Skip to content

Random Connections

A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Photos
  • Resources
  • Other Voices
  • Post Archives
  • Home
  • EdTech
  • Blocking Blogs, revisited

Blocking Blogs, revisited

Posted on September 8, 2007 By Tom No Comments on Blocking Blogs, revisited
EdTech

While consulting on the RiverVenture project, I expressed my concerns that some school districts wouldn’t be able to participate because of their blocking policies.  Specifically, I was thinking of my colleague who had asked me if we blocked blogs in general.  The original plan was to use freely available resources – Google’s Blogspot and YouTube – to publish Richard Bernabe’s journey.  I was asked to poll my counterparts from around the state and see what we were really up against.  The results were a bit distressing.

Of the folks that responded to my inquiry, all but one of the districts block blogs as a category.  This includes not only MySpace and Facebook, but LiveJournal, Blogspot, and WordPress.  One district went so far as to say that they blocked any site with the word "blog" in the title.  Some said that they unblocked sites if they had some educational benefit.  Another district indicated that ANY site is blocked until it is initially visited and approved.  My, my, my.  I feel much safer knowing that these gatekeepers are protecting our students from wayward opinions that are deemed to not have educational benefit.

The same districts also block YouTube, but gave different reasons.  Most indicated that it was a matter of high bandwidth usage rather than content.  I can understand that to some extent.  After all, my district blocks digital music sites for that reason.  I have limited Internet bandwidth, and if I left this on, all the high school kids crank up the computers and no one can get anywhere on the Internet.  I know because this has happened before.  Unfortunately, this video ban is also applied to TeacherTube for the same reason.  Many of my colleagues argued that they already provide United Streaming for their districts, so why should they further clog their pipes?

I wonder how many of these districts have a formal procedure in place for deciding what sites or categories to block.  I’m afraid it that in many districts it boils down to the defaults set on whatever filtering service is used, or to the preferences of the individual tech coordinator.  Many sites are blocked simply because they don’t want to deal with it.  I think that’s a shame.  The floodgates are already open, with broadband on mobile devices and more ways to bypass filters than we can patch, and these folks are fighting a losing battle.  I think the better policy is to focus on media literacy, personal responsibility, and teacher supervision. 

Post navigation

❮ Previous Post: A Wee Bit O’ Press
Next Post: New website – Geopackrat.com ❯

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Categories

  • EdTech (200)
  • Entertainment (201)
  • Family (120)
  • Gear (115)
  • General Technology (99)
  • Geocaching and Maps (208)
  • History and Genealogy (260)
  • Internet (144)
  • Local (449)
  • Miscellaneous (544)
  • Music (195)
  • Paddling (245)
  • Photography (779)
  • Podcast (6)
  • Rambling (226)
  • Rants (160)
  • Recipes (34)
  • Religion (48)
  • Restaurants (165)
  • Science (48)
  • Things Overheard (29)
  • Travel (410)
  • Uncategorized (129)
  • Washington Sabbatical (113)
  • Weirdness (60)

Recent Posts

  • To Anacreon, on Samish Island
  • Wilkinsville and a Mystery Church
  • A Farewell to the Greenville Chorale
  • Edisto River from Good Hope to Sullivan’s Landing
  • Paddling Lake Monticello

Recent Comments

  • Brandon on Wilkinsville and a Mystery Church
  • Darrell Erskine on Mysterious Mayucha and The Wolf Pit
  • Hutch on Exploring Southern Fairfield County – Part 1, Old Lebanon Church
  • Nancy on About Us
  • Steve Rushton on Mysterious Mayucha and The Wolf Pit

Tags

blogging cemetery Christmas Columbia Edisto River edtech Entertainment family Flickr Florida Furman Furman University gear Georgia geotagging Ghost Town Ghost Towns Google Earth Google Maps GPS Greenville Greenville Chorale history Instructional Technology kayaking Lake Jocassee LCU Lowcountry Unfiltered maps Music North Carolina Paddling Photography rambling restaurant Restaurants review singing social networking South Carolina time-lapse Travel video Washington Washington State
July 2022
S M T W T F S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  
« May    

Copyright © 2022 Random Connections.

Theme: Oceanly by ScriptsTown