Chat on public access Internet

[Isobel Stark]

On Wed, 12 Feb 1997, Brian Stone wrote:

> Why not just use blocking software? 

But why should we view chat and/or mail as time wasting?  Surely we're not
all time wasting on this list?

In the MSc in Lib and Info Studies course on which I teach, we list email
(esp. mailing lists) and newsgroups as well as the standard interenet
reference sources (search engines and subject gateways) as reference
tools. Why should we teach our own profession to use these tools and then
deny them to users?

In Scandinavia they take a more relaxed attitude - if users are
intereacting, developing their language, typing or creative skills, then
email, newsgroups or moo's cannot be all that bad. There is a considerable
body of research backing up the usefulness of these types of
communication to teaching and learning.

Anyway, that's my penny's worth.

Isobel

====================================================================
Isobel Stark,
Web Officer,
UKOLN,
c/o Library, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY

tel: +44 (0) 1225 323343            fax: +44 (0) 1225 826838

email: i.a.stark at ukoln.ac.uk        url: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/~lisias/