Posted on October 5, 2007 by Angie
Oh the irony of filtering….Two days ago I had a teacher email me regarding one of the databases that is paid for by our state library system. Our local filter blocked the database as spam. Today, I went to close a web browser window a student was on and found to my surprise that the site they were on was for South Park. Further investigation led me to see that not only could our students view videos from this site, but also get into the chat. Now explain me why a database would be blocked but not a South Park site? Am I being unrealistic?
Filed under: Censorship, Librarianship | Tagged: filtering | No Comments »
Posted on May 17, 2007 by Angie
WARNING: RANT AHEAD! MY SOAPBOX IS OUT AND I’M FIRMLY PLANTED ON IT.
I’m reading an article from the Washington Post about American Idol. Not that I’m much into the whole “Idol” craze but I need to keep up on things as my assistant is way into it and if I want to keep up on lunch conversation, knowing what is happening makes life easier. Anyway, the author of this article makes a point that Melinda Doolittle was probably voted off because the other two are much younger and that the producer of “Idol” need to:
“appeal to a young demographic. Television isn’t about justice; it’s about parking the right eyeballs in front of the flat-screen, preferably without a DVR attached.
This is our children’s world. We are mere trespassers.“
In reading this, I discovered a little problem that seems to be stemming from many directions lately. I’m not respected as an adult. I thought adulthood was a time of privileges and getting things you couldn’t get as a child. However, that illusion seems to be turned upside down. I look at our students who have more expensive cell phones than I do and wonder what am I doing wrong. I would really like to go back to being a child because then maybe I could drive a better car, have a better phone, and have TV producers (as well as clothes designers, Hollywood producers, etc.) trying to cater to me in order to get my money.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING! THE SOAPBOX IS SAFELY STORED AWAY. MOST OF THIS STEMS FROM A LITTLE HOSTILITY AROUND OUR DISTRICT LATELY. MY APOLOGIES.
Filed under: Personal | No Comments »
