Anna -- Effectiveness of filtering web content in schools.

Works Cited: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=this+site+is+blocked&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1099&bih=616&tbm=isch&tbnid=j4FLYbFHj3T70M:&imgrefurl=http://hackers001.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-open-blocked-sites.html&docid=az1ktKVEIi6J4M&imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTJJiWUaBN1uK1OlRF9cBO1w6UGz0-wUB8jmPhs4aKM2C3V9kfre6B3a9xpWJx0BKCeHw7RpT851Au_fIy08LQVwMKhyphenhyphenmfmArtb2nIJagZ9V_3Ujc66Td4dxJ4JDlQxnI6ynwh06eP41s/s1600/accessdenied-main_Full.jpg&w=474&h=461&ei=DpFBT_CzOuTw0gG09NT8CA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=301&vpy=269&dur=158&hovh=221&hovw=228&tx=156&ty=147&sig=104416749197143821744&page=1&tbnh=132&tbnw=136&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=0CF4QrQMwBg

Works Cited: 

Jacobi, Sara  "Blocked Websites at Schools Hampering." Web.  25, January, 2012

Summary:

 Members of the School committee discussed and debated what sites were permitted to be used in schools or not. The decision was based off of if there was an educational purpose to the site. Wakefield high school is one of the highest schools with distinguishing blockers on almost all sites. That means it blocks any site that is recognized as "uncategorized." If it's uncategorized, then it's automatically rejected and not able to be shown in schools. Elaine Hughes, a teacher and the education technology administrator in Wakefield said there is a request form that teachers can fill out which will seek to categorize a site as safe, but the process takes at least 24 hours. She also said, "That doesn't help when you have a lab full of students and you're trying to do research and [your students] can't get to half of the sites because thet are coming back as uncategorized." 

Assess: 

This article was written by Sara Jacobi. She is an author for Wakefield Patch and has her own blog describing herself. The Wakefield Patch she describes as "promising" and "shows the principles of good journalism." This graduate from Boston University has a bachelors degree in journalism. She focuses much time on her work and getting the correct information. 

 Reflect:

Reading this article that the author created I thought was very thorough. She got some good opinions from the teachers and really stated good facts. From personal experience I know that when educational sites are blocked it's a problem. Even if there is to be found "bad" on it it's still blocked which is not beneficial to the teachers as well as the students. When the sites are blocked it makes things much more difficult to find the information as quick and efficient as we could have on the computer. I believe and agree that social networks should be blocked but when there are sites with government issues or educational purposes a lot of the sites end up being blocked and you can't find anything.

Works Cited: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffVvYyKy1h8

Jan 28, 2010

"Content Filtering." YouTube.com 

Summary: 
The powerpoint lets you know the benefits of content filtering and why its done. The short video explains how it limits what users see. Also it keeps users on task and protects them from sites. Clear OS is a content blocking program.

Assess: 
Clear OS is used for small/medium businesses. It's a free software that's been developed over 10 years ago. It's available in over  20 different languages. It's a broad program that doesn't just prevent contents but it helps in small businesses with its gateway server.

Reflection:

This video is basically disputing with the article above. The article above states that content blocking is a problem but the powerpoint gives a short explanation on how it also protects users from contents. Sometimes it's necessary to block content but I believe that administrators at school need to go about it in another way to block things that shouldn't be blocked.