Filtering

[Karen Harker]

I was wondering if the technology and resources existed for a
link-compiler like Yahoo! aimed at children/youth.  I am thinking of a
resource which has librarians looking at the sites, giving their judgment
of the content, and being able to not include those sites with
inappropriate material (i.e. material which is illegal to provide to
children).  If such a search engine could be used to only search those
sites (like Yahoo! does), and if a browser could be modified to not allow
one to open a location (like Netscape's 'Open'), such a software could be
made available to those children whose parents want to restrict their (the
children's) access.  I am thinking primarily of such a system on a machine
in the children's section or in school libraries.

While this does not provide a perfect solution, it would eliminate the
broad blocking that keyword filters force, allowing children to get
information on breast cancer, or AIDS.  The library could still provide
unlimited access to adult clients, or children whose parents want their
children to have free access.

I imagine such an animal exists somewhere.

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Karen R. Harker					214-648-2001
Librarian I					214-648-3007 (fax)
The University of Texas				
Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Dallas, Texas  75235-9049
harker at medcat.library.swmed.edu
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