Links
| Understanding Bess | | Print | |
| Wednesday, 16 May 2007 09:13 | ||
|
Schools in the REMC#1 area use Bess for their web filtering service. I
think everyone understands the general concept behind web filtering. A
user tries to visit a site (let's say playboy.com), before the site is
loaded on the user's screen, the site is checked in the filter "hey is
this site okay to visit". If it is okay, the site is loaded, if not a
notice is displayed instead. Bess allows each district to be as aggressive or conservative as they'd like about filtering. Everyone can agree that pornographic sites have no place in K12 schools. However, what about items like internet based games? In Bess each district can decide what categories of sites they would like blocked. So Chassell can have the right level of blocking for their needs, Lake Linden can have their level etc. As stated above, when a site is blocked it always says why it was blocked. Look for a line similar to: This site is blocked under the following categories: Pornography That category is the key. Always check the category as to WHY a site is blocked. Now sometimes, sites get miscategorized. It happens, Bess is dealing with billions and billions of sites. If you think a site is miscategorized (ex: a website is categorized as pornography when its obviously isn't) you can click: Request for Review. Request for Review sends a note off to REMC, and the district contact if there is one, letting us know that a site was miscategorized. Now if a site is NOT miscategorized, but you feel the whole category should be allowed, that needs to be brought up with the District technology committee. Blogs are the classic example. Blogs according to Bess are categorized as Personal Pages. Some districts have chosen to block Personal Pages. There are useful blogs out there, with information that is relevant to education. However, there are even more blogs out there of questionable taste an appropriateness. So what should you do if you want to visit a Blog or YouTube video that is appropriate for school and your school blocks that category? Talk to your technology committee about reviewing the category being blocked. Districts can also provide teacher overrides. A teacher override, temporarily suspends the filtering for Bess, and allows the teacher to view the site in question. After so many minutes filtering is reenabled. When an overriide occurs, email is sent to the REMC staff and if assigned a district contact as well. It's a district by district decision whether or not they want to offer that to their teachers. If you aren't sure, talk to your principal or superintendent. REMC#1 does not create any overrides without administrative approval. Remember, internet filtering in schools is a federal law. Your district is required to filter. But what and how they filter should always be an ongoing discussion within your technology commitee. Happy Surfing! Scott
|
||
| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 16 May 2007 10:03 ) | ||