LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Dear LM_NETTERS,
I have compiled the answers to my query regarding open access to net news
services by students. My question comes first, followed by the answers. I
think we are moving toward the approach suggested by Stephen E. Collins,
which is to educate our students and raise their collective consciousness,
rather than spin our wheels trying to restrict the access that they would
find anyway. Currently, we are planning to target sophomores through their
Chemistry and English classes by setting up a listserv-type discussion
forum.
Also, a number of people asked me to post our Computer Usage Agreement
Form. I've decided to send it as a separate posting. Our campus legal
service has given its blessing, but who knows how it would stand up if
challenged in court. Good luck to all of us!
Frances
Original query:
I would like to know how people are approaching use of net news services by
students. We have access to the full range of net news options made
available by the University of Illinois to its user community. However,
we're afraid that this free access is a time bomb waiting to go off - there
are many less than savory choices out there (alt.sex... etc.). Our
students and their parents have signed a computer system usage agreement
form that should protect us... Or perhaps it won't. The alternative is
for us to obtain our own net news access service, which would offer very
limited (but safe) choices, but which would use up at least half of our
computer power and resources. Hardly seems justifiable.
Frances Jacobson
______________________________________________________________________________
Frances F. Jacobson Bitnet: jacobson@uiucvmd
University High School Librarian Internet: jacobson@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu
University High School Library University Library
1212 W. Springfield Avenue University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Urbana, IL 61801
217-333-1589
_____________________________
Frances, I think that the student exploration of these subjects live would
be more of a problem to your parents who may be concerned. The raising of
such issues for discussion if they are a source of fascination for the
students is probably really appropriate for your student population as they
are being sent to school in such close proximity to experimenting college
students. You might br able to mount some kind of argument based on free
discussions of issues raised in downloaded materials. Anyway, it was
interesting to consider!
Elizabeth McClure Rosen
Dr Howard/Kenwood/Westview
Champaign Unit 4 Schools
2103 Zuppke Drive
Urbana, IL 61801
erosen@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Elizabeth Rosen)
__________________
Frances, I believe that as part of the library community, we should not
limit access to our students. I would be very interested in you agreement.
Perhaps you could put a copy on LM_Net. I hope that for as long as we
can, we allow our students to have free access to the resources of the
Internet..
Thanks for posting this challenging question.
Thea Jones tjones@umd5.umd.edu
_______________________
We here at UMass Amherst are running UMassk12 (k12.ucs.umass.edu) for
students and teachers in k thru 12. We are using our own Usenet Newsgroup
feed on the bbs.
It would be much simpler to get the complete Univ feed but we have choosen
not to. We also have parent permission forms for student users.
We have also elected to not give ftp, telnet open prompts to students.
Students can only access those places that are in our menus.
We also have not implemented online chat or MUDS. Our opinion is that MUDS
are not very educational and both chat and MUDS are big resource hogs.
(MUDS= Multiple user dragons)
These are difficult decisions, but students will always look for those
things they know are R or X rated.
--
Helen Sternheim voice 413-545-1908, fax 413-545-4884
SysOp SpaceMet BBS telnet spacemet.phast.umass.edu
SysOp UmassK12 telnet k12.ucs.umass.edu helen@k12.ucs.umass.edu
_____________________________
Frances -- We are getting ready to permit net news access. Because I
cannot handle increased volume should lots of students come in to read, we
are SELECTING those news groups identified by teachers as ones they want
their students to read. We will pilot this and see where to go from here.
******************************************************************************
Floyd Pentlin, Library Media Specialist
Lee's Summit High School, Div. II, 400 Blue Parkway, Lee's Summit, MO 64063
Internet: fpentlin@hobbs.leesummit.k12.mo.us -OR- Pentlin@CMSUVMB.CMSU.EDU
Voice: 816-251-3418 / Fax: 816-251-3419
RIGOLETTO:"Jester's Daughter Found Murdered / Father Left Holding the Bag"
*****************************************************************************
I've never seen anything on the net as bad as prime-time television.
Whatever "unsavory materials" one might find on the net could more
easily be obtained at the corner gas station or the library and
brought to school. I'm sure most schools already have a policy
for dealing with this issue--if a student brings innappropriate
materials into the school, they should be handled accordingly:
whether they are brought via a pocket, a backpack, or a computer.
This is a social & political problem which should be handled in
exactly that way. Having students be aware of proper use is
the only effective way to handle this. Any technical solution
you might come up with WILL be circumvented (after all, the
net was designed to withstand multiple nuclear blasts).
Stephen E. Collins http://www.micro.umn.edu/SEC.html
University of Minnesota sec@boombox.micro.umn.edu
Distributed Computing Services (612) 625-1300
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