As a high school teacher as well as a parent of a ten year old online safety is certainly something I am concerned about. Teenagers think they are pretty much untouchable, live in the moment and have all the answers! A recipe for trouble. My own daughter has a web presence, and sees the web as a place to play, socialize and learn. There is reason for concern, but I think we deal with that concern with education and communication not by banning or blocking! Kids use of Facebook and MySpace has created a level of comfort around sharing personal information that may very well be dangerous. As a educator and a parent it is my job to help keep these kids safe.
Filtering....ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!! The district in which I work has recently added a whole new level of filtering and it is driving many of us CRAZY. As discussed in our reading the need for filters are a necessary evil linked to federal funds linked to CIPA. I think the thing that has made me the craziest is that there does not seem to be any (or at least not enough) consideration to the educational purpose of desired content. It may be unique to our district and our network, but what is allowed changes form one day to the next as well as one computer to the next. This unpredictability is very difficult for even a seasoned teacher like myself to deal with!
Interesting side note... In my mind I pictured a filter like the one posted above as an image for this entry... so I did a quick google image search for "filter" thinking I would see mostly traditional filters..but most of the images went right to the computer filter connection!
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