cyberfiltering -Reply

[Dan Lester]

>>> Lori A. Schwabenbauer, Camden County Library
<LORI at camden.lib.nj.us> 04/28/97 06:08pm >>>
I think, judiciously done, the use of some Internet filtering
software is OK.   We as librarians are protecting access to
information, but we are also  providing a public environment
for our users.  I think it's almost tantamount to sexual
harrassment to allow public display of some of the more
extreme, explicit graphics on the Web.  That's exactly the
---------------------
It may well be....but then deal with it as sexual harrassment
rather than anything else.  That has worked here in various
computer labs where guys have been putting explicit pix on
screen so that the young ladies next to them will see them. 
Once the female (yeah, the sexes could be reversed, but so
far haven't been) has complained to the lab staff member, the
guy has been booted out....in a couple of cases with the
assistance of the Sheriff.  But be honest about what it
is...harrassment.  At least a couple of the more recalcitrant
students have received various disciplinary actions from the
student court or whatever.  They've also been banned from
labs as a part of that punishment.
============================
Our library did buy special ergonomic workstations which put
the monitor under  the glass suface of the desk, so the
computer display is much harder to see just casually
passing by.  This has helped a great deal. 
-----------------------------------
Yes, those are awful to use, most think, but they help. 
Another solution some have found is to have the workstations
with the users back to the wall, around the perimeter.  In
some cases this causes wiring problems, but power poles
are almost always an option.  

Finally, if you have, or adopt, a sexual harrassment policy,
then you can post that on each workstation and use that as
a powerful tool against those who do these things.

cheers

cyclops


Dan Lester, Network Information Coordinator
Boise State University Library, Boise, Idaho, 83725 USA
voice: 208-385-1235   fax:  208-385-1394
dlester at bsu.idbsu.edu     OR    alileste at idbsu.idbsu.edu
Cyclops' Internet Toolbox:    http://cyclops.idbsu.edu
"How can one fool make another wise?"   Kansas, 1979.