Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 1:26PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Welcome to our Meet-the-Author teacher's-only chat ... this evening from 7-8pm PST we will be having special guest author Jean Armour Polly online to share her words of wit and wisdom with us about positive educational uses for the Internet. To learn a little about Jean's background, please read this button button and to learn about her book, THE INTERENT KIDS & FAMILY YELLOW PAGES .. please click on this button

Janice/Lk. Arhd. Elem.: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 1:26PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hello fellow campers, I will be attending the Fall CUE in Sacramento Nov 9, 10, 11th. I will be sharing all the exciting learning activities I have experienced over the past three years. If you are in the area on these dates please stop by in the convention hall and say Hi to Tony, Sherrie and myself. You might alo want to check out the CUE site at button for more detailed information. We are also planning to be presenters at the Spring CUE in Palm Springs. See you there!

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 1:29PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Here is Jean's latest picture .....

Janice/Lk. Arhd. Elem.: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 1:30PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Author Jean, so sorry I can't be on line tonight but I would like to ask you what book or book(s) including your own you would recommend for me to refer to my 5th grade students parents. Some of them have this fear that is hard to overcome, especially when the word "chat room" is used? It;s gotten better than three years ago but I need to give them reasurrance other than just from me. Thanks for being with us this evening - your participation is one of the real important benefits Camp Internet has to offer educators.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 1:30PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Please feel free to pre-post any questions you might have for our guest tonight ... her answers will be available for review later in the chat archive.

Timothy - Camp: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 2:51PM PST (-0800 GMT)
I want to welcome Jean Armour Polly to our chatroom tonight. ** Jean ** it's nice to visit again. I want to ask that you tell us how you started "Net-Mom", what was the early motivation? Have you seen the Internet become a safter place for children over the past few years or has it become an environment that needs more attention to the safety / appropriatness of content for young readers.

Laurey of Lake Arrowhead: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 5:16PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Welcome Jean! I was so impressed with your website and all the fabulous links. Thank you for including one for the FTC rules for child privacy. That is on the minds of so many parents. I would like your opinion and advice on homework hotlines. I have thought of incorporating that with my students as so many of their families are regular internet users. Have you found that parents welcome this type of service? Is it more trouble than it is worth to keep updated? I will check back in tonight after 7:00. Looking forward to chatting.

Laurey of Lake Arrowhead: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 5:22PM PST (-0800 GMT)
By the way, Jean, the keypad feature is so clever. What a great way to provide channeled information. Do you have someone help you answer your email? I know many parents that would love to get your advice!

Paula: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 5:42PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hello Jean - what do you suggest parents do to limit teenage near-obsession with chat rooms .. or do you have a personal insight into this ? Our daughter has nearly disappeared lately ....

Chris: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 6:26PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - What have you found to be the most useful family health resource center online ?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 6:59PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi I'm here!

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:00PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Do I just start answering questions? :-)

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:01PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Health resources-- I like button It is done by doctors and has separate "entryways" for kids, teens, and parents.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:01PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Jean - just jump in and start answering the questions - try to include the name of the questioner at the beginning so they have an easier time locating the answer to their questions ....

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:02PM PST (-0800 GMT)
That button above will take you to kidshealth.org.

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:03PM PST (-0800 GMT)
OK.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:03PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hint to everyone - when you want to get back up to the top of the chat room, type a large number like 50 or 100 in the Scroll Back box, click the chat button, and it will take you back up above ....

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:04PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Tim- When I was working at NYSERNet in 1992, the Internet was being painted as pretty bleak for kids. In fact there was some talk that kids should be kept off it altogether. I kept trying to get frends to tell the GOOD side of the Internet (I probably tried to talk you guys into it!) But no one had enough time. Finally, I quit my job and did it myself.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:06PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - That kids health looks really useful - parents / kids / teenagers ...... RAIN also has a different type of health center to visit at button - the top link has general health information and the others link to doctor-to-doctor projects going on ....

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:06PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Tim- Because I had never trademarked "Surfing the Internet' I decided I had better TM Net-mom. So I got a book from Nolo Press and did it myself. Hooray for books!

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:07PM PST (-0800 GMT)
We also got the domain names .com, org, net for netmom and net-mom.

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:07PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Tim- in the early days of research for the book (1995) there was not much on the net aimed directly at kids. Now, all that has changed...

