Jeff,
You are a gentleman and a scholar and make perfect sense! Thanks for
continuing the conversation in a more rational manner than I can.
All the very best and have a great weekend,
Doug
On 6/8/07 11:56 AM, "Hastings, Jeff" <HASTINGJ@HOWELLSCHOOLS.COM> wrote:
>
>
> Thanks for saying so, Bob.
>
> Likewise, I appreciate Doug's Blue Skunk Spunk, but think he may have
> underestimated my resolve in terms of being an advocate for intellectual
> freedom.
>
> Fact is, I've always been my my district's go-to guy whenever there's a
> contested title; I'm always the first one on the phone to Chicago and
> the first one putting together packets of support materials.
>
> Plus, I'm a big Wikipedia fan, and, as I said, I make it permanently
> available on the QUICK REFERENCE portion of my library site at:
>
> http://www.idiotica.com/cranium/librarysite/content/quickref.html
>
> Yeah, I love Wikipedia. I also love Cognac, Cuban Cigars, and
> high-stakes poker, but I don't introduce 12-year-olds to any of those.
>
> All I was trying to say is that since Wikipedia is designed to address
> all things, one can expect it to address topics that won't be
> appropriate for children. (IF one subscribes to the notion that certain
> things aren't age-appropriate) Therefore, when working with kids, one
> needs to be more careful with the source than with, say The New Book of
> Knowledge, which is written specifically for young audiences.
>
> Jeff Hastings,
> School Librarian
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: School Library Media & Network Communications
> [mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Hassett, Bob E.
> Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 10:55 AM
> To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Re: [LM_NET] Censors and Wikipedia - a rant[Spam score: 8%]
>
>
> I appreciate Doug's passion and tenacity and I don't disagree with
> anything he says. But I took something different from Jeff's remarks
> yesterday. Maybe I misunderstood and Jeff really was advocating
> something more sweeping.
>
> I have been a vocal and persistent advocate for Wikipedia and I continue
> to use it frequently and recommend it to students. What Jeff points out
> is that we owe it to ourselves to be fully aware of just how broad its
> scope is, including materials that are not merely controversial but
> developmentally inappropriate for many (most? all?) of our younger
> students. And this scope, one of Wikipedia's strongest assets, presents
> challenges for us.
>
> For me this is merely a reminder to remain vigilant in the way we
> supervise children when they're working in the Library.
>
> When I send my own children off to school, I certainly don't expect the
> school either to support or to challenge the values we try to instill at
> home. One way or another, children will no doubt encounter both. That's
> part of growing up. But I do expect that, the more so with younger
> children, they will receive an appropriate degree of supervision at all
> times.
>
> Sooner or later some children are going to come across inappopriate
> materials on the Internet, whether accidentally or on purpose. Where we
> have to focus our awareness is on how and how quickly we respond.
> Because the end result of too many of those incidents will, in too many
> cases, be further outcry, followed by politically motivated restriction.
>
> As I told Jeff off list yesterday, I would have a hard time explaining
> to a parent how her daughter had learned so much about the "dirty
> Sanchez" in my Library. I could offer a cogent defense, but I wonder how
> many administrators would back me up. I don't think that's allowing
> anyone to frighten me into abandoning my principles, it's merely taking
> a realistic assessment of the landscape. If we want to continue to offer
> access to a remarkable tool like Wikipedia, we have to be responsible
> with it. And this means knowing fully what we've got.
>
> ---Bob.
>
> /************************************************/
> /* Bob Hassett, Head Librarian */
> /* Luther Jackson Middle School */
> /* 3020 Gallows Road */
> /* Falls Church, Virginia 22042 */
> /* (703) 204-8133 */
> /* Bob.Hassett@fcps.edu */
> /************************************************/
>
> See you in the Library!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: School Library Media & Network Communications
> [mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of dougj
> Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 9:58 AM
> To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Censors and Wikipedia - a rant
>
> Hi folks,
>
> Yesterday, Jeff Hastings wrote
> <http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/LM_NET/Current/msg00227.html>:
>
>> Let me make it clear, though, that I'm saying that the scope [of
>> Wikipedia] in a k-12 environment can be highly distracting to students
>
>> and downright hazardous to your professional life. Personally, I work
>> in a district where a "values" group recently took actions to attempt
>> to convict teachers and school officials for "distributing pornography
>
>> to minors" based upon their use of the book "Freedom writer's diary"
>> in High School accelerated English. And most of us have now read about
>
>> the felony conviction of a hapless substitute teacher who unwittingly
> "allowed" students to see pornographic images.
>>
>> In that sort of climate especially, Wikipedia's scope in areas like
>> sexuality, vernacular, and pop-culture become problematic. Again, I'd
>> hate to explain to an antagonistic group of fundamentalists how a
>> student learned to perform fellatio by perusing an illustrated
>> Wikipedia article while ostensibly doing a library research
>> project--and there's no doubt that that scenario could happen in an
> instant. I think educators have to take a second to think about that.
>
> OK, let's step back and think for a minute what might happen if we used
> the views of every "antagonistic group of fundamentalists" to dictate
> our school and library selection policy. You know it just ain't the
> naughty bits they're worried about.
>
> What about this subversive material?
>
> "Current evolutionary theory holds that all species evolved from a
> single form of life which lived more than 3 1/2 billion years ago ...
> Although evolution is called a "theory," this term does not mean that
> evolutionary biology is guesswork or is not supported by evidence. In
> science, a theory is a set of ideas based on observations about nature
> that explains many related facts. The theory of evolution is supported
> by evidence from many scientific fields. When a theory is supported by
> so much evidence, it becomes accepted as a scientific fact. Almost all
> scientists consider the theory of evolution to be a scientific fact."
>
> This radical information source? World Book Online. Jeff, I'll bet
> dollars to doughnuts that you have parents who feel this violates their
> values and ought to be tossed from your library as well. I hope you got
> some big dumpsters!
>
> My question is this: If we let the loudest, most politically and
> socially radical members of our communities frighten us into abandoning
> our selection principles, where does it stop?
>
> And how do we get our technology folks to help us fight for intellectual
> freedom instead of unilaterally making fear-based decisions? Does any
> technology post-secondary program from which we draw candidates for
> these positions address selection policies. developmental needs of kids,
> or censorship issues? I doubt it. I get e-mails like this one from a
> Florida librarian way too often:
>
>> In my school district, the technology department, in all its infinite
>> wisdom, blocks Wikipedia. They did this without asking one media
>> specialist his/her expert opinion. ... The media specialists met as a
>> group and talked to the head tech guy, and his answer was, it had to
> be done in "real time."
>> Apparently there were too many students wondering how the human body
> works.
>> It seems to me that might be why we have one of the highest rates of
>> pregnant teens. I can't quite get them to see it my way. And so it
> goes.
>
> The fight is real and it is important. And it requires courage and
> strategy. It requires an alliance between librarians and technologists.
>
> There. It's good to let off a little steam. Sorry for the rant.
>
> All the best,
>
> Doug
>
>
> Doug Johnson
> Director of Media and Technology
> Mankato Area Public Schools
> Box 8713, 1351 S Riverfront Dr.
> Mankato MN 56001-8714
> Phone: 507-387-7698 x 473
> E-mail: dougj@doug-johnson.com
> Web: www.doug-johnson.com
> Blue Skunk Blog: http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/
>
> You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
> Mark Twain
>
>
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