>>Miguel has even started to organize an online protest campaign.
Um... how effective is an *online* campaign going to be, when the
school won't even see it because of the content? Is an online
campaign going to reach the people it needs to, or, will it be
oh-so-easy to ignore in this particular case?
Perhaps *offline* (gasp) efforts are needed as much, even more, in
this particular circumstance as online efforts to change the minds of
school officials and parents. Outreach via postal mail might be a
start, followed by phone calls. Recruiting parents, who understand
online safety and how [EMAIL PROTECTED] can be used safely, to visit onsite,
face-to-face, with administrators and newspaper editors, is also a
very effective avenue. And volunteers offering their services to help
schools create effective online safety programs that would be an
alternative to simply banning [EMAIL PROTECTED] would be very appealing. A
low-tech, non-confrontational approach that offers alternatives -- it
would probably change the minds of lot more school administrators
than just an online campaign.
This misguided move by the school administrators isn't being done out
of mean-spiritedness, by my assessment -- it's being done out of
fear, and out of seeing an easy, cost-effective, albiet Draconian
solution. In the school's mind, they don't have the time, resources
and expertise to do anything else -- it's a simple solution that goes
overboard, but it's cheap, and as soon as you throw in a few [EMAIL PROTECTED]
horror stories, most people will agree to such a policy, without
thinking through the overall consequences and exploring other
solution -- and without being aware of alternatives to ensure child
safety online.
Think about the audience you need to address, where they are coming
from/why they are doing what they are doing, and the best way to
reach them -- in this case, the old-fashioned avenue may be a better
route.
--
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Ms. Jayne Cravens MSc
Bonn, Germany
Services for Mission-Based Orgs
www.coyotecommunications.com
International & Development Studies & Work
www.coyotecommunications.com/development
Contact me
www.coyotecommunications.com/contact.html
www.ivisit.com id: jcravens.4947
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