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:08PM PST (-0800 GMT)
I think the most dangerous thing on the Net for kids is MISINFORMATION. And I see a lot of it out there. That's why teachers and librarans and parents need to teach kids media literacy.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:09PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - We have been managing this Camp Internet program with the goal of providing a safe environment for kids to learn and meet experts in to help inspire them to pursue intersting careers as adults. The more teachers and parents tell us about what Camp Internet represents to them, the more we are hearing that having a safe, closed environment is very appealing. We all know how much is a out there .. and kids need to learn how to select what is right for them ... but learning to do that and have that much personal responsibility is a big challenge.

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:09PM PST (-0800 GMT)
In my 5th ed (which just came out, Marcy, your copy will arrive at Camp Internet tomorrow) I collected lots of sites that not only teach kids how to evaluate Internet sites but also TV, etc.

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:11PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Marcy- your Camp Internet was/is a pioneering program, (and I am not sure everyone appreciates yours and Tim's long labor in the vineyards along the info superhighway (which Al Gore built, you know :-)

Chris: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:11PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - What is your position on filtering at the public agency level? I heard pres. candidate Bush state that all agencies receving public money should be forced to filter the Internet for their custoomer access. What is the national library assoc's position ?

Timothy - Camp: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:12PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - the "media literacy" you speak of, is that like teaching our students how to correctly use a Library card catalog, getting them aware of how to search for and find Information they need?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:14PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Chris- ALA's position as I understand it is that they don't recommend filters. However the last stats I saw showed that (if memory serves) 20% -30% or something of large urban public libraries do employ some kind of filter system...

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:15PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Chris- filters are largely misunderstood. Some teachers have complained to me that I am pro-choice on filters , and then they say their students can't find anything if the filter is ON. But then it turns out thatthe filter is set up for an employer, not a school. So for example the filter for SPORTS is ON. Duhh.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:16PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Here is an interesting announcement that is food for thought ....... * FEDS, TEACHERS MULL WAYS TO TEACH STUDENTS 'CYBER ETHICS' * ***** Thou shalt not vandalize web pages. Thou shalt not shut down web sites. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's MP3s. ******FBI agents are spreading a new gospel to parents and teachers, hoping they'll better educate youths that vandalism in cyberspace can be economically costly and just as criminal as mailbox bashing and graffiti spraying.

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:16PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Chris- I like the new smartcard technology used by libraryguardian. Disclaimer, I used to be a product spokesperson for them 3 years ago. :-) Anyway the parent can encode the smart library card so the chid is always under the parent's viewing preferences.

Diana: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:17PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Cyber ethics is a catchy phrase for sure - but how do we implement programs on ethics in the classroom ?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:18PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Marcy- I have an official Net-mom pen I had made up with my rules of Internet safety on it-- one of them is Don't mess with people! Another is Unplug- go play outside!

Sarah Jacobs: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:19PM PST (-0800 GMT)
What do you hear from parents the most ? What are their concerns about kids and the Internet ? Besides the obvious of porn ?

Laurey of Lake Arrowhead: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:19PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hello Jean...Camp Internet has been a great avenue through which computer literacy can be integrated into the curriculum. Many of my students had never experienced a chat session or sent email prior to the camp interactive projects. Are there specific ways or links suggested in your book for parents so that they can reinforce this concept as necessary in developing communication skills?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:20PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Timothy- by media literacy I mean to teach kids how to evaluate a web site: look for real-world authority; currency of information; citing sources, etc.

Stephen Robbins: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:21PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Are there any studies going on that you know of measuring the change in academic achievement in kids who begin studying and learning online ? that would be really interesting ...

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:21PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Sarah- parents are concerned about porn. American parents. I was recently in Germany and the big fear there is hate speech. And neo nazis. In Japan parents worry their kids will buy something online. In Amsterdam last springthere wasa flurry of concern over sites that teach people how to commit suicide.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:24PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Laurey - I think you have mentioned a good idea for Camp Internet to take on - a parents guidebook-let for our families to help them understand what their students will be gaining by learning to use these ofte mis-understood communication tools ... we can work on that this year ... .......Jean - do you have a section in your book to help parents understand the VALUE their kids can receive from online access ?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:25PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Laurey- great question. Most parents are horrified by the idea of chat because all they hear about is the predators in the chat roms. In fact there was a recent study done for the National Center for Missng and Exploited Kids That's missing kids.org button Anyway the study showed that the vast majority of kids had not been predated upon in a chat room. However,of the kids that had had this expereince, 25% of them were severely disturbed by it.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:26PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - one of the experiments in Camp Internet is how to build an online distance learning community of adult learners - teachers and parents. What online communities do you enjoy these days that provide you with valuable resources ?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:27PM PST (-0800 GMT)
More on Chat- the study also showed that much of the sexual content was kid to kid, not 40 year old man to kid. You should look up the study because it is fascinating. Parents need to know that there ARE safe chat rooms. I recommend severalinmy book and on my web site in the 100 Family Stes section.

