White hat social networking

I'm two-timing this blog again, this time posting to the Young Adult Library Services Association blog. During October, a small group of us are posting examples of positive uses of social networking software. We are doing this to highlight what might be lost if the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) passes. So I was pleased yesterday to be able to post a shout-out to our student newspaper, The Gargoyle, which is using blogging software to publish its online edition.

Today I am totally distracted by a new post from Beth reporting on a panel discussion she attended called My Space? Your Space? Whose Space? The teens and librarians who spoke shared their various reasons for having personal MySpace pages and library-sponsored MySpace pages, their quests for friends, their privacy concerns, their thoughts about banning MySpace in schools and libraries (and their tips for getting around filters!). Beth concludes: "...kids are always going to be one step ahead of us. Banning it [MySpace] isn't the answer; educating is." Amen to that.