Queeky Drawing Project…

Post comments or questions here for the Queeky project

Parents should be allowed access to Facebook/Myspace

As a solution to the social networking issues all parents should be allowed access to their minor (under 18) students facebook/myspace accounts.  This would allow parents to monitor their children and take the burden away from school administration.

No Place Here For MySpace

Large Fla. School District Bans Popular Teen Web Site

 

POLK COUNTY, Fla., Feb, 16, 200

CBS) Myspace.com, one of the most popular teen Web sites, has been banned from schools in Florida’s eighth largest district. 
Students in Polk County schools, which have almost 100,000 students, won’t be able to access the social networking site that’s on the radar of many teens. 

Some use MySpace to post pictures and other information that’s available to anyone with a click of a mouse. 

And that, explains Susan McGinnis, is exactly what has school officials and parents concerned. 

Officials barred the site after parents complained it could lure sexual predators, and that some teens go too far by posting revealing photos and discussing sexual activities or drug use. 

The move upset students such as a 17-year-old girl named Melanie who complained, “I think it is a really cool resource, and the Internet is really as safe as you can make it.” 

But the assistant superintendent of Polk County Schools, Bruce Tonjes, says there’s “no way we can condone using our computers to put information out of a personal nature about our students.” 

Polk officials say that they don’t plan to ban any other popular teen sites. 

Why is Facebook Being Banned?

Posted by Michael Garrett on July 29th, 2007

Isn’t the idea behind Facebook to make your social life more vibrant and increase your productivity? Apparently, big business begs to differ, as the UK-based Telegraph has reported that “more than two thirds of employers are banning or restricting the use of Facebook and similar sites over fears that staff are wasting time on them when they should be working.”

This comes after the news that Australia-based Telstra has banned Facebook access to its 49,000 employees.

The problem with workplace use of social sites like Facebook is one that 70% of British businesses are trying to curtail by banning the site from being accessed through company servers. Several companies have also warned their employees that trying to access the site during office hours is strictly prohibited.

The location of this news is not too surprising, considering that London is now the city with the most Facebook users in the world, with more than 826,000 people in the city registered on the site.

A recent study on the site found that, on average, British users spend 191 minutes a month on Facebook, where users primarily “message, ‘poke’ and check up on friends, colleagues, and often exes, compulsively.” Some even admitted being addicted to the service, although I am not quite sure how you determine addiction. Perhaps, these 10 signscould provide a clue?

Credit Suisse, Dresdner Kleinwort, The Metropolitan Police, British Gas and Lloyds TSB are all banning employees from access to such sites using internet filters.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police stated that “access to some websites is blocked as there is no business need for employees to access them. Facebook is one of those sites. Access to blocked sites is granted when required for business needs only.”

What exactly would qualify as a business need to use Facebook?

Some of the companies, such as British Gas, limit access in the actual workplace but provide employees with the resources and free time to surf as they please.

“Like most other large companies we have a firewall which stops things like spam and porn and Facebook is caught up in that. We do have special rest areas (company cafes) where people can go to and do whatever they like in terms of surfing the net,” said a British Gas spokesperson.

With companies now monitoring their employees web use, it was only a matter of time before we began seeing corporate solutions, such as this, to cut down on personal use of company time.

I am not sure, however, that companies are making all the right moves. Depending on the field of expertise, I believe that some people’s jobs could benefit from the use of social networks. Those who have to keep in contact with clients could greatly benefit from a social network such as Facebook, which provides a central place to communicate and stay organized. Did I mention that it could be a breeding ground for prospective clients and customers with a user base of30 million active users?

Leave your comments and let me know what you think. Should Facebook be banned in the workplace?

Should Facebook be banned?

By Andrew White and Claire Ferris-Lay on Sunday, July 22, 2007

Andrew White: Yes

It may have 30 million users worldwide, but you’ll never find me on Facebook. The social networking phenomenon, which allows users to create profiles containing photos and lists of personal interests, exchange private or public messages, and join groups of friends, is the second most popular destination on the web. Nevertheless, it represents dangerous territory – a messy fingerprint that blurs the line between work and play, and one that could leave an indelible mark on your career.

