By Barbara Fister. I’m one of those people who others probably call a privacy nut when I’m not listening. (Because I would never listen in – trust me! I’m a privacy nut!) I get really cranky when people tell me privacy is impossible today or if they claim that Young People Today don’t care about it, so get with the program (in which case I tell them to ask danah boyd about that. She’ll tell you it’s complicated.) I get testy when I advocate for privacy as a library value and other librarians say “yeah, but access is a value, too, and that's what patrons care about. Read more...

By G. Rendell. I do a fair amount of public speaking, to classes, community groups, administrative departments, you name it.  I've been using presentation software since before there was a PowerPoint.  (Anyone else remember Adobe (neé Aldus) Persuasion?)  Typical presentation software is great for topical presentations which define an area of interest and then delve down into it. Read more...

By Tracy Mitrano. It’s Data Privacy Year from what I can tell, but let’s use this trope!
First, President Obama has proposed federal legislation on student data privacy. I will devote another blog to this issue down the road. For the moment, the higher education community should be prioritizing this matter with a focus on two areas: one, including higher education (at this point it is written for only K-12) and – this is important – two, making sure that the language is precise about the most critical issue of this entire conundrum: profiling. Read more...