Acceptable Use Tips for Schools

[William Russell Smith <rssmith@TENET.EDU>]

>I am a teacher librarian at a Melbourne high school.  Our library is
>considering purchasing a modem in the very near future. I have had my own
>modem at home for three weeks and have found it to be fascinating
>as a means of communication with great potential for resourcing information.
>However, I have been disturbed by the language and obscenities, especially in
>the message and penpals areas, as well as the ease with which people can
access pornography.
>I would like to find out how other libraries with modems handle and supervise
>student use of the modem.

>Celia Jones    celiaj@melbourne.dialix.oz.au


  Celia:
          I can understand your concerns and although I don't have any
firsthand knowledge of how other schools handle this issue, I might offer
some pointers on what I would do if I were formulating a policy.

1. Develop a written permission slip for parents and students to sign. This
should not a be a huge document, but it should explain how the Internet does
contain some materials that are offensive in nature and that if the parents
do not want their child to be exposed to it then they can choose for
their child to abstain from using this resource. In addition the permission
slip should contain expectations of behavior for the student if they do get
parental permission to use telecommunications.

Briefly this statement should say that users will:
***********************************************************
1. Maintain local public morality standards concerning materials that may be
sexually explicit (porno or other sexual materials considered offensive in
your community);

2. Observe Internet rules and etiquette protocols (this covers the gamut of
all restrictions about commercial shareware, advertising, other network
regulations, etc.;

3. Not use school access for online games, or any other areas determined by
the school to be non-education related;
*******************************************************


Students should also understand that violations of the rules will lead to
warnings or expulsions from using the Internet resources.

One thing you might also consider is a login sheet for users (with times).
This could serve two purposes:

1. Keep track of usage so all students have equal accesss;

2. More importantly the time aspect will help in case you have a rogue
student hacker (the kind who might subscribe your account to a homosexual
listserv as a prank). By having a time stamp you can determine by checking
with listserv owners or BBS moderators when exactly a certain action happened
and then the student will be identified. Having a general Internet address
can present these sorts of situations.

Comments: I think most parents and school administrators will understand that
the benefits outweigh the negatives (example: profanity seems to be
widespread in the video media and I bet you have a few of those words in
your high school library). Even so we don't have to approve of those things
repugnant to most people and yet we can't censor the world or cushion all the
sharp corners for our kids.

All this I have mentioned is pretty much off-the-cuff and I'm sure if I spent
some time on it I could write a full-blown version of the acceptable usage
policy. This is a popular topic and I will probably include it in a book I
am writing called _Teachers, Students, and Computers_.

Good Luck!

Russell Smith
rssmith@tenet.edu
Educational Technologist