Illinois–Social Networking Website Prohibition Act

Saw this rather scary post over on Michael Stephens’ Tame the Web:

http://libraryjournal.com/article/CA6417241.html

While the Democrat-controlled Illinois General Assembly may not be too receptive to new social networking legislation proposed by freshman Republican Senator Matt Murphy, the bill may be the first in several state attempts to achieve the goals of the federal Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), which passed the House of Representatives but failed in the Senate. The Social Networking Website Prohibition Act would require public libraries to prohibit access to social networking web sites, including MySpace and many less controversial, on all publicly accessible computers, including those used by adults, and also would prohibit access by students in schools.

This is really very disturbing for me, especially since I spend quite a bit of personal time on various social networking sites. I recognize that MySpace has problems with inappropriate content and privacy, but there are so many other sites that don’t deserve to be labeled the same.

For example, a family member just introduced me to Geni, a free social networking/family-tree maker, and I’m spending lots of time there helping other family members fill out our tree. If this legislation passed, and I was an Illinois resident, I would likely be prohibited from using this site in the library. Think of all the genealogists that we serve on a regular basis.

Ironically, Illinois Senator Barack Obama launched his very own social networking site, as part of his bid for the Presidency, that includes blogs, personal profiles, “friend” connections, etc. (Think MySpace with a political focus and without the questionable photos.) I wonder if his home state will block his site if this new legislation is passed?

 

Sharing Thoughts about Social Media

Today I was reading my Bloglines account which includes many library related blogs plus some blogs on other topics including marketing. One of the marketing blogs I read regularly is Logic+Emotion,.  Logic+Emotion is celebrating its one year anniversary. The author of the blog, David Armano anniversary posting describes how he feels after starting a blog and the results of his efforts. He captured what I think we all have been feeling about the changes on the web and social networking.  Here is a bit of his post:

…However, as I’ve said before—something funny happened on the way to the blogoshpere.  An average Joe like me—someone who has never written a formal whitepaper, nevermind a book can also have a say in things.  And neither permission nor a PHD is required.  This in my opinion is the true power of social media.  If you have something valuable to add to the conversation—you will be heard.  It’s that simple.  And once you are heard—it then becomes your choice to either stay connected to the communities who live in this space, or participate from afar.”

I, too, have learned so much from “average Joe’s” around the country and the world.  The web has changed from a one sided conversation to a two sided conversation. It’s great to see all the views.  It is also great to learn about new technologies and new ways of thinking and doing.  Thanks David Armano sharing your thoughts!!

 

Materials from social networking classes posted!

After lots of technical difficulties, we have finally gotten the powerpoint slides posted. I’ve also posted the Q&As from the classes. For a couple of the questions, I am awaiting more information from people so I will update these as I get more info. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or comments. Thanks so much for your patience. Have a great day!

 

More security features from MySpace

Happy Friday everyone! I just wanted to let you know about an article that I saw this week. It was from CNNMoney and was about MySpace sending out AMBER alerts. MySpace has partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to enable AMBER alerts. This is part of an upgrade of safety features designed to address some of the concerns of child safety advocates. This is good timing as it on the heels of some sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the site, of which Felicia addressed in her most recent post. The alerts will begin appearing in a small text box at the top of the profile. The alerts will give users the option to get more information about the case. They will be regional and based on the zip code information users provide in their profile. This goes along well with their recent partnership with Sentinel Tech Holding Corporation. I talked about this in the social networking classes held this month. MySpace will be working with this partner to put together a comprehensive sex offenders database, in hopes of blocking those users from the site. This is also why we started to see, in our last classes, the requirement to verify your email address. I will talk more about this when I post the Q&As but this verification process is designed to catch potential predators. New applicants will receive a verification e-mail with a link requiring them to click back and verify their identify. I haven’t played around with this to see how it works but I plan to create a new account and I’ll let you know. Finally, it looks like Senators Charles Schumer and John McCain plan to introduce some legislation that would require convicted sex offenders to register active e-mail addresses, expanding the existing requirements for registering personal information wtih their local minicipalities. This could also help MySpace if they gain access to that information through their new sex offenders database. I wanted you to know what this article had to say because, while there may always be concerns about sites such as MySpace, I truly believe the company is doing everything it can to make the site safe for its users. Now we have to do our part in educating our users.

AS A SIDE NOTE: Felicia and I have been trying to post my powerpoint slides from the Social Networking class and we are running into technical difficulties with WordPress. I have asked our webmaster to convert the file into a web page so I can just add a link to it under the Social Networking area of our TechTracks page. I’ll let you know once it’s up. In addition, the Q&A will be posted soon. Sorry for the delay!

 

Social networking info will be posted soon

I want to thank everyone who attended the social networking classes. You were all wonderful participants and I appreciate all of the great questions and comments. The last two classes were offered yesterday so I’m in the process of writing up the questions and answers so they can be posted here on LibraryTrax. I will also load the PowerPoint slides in the next week, so be looking for those.

Hopefully together we can find creative ways to use these tools to our advantage and, in the process, educate our patrons on the benefits and potential issues with these emerging technologies. I must join Felicia in saying that the only way to prevent problems, such as the lawsuit recently filed in South Carolina, is to provide education. I would rather young people be using these tools in the library or in their schools where they can receive education rather than going to a friend’s house or an Internet cafe. Teaching online safety should really be every library’s responsibility, not just in regards to sites like MySpace but in terms of chatrooms and other online communication tools.

Predators are the same as they’ve always been. The only difference is that the internet provides an additional point of contact. The message that parents have been sending to their children all of these years (don’t talk to strangers) really isn’t any different in the virtual environment. As educators, though, we need to reinforce this message whenever given the opportunity. I think the future of our libraries depends on us keeping up with the times and meeting people where they are. I hope the bad press (that is inevitable with almost every new technology) will not keep you from using sites such as MySpace as a valuable marketing and communication tool.

If you have additional questions that should be included with the social networking information, please let me know and I will send out an answer in the next week or so. Thanks again for your participation. Have a great weekend!