Liana Kennedy: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:29PM PST (-0800 GMT)
As an African American parent, I am worried about racial sites that promote intolerance - freedom of speech is one thing, but promoting hate online seems such a violation of other people's rights to a safe society. How are people in other countries dealing with these issues ? legislation ? or ?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:29PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Marcy- I think I missed some questions, I'll eventually go back and snag them. I used to be very active at the WELL in the late 80s but right now I don't particpate much in anything real time. I belong to a computer book writer's listserv and I am very active in the Internet Content Rating Association board and advisory council activities.

Janet Gallatin: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:31PM PST (-0800 GMT)
I am so glad that you have addressed the need for media literacy. Camp Internet has given teachers a safe harbor so that we can focus on teaching rather than searching for good sites for our class. Do you have any suggestions for teachers of 4th graders to help students understand that not everything on the Internet is truthful?

Chris: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:31PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Why do you think none of the presidential candidates is using the Internet to promote themselves in a very proactive way ? It seems such an obvious market for them to address - do they fear the total free speech it might offer ? there are chat rooms tht monitor every posting in advance .... is the Internet still just too controversial ?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:32PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Liana- when I was in Malaysia in- um, 97 I think, I had lunch with teachers and librarians. They told me they could WAIT to have the gov't there clean up their Internet. They really saw the hate speech and racial stuff as devisive an their society and they did not want it. We were also struck bythe amount of info on the TV screens about each program as it came on. LOTS more info for parents beyond just PG or something!.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:33PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - tell us what this 'Internet Content Rating Association board and advisory council' is all about and how it works please ....

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:33PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Liana- typo- they could NOT wait to have the gov't step in.

Laurey of Lake Arrowhead: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:35PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hello Marcy...I have so many students that work on their passport folder from home. Parents are becoming so much more aware of the positive benefits. They are getting involved and would welcome being able to further teacher, student, parent commumication online. Jean....my question for you from much earlier along that line...Do you find that parents want homework hotlines and/or access to communication with teachers through this type of open forum?

Liana Kennedy: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:36PM PST (-0800 GMT)
It does not seem like it would be too hard to set up a set of principles for monitoring hate web sites : does it promote violence against another person or people ? does it promote misunderstanding between different races and cultures and suggest violence as a solution to problems ? Maybe Tipper Gore would have the nerve to suggest this ? we'll see ....

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:37PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Janet- regarding how to teach 4th graders not everything on the net is truthful. Yes, there are things on my site-- button in the media literacy section. I also like the 3 Litle Cyberpigs adventures, I THINKthere's one on media literacy. They are at button

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:38PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - tell us about your trip/s to India - what is society like there now ... have you ever been to the Sri Aurobindo community ?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:39PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Laurey-- I will defer to you real practitioners on whether or not homework hotlines are something parents actually use. I think many parents use them, and I personally enjoy being able to email the school and the teachers, but then I'm pretty geeky. :-)

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:41PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - I see a great idea in the resources your button links lead to - kid safe search engines. At Camp we try to keep the kids internal to our site for safety and to focus them on the materials we are offering, but providing teachers with a kid safe search engine link to the wider net is a very interesting idea. Have you tried any of these out and how do they operate ?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:42PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Stephen- the studies I have seen regarding computers in the classroom and learning online have said either They work, or they don't- my take on it is that the jury is still out. But I don't follow the education journals, so I may be behind on the very latest, sorry!

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:44PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Marcy- India is a big place and I have only been to Delhi and the usual tourist route to the Taj Mahal and environs. It's wonderful but psychologically wearying. It makes you very glad for what you have and yet yearning for things you do not. Those interested can see photos at pollywood.com button i wish I typed faster!!

