School Web 2.0 publishing policies

I've been searching for and struggling with K12 school web publishing policies that grapple with the issues particular to Web 2.0 and student publication. I have found very little that has been helpful.

I think that it is important to lay out policies in clear terms beyond those found in typical AUPs and web publishing policies. Fine points such as moderation, access to content, acceptable content, and publication policies spanning a variety of media need be addressed. These media range from blogs, discussion forums, wikis, social bookmarking, social networking and more. Each has a unique set of issues.

I've been drafting a policy that is specific to my school that is incomplete largely because I could use some help and feedback.

I've decide to post a draft on a WordPress blog using CommentPress which allows you comment on any paragraph of the draft as you would comment on a blog post. I have just begun experimenting with CP as a collaboration tool. I find this tool interesting and I think some of you may too.

I invite you to view this draft and make comments--here or on the CommentPress site.

Tags: 2.0, aup, blog, policy, safety, web

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Permalink Reply by Steve O'Connor on April 1, 2009 at 9:58am

Really, the policy can be summarized in a few short points, but my experience is that some require more detail, specificity, and examples. Remember, the audience is not just faculty. It includes board members, parents, students, and community members with varying degrees of understandings and concerns.

I definitely plan on including an "elastic" clause to provide for other situations and tools. I'd also like another such clause allowing the Tech committee to review and approve individual projects or tools outside of what was included.

I struggled with the policy for quite awhile before deciding on a tools framework, generally preferring a tops down to a bottoms up approach.

I plan on setting up a new revision soon. I have been waiting for the new version of commentpress to be released as it will deal with editing better.

I would like to invite others to submit policy drafts of their own starting from scratch or borrowing from this or other materials. When I get home, I will make sure it is set up so others can register and submit their own drafts.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on April 1, 2009 at 10:41am

Your last statement has been discussed a lot around here. There are phantom accounts, safe accounts for kids etc. Do a search here for 'student emails' if you want to start the research now. N.

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Permalink Reply by Steve O'Connor on April 1, 2009 at 12:04pm

I have revised the front page to allow registration and adding a policy to the site. I invite others will post their own ideas and drafts for comment. I'd love to see other examples demonstrating the points other have made here.

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Permalink Reply by Alison Robinson on November 15, 2009 at 8:20pm

Hi Steve,

I am interested in seeing your draft but it is no longer available via this link--do you have it available?

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on November 16, 2009 at 6:24am

I haven't seen Steve around since summer, if you don't hear from him you might send him message or email him.

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Permalink Reply by Steve O'Connor on November 16, 2009 at 7:49am

I took it down in a housekeeping spree. It's dangerous to keep unattended wordpress installs around. Lose track and they become targets for hackers.

I'll see what I can scrape up and maybe I can rebuild it. It may be over Thanksgiving Break as I am extremely busy getting my presentations ready for the NYSCATE conference.

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Permalink Reply by Caroline Bucky-Beaver on November 17, 2009 at 10:13am

I am in the research phase of retooling our AUP to reflect the use of Web 2.0 tools, and would love to see a copy of it as well. Good luck with your presentation!

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Permalink Reply by Steve O'Connor on November 17, 2009 at 10:25am

I was able to access my backups of the home directory containing the WordPress in which it was installed along with the mySQL database. I should be able to restore it when I get time.

I'm considering a WordPRessMu installation so that interested individuals can put up multiple documents for scutiny and commenting. An example of such based upon the NYSED draft tech plan can be viewed here.

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Permalink Reply by Mary-Lou on December 1, 2009 at 4:07pm

Steve I was unable to view your draft as it was blocked by my school. We have been a 1:1 notebook school for over 10yrs and being fairly new to the school as an eLearning Director I'm getting fed up with the I.T department blocking all social networking sites. I finally got them to unblock Twitter/Facebook/Ning for me (only) just yesterday, but it's terribly frustrating. I'll add Wordpress now to my list. Whilst we have a clear communications policy and also a notebook agreement policy we will also need to address social networking and web 2.0 technologies more specifically, I agree that it could be tied into a web publishing policy.

With the principals support I have just announced to the staff that we are opening up social networking sites to the students in 2010. In the new year I will also present this to parents. The main issue the staff raised though was around the "duty of care". For example: If the student is under the legal age to open up a Facebook account but they do it anyone on a notebook leased from the school are we responsible? What are your thoughts on this? Anyone?