In March, in a poll of 500 employers by UK recruitment agency Poolia, two thirds admitted to regularly carrying out internet searches, including checking social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. An even larger poll, of 2000 workers and 600 employers, by the social networking site Viadeo suggested that one organisation in five carries out such checks – and that a quarter of those that did had rejected applicants as a result. Who’s to say that those ‘hilarious’ Ibiza holiday snaps won’t find their way into the hands of an unimpressed potential employer? And do you really want to be struck off the candidate list before you’ve even got to the interview stage, on the pretext that the boss doesn’t like what he’s seen of you on a website that was supposed to be the private domain of trusted friends?

There’s also a good reason why firms are increasingly looking to ban Facebook in the office – quite simply, there are enough distractions in the workplace without obsessing over what might make a good profile photo. A recent US study found that the average 18 to 34 year-old spends 45 minutes of each work day conducting personal business on the internet. For many addicts, however, 45 minutes just isn’t enough – and their work is bound to suffer as a result. After all, why schedule a meeting or pick up the phone, when it’s more interesting to sit there ‘poking’ an old acquaintance you haven’t bothered to keep in touch with for the last 30 years?

Face facts. Thanks to Facebook, your boss probably already knows a lot more about you than you’d like – which means you’d best get back to work before his or her patience runs out…

A New Diplomacy

America’s Place in the World

Tommy Thompson

Former Governor of Wisconsin

Description: A new diplomacy.

Transcript: And the second one, you know, we have to tear down this . . . this really animosity that the jihadists’ movement has against America. There’s people who hate America. And I have found that the best way to treat this severe hatred is build up a counter-force. And that’s through women and children and using medical diplomacy. I’ve traveled all over the world and I’ve been blessed by it. And I’ve had the opportunity in being Secretary of Health to see that there’s one common denominator: Whether you’re a Shiite, Sunni, Kurd, Hamaas, Hezbollah, Jewish member . . . everything revolves around how you’re gonna provide good health – good security, but good health for the family. And this is with women and children. And if you’re really able to tap into that, you’re gonna be able to start a movement across the world that’s gonna be basing themselves on good health conditions and good health for their family. And that’s what I wanna do through global medical diplomacy. And I’ve got a plan laid out, and really to develop that. And I think that is the kind of ideas and positive things that we have to do in this country to show the world that, you know, that we’re not this terrible country that’s trying to invade and be able to in any way change their way of life. We gotta show them that this is America; that we’re good, we’re positive, we’re strong, and we wanna protect you. And we wanna do what is right.

Recorded on: 7/6/07

Our prescriptions contradict our own path to success.

Re: What is America’s place in the world?

William Easterly

Economist; Prof. of Economics, New York University

Description: Our prescriptions contradict our own path to success.

Transcript:

Well first do no harm. There is a diet plan that somebody told me about that was being marketed a while ago which was called “Stop the Insanity.” Just stop the insanity. Stop invading other countries. Stop pouring bushel fulls of money on corrupt governments. Stop twisting countries’ arms to adopt the kind of reform that experts in Washington and New York think they ought to adopt, which is really the wrong way to go about implementing any free markets or democracy. It can’t be imposed and coerced on other societies. Other societies have to freely choose their own freedom. It’s a ridiculous thing to think that we, the west, can impose freedom on other people. That contradicts the very idea of freedom. Freedom arises when people freely choose to protect their own freedoms, to seize their own freedoms, to assert their own freedoms. And so a lot of what the west can do is just stop doing the stupid thing we’re doing now. And once we get to that point, then I think there’s some positive things the west can do as far as exchanging intellectual ideas, exchanging technologies, making available technologies, making available our institutions of higher learning to students from all over the world, allowing free trading goods so that African cotton farmers can sell their cotton in our markets, which we’re not letting them into at the moment. That kind of thing, I think, is what mainly the west can do.

Recorded On: 7/6/07

taken from the world wide web at:

http://www.bigthink.com/features/99

America has to use its power wisely and decently.

Re: What is America’s place in the world?

Lee Hamilton

Vice-Chair 9/11 Commission, fmr. Congressman

Description: America has to use its power wisely and decently.