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:46PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - One of the really valuable things Camp Internet is offering are original texts not avilable in print or online anywhere else - like the original Zorro stories and the historical documents that Island of the Blue Dolphins is based on. We are trying to get teachers to pair up with their librarians to get books in print also available to compliment the online materials, but we often put full text e books online too - Treasure Island, Ramona, Two Years Before the Mast. Literacy is such a big issues in American education .... we hear from our GATE students that they really enjoy these books online - and excerpts from Mark Twain etc. .......... our next goal is to get it so the books can be 'heard' online too ... do you know of any literary sites that have streaming storytelling ?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:46PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Chris- do you mean why aren't the candidates in chat rooms every night? They have loads of web pages, listservs, and other ways to ping their supporters. I think I'd rather seee a candidate F2F. After all you dont even know if the candidate is really typing or talking, or if it's an aide.. :-(

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:48PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Marcy- i LOVED that Blue Dolphins book!!! In my book Ilist sites with streaming storybooks (for young kids) but nothing as long as the books you mention. There are probably Mp3 audiobooks, aren't there? That would be cool.

Silvia - Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:48PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - returning to the topic of values and acceptable content on the Internet do you feel part of the issue with the Internet is an emphasis on Science related information with less emphasis or access to Arts, Literature and other Humanities information. Would an increase in access to the Humanities increase the value of the Net to children?

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:51PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - do you know Frank Odaz ? He is a distance learning pioneer who is going to start working with Camp Internet and will be hosting our next teacher training sessions in late November. Timothy is developing interesting projects with many partners - we plan to develop a relationship with the ALA to help promote Camp Internet in public libraries as a family literacy / online learning project that gets people reading more books and reading more resources online. Any suggestions for library-world people who might be good to talk to to get this going ?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:52PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Silvia- that is a very interesting question. The net used to be even more topheavy than it is now on science sites. I think this has changed quite a bit though, and if you go to the Thinkquest finalaist s for this year you will see what kids themselves are producing in the way of content in the humanities. button Every one knows about the TQ scholarships, right?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:54PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Marc85y- oops cat on keyboard.... Frank is an old friend. He's an evangelist for distance learning. I'd call the ALA public information office in Chicago and make sure they know about you. theyhave their own sort of training events days - usualy during National Library Week in April.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:55PM PST (-0800 GMT)
To Janet Gallatin - this idea of media literacy is something Camp Internet would do well to help students consider... so glad you are thinking about it ..... It is sounding like we need to develop a section on online ethics and literacy to help students recognize their responsibilities and take pride in responsible use of the Internet. We need to reward them for gaining understanding of these issues and behaving responsibly online. .. send us any more suggestions you think of this year to strengthen this idea .... good food for thought ....

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:56PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Marcy- kid safe search engines. button Kidsclick is my favorite. It was developed by librarians and has no ads. There is a link off of it called world of searching or something that is an intro to finding quality info on the net.

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:58PM PST (-0800 GMT)
One site I would recommend was a ThinkQuest entry last year- TQ Junior as I recall. button about what's OK to use on your web page from other sources

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 7:59PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - next month Harley Hahn is coming online for a meet-the-author - on November 14th - join us if you can. He once gave a very interesting talk at a RAIN event about the neural net ... do the people you talk to around the world recognize this phenomenae - are they aware of what the Internet represents as a mind-to-mind phenomenae? or is its commercial hype drowning out its intellectual impact ?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:01PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Marcy- Harley is a friend of mine but we don't agree on this and other points. I think he feels the net is the next evolutionary phase for mankind. My feeling is, if so, show me the way back to the ooze... :-)

Susan: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:03PM PST (-0800 GMT)
What words of wisdom can you offer teachers who are faced with a non-Internet librarian to help her/him get into the electonic information age ? Any gentle but persuasive words ?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:05PM PST (-0800 GMT)
I wanted to talk a little about ICRA- the Internet Content Rating Assn. button The idea os the old RSACi labelling system was that webmastes labelled their content (not rated,labelled) So on NUDITY you might give your site a 0 to a 4. Or SEX, LANGUAGE, OR VIOLENCE. Trouble was only 200,000 sites labelled so far. ICRA stepped in and licensed RSACi- now will relaunch in 2001 as a new model- webmasters stilllabel on various content descriptors that are more detailled , but there are other layers as well: "no go" sitelists (like from Simon weisenthal Center; greenspaces 9like from Netmom) etc.

Liana: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:06PM PST (-0800 GMT)
As a published author - do you do confernce tours or other programs with the public ? How do you get the word out about NetMom ?

Laurey of Lake Arrowhead: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:06PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean...I wanted to thank you for all the great info and advice. I just checked out kidsclick and I am bookmarking it in my classroom tomorrow! I have to sign off...great chatting with you. Marcy, thank you and Camp Internet also. This was a great evening.

