I would agree in general with you Angela that students will self-regulate- Most of the time - The site that was listed in the article, (ARTO.DK) seemed interesting, and I have a friend who speaks fluent Danish, so I will ask her to review. But what to me was most interesting was they kept a file of the previous site profiles ( http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.arto.dk) an archived look at where they where, and track previous formats used... very interesting, and from a "regulatory" consideration, I think it is an excellent way to watch growth, changes and modifications
It can be said, in a classroom, that if the "chemistry" is right, kids will stay the course-- However, and this is very true in the JCCS system, where populations are changing daily, the opportunities for unwanted blogging are increased-- For example, on the site BROWNPRIDE, we have seen gang members who use that site to arrange for criminal activities, post challenges to other gangsters, and threats. This may be an isolated example, I hope, but nonetheless, the potential for negative behaviors looms large when ceertain poplulations are left to their own devices- In the article they mentioned " the whole world is watching" and there is a deal of truth to that comment-- I cannot recall who stated it, but I remember a line that I am now paraphrasing-- " That the chances of you doing something stupid are directly connected to the number of people watching" Well if the WHOLE WORLD was watching, it could get real STUPID
We are not alone in our concern for the " well being" of blogging- as the article further mentions Jimmy Wales ( the guy who is credited with starting WIKIPEDIA) and Tim O'Reilly( INTERNET BOOKS BY THE DOZENS!!- coined WEB 2.0) are engaged in a debate about Bloggers Code of Conduct"- Well there wil be some sort of regulation/common sense/guidance-- but, we all know at least one person who always wants to yell FIRE in crowded theater-- or on a blog!
Bill McGRATH, Ph.D.