If there is not already a plan in place, some of it is already too late.  It points up the importance of having a replacement plan in effect.  Even if it is limited and entails only purchasing 2-3 replacements each year, at least that is a start.  With the economy in a downward spiral, most of us are facing lean budgets with no extra money.   Planning for replacing technology in advance means that you are not hit quite as hard when dollars become scarce.

The next piece of this is purely marketing.  It is more important than ever that we make our administrators, our students, our parents, and our colleagues understand that technology is NOT a frill!  We cannot afford to teach without technology.  It is just as important as textbooks and paper supply and photocopier leases (We have NOT gone paperless in my building!) 

We must be advocates but we must also convince our parents, administrators, colleagues, and students to join in the rally.  How we teach our students should be considered part of the infastructure of our nation, and as President-Elect Obama tells us, it is in definite need of an upgrade!

Forums, Message Boards
Social Networking
Images
Streaming
Freeware and Software download
WCC - Blocked 
Weatherbug

Well anyway the list goes on for reasons to block.  What about reasons to unblock? 

I am not so niave as to believe that there should be no filter.  Economically it isn’t feasible as a big chunk of e-rate funding is dependent upon there being some type of filtering.  What has really frustrated me is the lack of acknowlegement that there needs to be a way to determine the value of these sites.

When someone submits a request to unblock a site, it first goes to a classified employee who is charged with sending out sites for review to the Content Committee.  Unfortunately depending upon the reason the site is filtered by Websense, it may never get to the committee for review.  The requester must then ask for a recategorization which is submitted to Websense. 

This seems so cumbersome!  Certainly I do not advocate opening up inappropriate sites.  But I do see lots of value if sites that are blocked - some on the off-chance that there might be something inappropriate.  Should we completely shield our students?  OR should we help to teach them the ways of the real world and how to navigate through the glut of information?  Perhaps if we taught them valuable information and media literacy skills, we wouldn’t have such a large population of people falling for email scams, phishing schemes and hoaxes!

In the meantime, while we are teaching them how to be a citizen of the 21st century, we can use some of these outstanding tools to engage them, to help them analyze and synthesize their learning and to collaborate and create!

We have approached the problem with the responsible supervisors and we have been given permission to create a white list of acceptable Web 2.0 sites.  Let’s choose wisely for our students, and help provide them with the tools they need for their modern, technological education!

But there is another interesting twist here.  They did it for economic reasons!  According to the article in the Tines, they could make more from web advertising than from subscription fees!  Thinking back to the dot com bubble of a few years ago, one has to ask is this increase in web advertising revenues going to last, or will it go bust as so many under-capitalized dot coms did in the 90s?  I think not.  Web advertising is here to stay and it has become very slick and almost a complete integration into many websites.  If we examine the behavior of our students we will see that they do pay attention to the ads.  In fact many advertisers are foregoing traditional mediums such as TV to launch on the web.  In the July 2, 2007 issue of Business Week there was an interesting article with a case study for Axe Deodorant.  The company mostly advertised via the web with simulataneous launch in several countries.  The article discusses children of the web generation and how they use the web for information and entertainment and how it is such an integral part of their lives. 

What does all this mean for Library Media Specialists charged with the responsibility of teaching information-seeking and information literacy?  A lot!  On the one hand, we can get access to quality news and information.  But it does come with a price.  It means our jobs as information literacy educators are even more critical.  With advertising becoming more and more subtle, the lines between truth and persuasion can be become very blurred!

Please visit the School Library Tech Collective X group and be a particpant in my education as well.   I can’t wait to read your ideas and discover your finds!