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:07PM PST (-0800 GMT)
ICRA is a model that is cross-culturally sensitive too, I predict it may be useful, if we can figure out how to incent webmasters to use it. But we have ideas on that too. I am also working with a group that has proposed a .KID top level domain (like .com) to ICANN--the group that will decide yes or no.

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:08PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Bye Laurey!

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:09PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Susan- regarding your non electronic librarian. I think if you show her Kidsclick she might get pretty excited. Also show her LibrarySpot button what is this a high school or elem or what?

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:10PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jean - thanks for the introduction to ICRA - it looks from the first 'what's new' page like it will address some of our participant's questions tonight about questionable content - and safer surfing - we will study this resource more. Waht is your role with them ?

Susan: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:12PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Elementary schools often seem to have the most, pardon me, backwards librarians when it coems to the Internet ... we are hoping Camp Internet will help ours see the light of the connection between online information gathering and print materials as being compatible, not in competition. I'll follow your links and see what else we can gather to help it along ... thanks and good night.

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:12PM PST (-0800 GMT)
The question about doing talks- i don't really do a lot of talks any more. Sometimes I can do them for expenses only. I do big events; I did the national PTA in June for example. I get exposure with my Ask Jeeves for kids column button and the one I do for FamilyClick.com. And - here is scoop-- my publisher tells me I am going to be on QVC in December! I am pretty excited. :-)

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:15PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Marcy- I am on the advisory council and am one of the advisory council's members of the board of directors. I owuld also like to draw everyone's attention to the recent Child Online Protection Act commission's report button the testimony to the hearings is fascinatingreading. i testified in the San Jose hearing along with some "adult industry" types and others. Great reading!!

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:17PM PST (-0800 GMT)
What are your schools doing regarding filters or acceptable use policies?

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:22PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Is anyone still connected? :-)

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:23PM PST (-0800 GMT)
We have many schools that have a pretty open policy and can use all of our resoruces ...... but some school networks automatically block all chats and all video and we can't get them to open a hole to our IP ... other schools will open the hole just for our students. It is very frustrating to have these blanket filters on that keep the good out as well as the bad .... the techs at the district level are making decisions that impact all of the teachers and they too need some education about there being safe environments for kids out there ...

Jim, Valley View, Indio: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:24PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Jean I have just finished reading the posts. Very interesting stuff.

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:25PM PST (-0800 GMT)
That is my point. the techs don't have a clue about policy. the teachers and 'librarians must be the gatekeepers, as they have always been. It's stupid to block all web based chat, IMHO.

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:26PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Jim, glad you dropped by. :-)

Jim, Valley View, Indio: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:26PM PST (-0800 GMT)
I am going to have to try the sites everyone has identified. You have given us a great deal to consider.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:26PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Well, it looks like the crowd is wrapping up and we all thank you for taking the time to share ideas and information with us. I look forwards to seeing the book so we can post a personal recommendation to our teachers and families to consider it for their own home/class library. Thanks for sending us a copy - and best wishes with NetMom - thanks goodness you copyrighted it ;) ... its been a long road since 1995 .. glad we are all on it together .....

Jim, Valley View, Indio: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:27PM PST (-0800 GMT)
So far I haven't had any problems with filters, but them again we just got online throught the district.

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:27PM PST (-0800 GMT)
BTW I do like the chat at Freezone.com htp://ww.freezone.com. They are so vigilant in those chat rooms they even threw ME of!!

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:28PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Ok Marcy and the RAIN Camp Internet folks- thanks for allowing me to warm up by your virtual campfire-- happy trails!

Jean : . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:29PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Ok Marcy and the RAIN Camp Internet folks- thanks for allowing me to warm up by your virtual campfire-- happy trails! and button is the right url for Freezone!

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Tue, Oct 24, 8:29PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Good night folks .... we will keep this room open thru the end of the month so our other teachers can come by and check out the links, ideas, and resources .... then it goes into the permanent archive for future reviewing ... thanks to everyone who has participated .... its open 24/7 for teacher input and comments. Don't be shy !! We Dig the Internet !!!

Diane Bruns@ Grandview: . . . . Thu, Oct 26, 2:11PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Marcy---Please email me with Sue Baca's email address. I'd like to see if her class would like to be pen pals with mine. We both have 3/4 combos.Thanks!