Blogging Manners

In College, students who leave derogatory comments can be processed through breaking the Student's Code of Conduct. Out in the Real World, it is more serious, and sometimes the police have to get involved. The New York Times wrote:

Tim O’Reilly, a conference promoter and book publisher who is credited with coining the term Web 2.0, began working with Jimmy Wales, creator of the communal online encyclopedia Wikipedia, to create a set of guidelines to shape online discussion and debate. (source)

The article concluded that:

Robert Scoble, a popular technology blogger who stopped blogging for a week in solidarity with Kathy Sierra after her ordeal became public, says the proposed rules “make me feel uncomfortable.” He adds, “As a writer, it makes me feel like I live in Iran.”

Mr. O’Reilly said the guidelines were not about censorship. “That is one of the mistakes a lot of people make — believing that uncensored speech is the most free, when in fact, managed civil dialogue is actually the freer speech,” he said. “Free speech is enhanced by civility.”

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I have to agree with O'Reilly, and say that there is nothing wrong with being civil. If I don't like something, I can describe what I don't like about it without leaving a comment like the one left on YouTube in response to the WebProNews article.

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The Blogger's Code of Conduct wiki, where you can read about the suggestions: link.

Tim O'Reilly's articles: Call for a Blogger's Code of Conduct, Draft Blogger's Code of Conduct, or the more recent: Code of Conduct: Lessons Learned So Far

There are some interesting discussions on freedom of speech, and issues like Constructive Anonymity vs. Drive-by Anonymity.

From my point of view, swearing in public (e.g. blogs) shows a lack of community spirit. I can swear like the trooper I once, but not in front of students, management or members of the public. Not because I can't but because it reflects badly on me. Swearing has its place in society (i.e. when expression extremes of emotion), but the everyday use of swearing shows what little people think of each other (i.e. society) and what poor communicators they are. We are all better than that, or can strive to be better than that.

Read this, and see how few times Mr Douglass swears. Do you think that your life is harder than his was? Thankfully, very few people reading this can truthfully answer "yes". If you do answer "yes", please make sure that you have all the support that pastoral guidance can offer you.

New Tech, New Problems

One of my students has just had to move to another PC while I fixed the problem with the network. Turned out that someone had forgotten to plug in a network cable, and it had fallen down through the wiring hole in the desk. I have noticed some of the students who have wireless laptops access our wired network by using the desktop network cables. Either don't do this, or make good the connection after you are finished with it. It's nae rocket science.

Blog Misuse

On a visit round the blogs, I noticed one student giving advice on attempting to bypass our college security. Here's the comment I posted - in summary - nothing you do in College on a computer is anonymous, everything is tracked against your student account.

Well done. There were students excluded last year for using sites like these. It should make for a smaller class.

If you read the college policy, we have security in place to block misuse. Attempts to bypass our security can lead to viruses, etc coming into the college. Having been warned of it, and if you still do this, you may find yourself in breach of the Computer Misuse Act.

Woah, not only excluded, but a chance of a criminal record. Not what you came to college to get, eh? If you want music, go and buy it. Your logins are recorded, and the sites you access are recorded by the college system.

As this is your professional blog, I STRONGLY recommend that you delete the blog entry.

You will find that others in the College are looking at your blogs, and passing on hacks and the like on your professional blogs will drop you in trouble. In extreme, you may find that your blog is closed down by Blogger for being inappropriate.

Remember that this is your professional blog, something that you can show to potential employers.