"Acceptable Use" means different things to different people. Many parents, teachers, and librarians are concerned about children and young adults getting into information resources that might be inappropriate. The question becomes who determines what's appropriate?
Read the American Library Association's Intellectual
Freedom statements. These statements refer to electronic materials
as well as traditional resources.
The issue for public libraries focuses on the fine line between intellectual freedom and censorship. The issue for educators relates to age appropriateness and curriculum connections in addition to intellectual freedom.
Like all people, children have the right to access information. However there is some debate over who should make the decision about what’s appropriate for a five, fifteen, or fifty-year old person.
Read to the following sections of this page to learn more about managing
electronic materials:
Supervision of Children and Young Adults - Filtering Tools and Issues
- Contracts and Permissions
- Acceptable Use Policies
Supervision of Children and Young Adults
Most people would agree that the Playboy, Penthouse, and Adult Forums are not resources appropriate for children and young adults. The question becomes, where do we draw the line? What about a “safe sex” site that provides information about contraceptives and AIDS? What about a site that discusses issues related to evolution and creation? What about tarot cards, UFOs, and ghost hunting? A “beer brewing” website may be of interest to adults wishing to make their own beer, but is inappropriate for young children.
In addition to issues about the age appropriateness of materials, there
are also concerns about the accuracy of information, reading level,
complexity of information, and other considerations that might make
a site inappropriate for children.
How do you restrict student use without restricting intellectual freedom?
Who determines age appropriateness? Who does the monitoring and/or censoring?
After considering all the “questionable” materials students
might find, some school districts are exploring options for restricting
student access.
Filtering Tools and Issues
Librarians agree that children and young adults need access to information. The question becomes whether or not to limit their access.
Read the off-site article Filtered
or Unfiltered by Ann Currry and Ken Haycock in School Library Journal
(1/1/2001). Learn about a survey of school libraries.
You have the spectrum of options from full to limited access. You may choose full-access to Internet with teacher supervision. In other words, rather than students exploring for any information they can find, you may restrict students to specific Web addresses.
Another option is limited access, which allows you to select a service with “lock out” capabilities. Many of the commercial services allow a parent or educator to place a password restricting access to some areas. Currently, these “lock outs” are fairly global and may provide more restrictions than you would choose.
"Surf Watch" and other similar filtering services provide software and regular updates that "lock-out" specific sites that have been identified as "inappropriate." Teachers can add or delete specific sites in addition to the ones already listed.
At the far end of the spectrum, you may choose a commercial educational service that selects the Internet resources for you. Rather than the educator making the decision about what might or might not be appropriate, educational services are setting up Internet services that provide only resources they have identified as useful to teachers and children. These types of services would reduce the amount of supervision that would be required, however you may lose some valuable resources. As you can see, there are many advantages and disadvantages of each alternative.
Congress recently announced the new kids.us web domain hoping to restrict child access to "objectionable" websites.
Read the article Don't
Fence Kids In by Walter Minkel in School Library Journal (2/1/2003).
Explore sites dealing with child safety and filtering software
Go to Teacher
Tap: Filtering Tools and Issues. What is your stand of filtering
software in libraries?
Use the following websites for additional information:
Censorship in a Box
from ACLU
http://www.aclu.org/Cyber-Liberties/Cyber-Liberties.cfm?ID=5001&c=16&Type=s
Explores why blocking software is wrong for public libraries
Libraries, the Internet
and Filtering from ALA
http://www.ala.org/
One of many articles at the ALA website. Just do a search for filtering
to find more.
Contracts and Permissions
School and library administrators are becoming increasingly concerned about parent and public reaction to age inappropriate information on the Internet. This has led most schools to develop Acceptable Use Policies (AUP). These AUPs provide guidelines for administrators, students, teachers, parents, and patrons.
Many schools and libraries require students to sign contracts and parents to read and sign permission slips. This procedure helps to inform parents about the potential concerns regarding Internet resources. In addition, it is thought that these policies would help protect the schools from possible legal problems associated with student and teacher action using the Internet.
Some schools and libraries have created mechanisms for students to take responsibility for their own actions. Student contracts may ask students to self-monitor their activities. They often discuss the importance of following basic rules of conduct on the Internet. You might consider using the following statements:
- Students are responsible for their actions.
- Student must abide by the rules of the system.
- Use of the networks is a privilege, not a right.
- Rights will be revoked for abusive behavior.
Acceptable Use Policies
Explore the following examples of acceptable use policies. Or, do a search on Google for acceptable use policies for libraries.
Acceptable Use Policies from
NETC
http://www.netc.org/planning/planning/aup.php
Links to many policies
Develop an Acceptable Use Policy
from The Internet Advocate
http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/~lchampel/netadv3.html
Links to many policies
Examples of Public Library
Internet Use Policies
http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/~lchampel/netadv3.html#laups
Public Libraries Acceptable
Use Policies and Guidelines for Canada
http://www.execulink.com/~kiska/opla.html
School AUP Examples
- Ashwaubenon School District, Green Bay, WI
- Carmel Clay Schools
- Center Grove Community Schools
- Chicago Public Schools
- Eugene School District 4J, Oregon
- Fraser High School
- Hamilton Southwestern Schools
- Hanover Community Schools
- Indiana Public Schools
- Lexington Pubic Schools, Massachusetts
- Los Angeles
- Monroe County Community School Corporation, Bloomington, IN
- New York City Department of Education
- Wayne Township, Indiana
Library AUP Examples
- Bridgton Public Library
- Hamilton East Public Library
- Indiana State Library
- Indianapolis-Marion Country Public Library
- Keene Public Library
- Knox County Public Library
- New York Public Library
- San Antonio Public Library
- Tempe Public Library
- Virginia Beach Public Library
Choose an Acceptable Use Policy from the
list above. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the policy. Or,
compare two policies.
Adapted with permission from Chapter 4 in Lamb, A. (2006). Building Treehouses for Learning: Technology in Today's Classroom, Fourth Edition