Transcript: The overwhelming challenge in the world today for the United States is how we use this power – unrivaled power, unprecedented power, unmatched power – economically, militarily, technologically, culturally? How we use that power to protect American interests and to make a better world – safer, more prosperous. That is the great challenge for the country now, and I think will be for many, many years to come.

I think we’ve got a lot of work to do. I think we’ve had quite a setback, and we have not used that power as wisely, and prudently and effectively as we should have used it – particularly with regard to the war in Iraq. But this is behind us now, and we are where we are. We can’t change recent events and recent history. So I think we have to apply American power pragmatically, realistically. We have to make sure that we do not set goals for ourselves that we cannot achieve. When President Bush said we’re going to end tyranny in the world, that is idealism beyond reach. When President Kennedy said we must bear any burden, that is beyond reach. It’s an ideal, but the problem is matching resources to achieve your goal. And Americans, I think, have tended to overreach in the world, and to think that our power is so great that we can achieve all kinds of things. I have become impressed with the limitations of American power, and with the necessity of matching our goals with the means to achieve those goals; and to apply for ourselves pragmatic objectives around the world – achievable objectives. And to think that we can suddenly make democracy bloom in Saudi Arabia, and in Egypt, and in Pakistan is a stretch. We can’t do it. But I am also impressed that American ideals are good and solid. But we cannot accomplish them without a lot of help. If you sit down and try to name the most difficult problems that bother you – I don’t know what they might be . . . climate change, drugs, conflicts of all kinds, rising tensions in the world, HIV/AIDS, whatever . . . nuclear proliferation – you have to be impressed, I think, with the fact that you cannot achieve those goals by yourself. We have to have help. As big as we are, as smart as we are, as rich as we are, we need help. And we have to learn to work together. The great genius of American diplomacy came about, at least in my lifetime, after World War II when the idealism of the American people was captured pragmatically, and we rebuilt Europe with the Marshall Plan – Europeans leading the way, of course, but with our help. And we had this flowering of diplomacy. The World Bank, the IMF, what eventually became the WTO – the World Trade Organization – the United Nations. In other words, we advanced American interests, but we did it by cooperating with other countries around the world. We did not say, “This is the way it’s going to be. It’s going to be the American model. We’re going to do it our way. We’re going to impose it upon you.” We rejected that, and we took the generosity of the American public. Just think for a moment. We defeated Japan and Germany. They were the great evil – Adolf Hitler, Tojo – some people will remember that – the Emperor of Japan. After the war, we immediately turned around – immediately – and gave aid to those countries. What a remarkable thing. Think of that. We gave aid to the people we had been fighting for years. Well how do you capture that spirit again? That generosity? That pragmatism? That ability to advance your interests, but also include the interests of others? That’s the great challenge for us.

I think the United States wants to use its power in a way that will understand the cry for dignity in the world today; the cry for progress, for a better life. And the United States ought to try to say to the world, “We’re on your side. We can’t solve all of your problems. We would like to help.” Let me give you a very specific example. We think the madras schools in Pakistan are very bad. They teach hostility of Americans. They don’t teach the basics of education. So we have a program in effect now to help develop alternative educational systems in Pakistan. It’s a small program. It’s not gonna solve all the problems in Pakistan for sure; but the signal is right. “We’re on your side. We want to try to help you.” You see I think people around the world basically want the same things. They want a decent life for themselves. They want to be able to have healthcare and education. They want to be able to marry the person of their choice, and they want to have a decent retirement. All the things that we talk about all the time in America, I think it’s wanted by everybody in the world. So America has to be on the side of decency and on willingness to help; but it also has to recognize that we can’t do it all; that we can only say, “We can be on your side.” I’ll tell you an analogy. Every American politician is approached regularly by somebody who asks him or her to do something that is utterly impossible to do. I don’t know any successful American politician who says to that person, “I can’t help you.” What do you say? You say, “I understand your problem. I’d like to try to be helpful. I’m on your side.” It may be simplistic, but I don’t think it is. That’s what America has to do in the world. “We can’t solve all your problems, but we want for you the same thing we want for ourselves – a decent life – and we want to help.”

Recorded on: 7/5/2007 at The Aspen Ideas Festival

Taken from the world wide web at:

http://www.bigthink.com/features/99