A d c o l o g

Soctim, The Society of Information Technology Management, are doing a survey of local authority web blocking policies.  Soctim are the organisation representing the managers of ICT throughout the public sector but, in particular, local authorities.

For me, this is really good news.  Back in January 2008 me and Ken Scott (our technical e-learning adivser) organised the “Creative Connectivity” event in Leeds.  The aim was to get ICT Departments and learning practitioners talking.  The event went very well.  Among the speakers was Dave Briggs (here’s his blog about it), who raised, for me, the issue of the risk of NOT.  We’re all worried about what happens if our learners access something they shouldn’t. But what’s the risk of them not being able to access something they SHOULD?   What is the risk of our learners NOT being able to access social technology at all?

This has been an ongoing theme.  I raised the issues in my personal blog and youth work social media expert Tim Davies raised it in his.    It isn’t just the net-heads who think this.  The University of Illinois have carried out a study that suggests the same outcome.

However, we’re still faced with the dangers.  All too recently, Twitter in education  came under attack from the media when a Scottish teacher apparently misused it.  More often than not, however, these risks are as a result of unclear guidance on HOW to use it, rather than the technology itself.   It’s a matter not of danger, but of policy (as indicated by PR Guru Neville Hobson’s blog).

I’m talking about the dangers, rather the infrastructure issues here.  There’s still an argument around the intensive use of video sits such as YouTube, as they can have an effect on bandwidth.  However, there are ways of addressing this and that’s where organisations like ours (JISC RSC YH in case you’re not sure), come in.

Having worked in ACL for a number of years, I know that many council ICT departments don’t put education as their top priority, let alone adult community education.  However, when it comes to learning, it is so important that these resources are available.  There are lots of different approaches to maintaining security – from black lists (where certain sites are blocked) to white lists (where everything’s blocked except what has been deemed safe) to open access and self policing.  All have merits and case studies to back up their claims and all can be considered.  However, simply the consideration is the key here.

I’m going to be contacting Socitm to see if there is anything we can add to their survey, however, I urge any local authority ACL provider who has opinions on this to contact their ICT manager and let them know, so that when they complete the survey, they can see the case ofr technology in learning.  Please feel free to add your comments below too, with your ideas of security in local authorities.