very fortunate as I listened to the stories of others who needed medical and psychological care far more urgently than I. 
    It’s a minor injury, but it sure is hard to type with my left thumb in a huge gauze bandage.  Have I ever mentioned that I am left handed?
    Homemade French fries just aren’t worth it.  I’m sure, in a few days, I’ll feel differently.