The long-term solution to Internet blocking problems

Miguel Guhlin over at Around the Corner is advocating everyone add MySpace to each of his/her blog postings - the theory being, that it will sort of "jam" the system, forcing districts to examine and lighten their filtering restrictions. He implies we ought to be teaching folks to bypass filters. He believes we should all be practicing a sort of civil disobedience.

As we say here in Minnesota - 'Right Arm!" Or is that "Farm Out!" Maybe "Out of State!" (The 60s were just too long ago.)

Such rabble rousing is grand fun to read. My heart cheers Miguel and his efforts on. And one seriously hopes the tank in Miguel's virtual Tienamen Square will not squash him flat.

I am not sure, however, the real concern with filters is over or under blocking.The concern should be  - who decides and controls what is blocked. Do I seriously think my students' education is jeopardized because they can't get to MySpace from the computers in our district. Not really. What I do worry about is when decisions about what is blocked are unilaterally made - by either an administrator, a technology director, a technician, or a powerful parent group.  Today it may be MySpace. Tomorrow Planned Parenthood. The day after that, any religious site that a parent may object to. The day after that, Rush Limbaugh's site. Where does it end?

Blue Skunk readers know this is an old drum I'm beating.  For my money, we need to looking at addressing school district policy-making - working internally with our advisory committees, our administrative groups,  our school boards and our professional associations to teach, maintain and extend the principals of intellectual freedom to the online world. Decisions about allowing access or limiting access should be done following a procedure and by a group representing a wide-range of stakeholders. Gee, much like what librarians have been advocating (and largely succeeding in getting) in response to book challenges.

It an't as sexy as protesting in the streets. But it has a better chance of working. 

Blast from the past

Debbie Abilock's Knowledge Quest column "Blogsense, Not Blogvangelism" that I referred to last February in my posting, "Blogs, Blogs, We Don't Need No Stinking Blogs," is now available online!

Hmmmm, the print version of KQ is available long before the online version? Still seems like there is something wrong with this picture to me. Is AASL pandering to us old, paper-trained members or working to engage our younger, up-and-coming members? AASL (and ISTE and every other professional organization), where is your future? It's not with us geezers, I'm afraid. 

As Debbie remarks in her e-mail to me, "I calculate that means you’ve got 2-month clout." If (and it's a big if) I indeed have clout, it may not just be because of the timeliness of blogging, but audience demographics as well. I'd predict blog readership skews younger.

I love the thought of getting to young and impressionable minds before the professional establishment does! (Insert sinister laugh here.)

Speaking of reaching younger readers, I found out recently that both my mother and father-in-law are Blue Skunk readers. Don't quite what to make of this other than that I will be watching my language more carefully. 

School library media specialist for the 21st century?

The link to this posting came via Jenny Levine's Shifted Librarian blog entry Another 2.0 Job. While Jenny seems to generally speak to public/academic librarians, I thought school library folks ought take a look at this job description as well.  Read Jenny's comments. My comments are in italics.

The Information Resource Center (IRC) at International University Bremen (IUB) invites applications for a full-time position for an
Academic Technology Engineer Engineer? So is teaching an art or a science? Sorry, couldn't resist.

International University Bremen (IUB) is a private, independent university offering degrees in engineering, natural sciences, humanities and social sciences at bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. Founded in 1999, the university now has over 900 students from over 80 different countries. Core values of the university are excellence, internationality, transdisciplinarity, interactivity and independence. Isn't K-12 education looking more like this every year with more charter/online/non-traditional schools, smaller schools, and schools serving ever more diverse populations? Are IUB's "core values" those of a school preparing a 21st century workforce/citizenry or what?

The mission of the Information Resources and Multimedia department is to offer facilities and services in support of teaching, learning and research that meet the high ambitions of IUB. Under a new leadership, a new strategy has been developed that addresses innovations in both the real and the virtual environment. The recently built Campus Center will become the preferred place for students and faculty to meet, work and learn. Digital library and multimedia services will be developed that are closely integrated with learning, teaching and research processes. I love the fact that both the virtual and physical environments are address in this. The "preferred place for students and faculty to meet, work and learn." Ought to be in every library's mission statement.

Tasks

• Together with the systems librarian, innovate search and retrieve experiences for users. Retrieve "experiences" rather than information?
  
• Setting up and maintaining the system for the IUB institutional repository.
• Integration of library and multimedia systems with other major campus systems, providing services closely linked to teaching, learning and research. Teaching our databases to support and play well with other databases such as student information systems, data mining/warehousing systems. and ....?
  
• Promote to and support students and faculty in the use of tools for collaborative work, e.g. blogs and wikis. Guess we better be learning how to use these things ourselves first!
  
• Contribute to the development of the overall IUB website.
• Backup for the systems librarian.

Background, training and skills

• Higher education in computer and / or information science. Not library science?
  
• 3 – 4 years work experience in a complex and innovative environment.
• Versatile with UNIX and PC operating systems. Proven programming skills in several modern languages, like Perl, Python, Ruby. Expertise in web technology: LAMP, XML, CSS, template engines. Basic knowledge of LDAP, portal technology, and identity management. How many of us  know the acronyms, let alone how to manage or program with these tools? Joyce Valenza is the only school librarian I know who knows Python and I am not sure the learning of it was totally voluntary.
  
• Ability to work under pressure in an intercultural, demanding environment. Sounds like a public school facing NCLB sanctions.
  
• Geek and team player, wild about web 2.0, willing to learn and share. Geek in a job description? "Wild" (being passionate) in a job description?
  
• Fluency in English, fluency in German an asset. Wait. I thought Bremmen was in Germany. English as a more important language than that of the school's host country. Has English truly become the true lingua franca?
  

Please send your application, preferably by e-mail and no later than 1 May 2006, to:
International University Bremen...

Does this sound like an exciting place to work or what? Do you feel as underqualified to work there as I do? How do we as an entire profession re-tool ourselves to remain relevant to our changing workplaces? When will be stop referring to "technologists" and "librarians" as two distinct occupations?