Re: Risks of using "free" public blogs and/or wikis for class activities

[Alex Campoe <campoe () USF EDU>]

I think that people will use what they want to use, what they feel
comfortable using, no matter what you do. Unless your local blogs are
password protected, students and staff should be careful with what they
post no matter who is hosting it.

We rolled out our own blog solution for the students a few years ago,
http://blog.usf.edu. Today, we maintain about 3,000 blogs. After we
deployed it other campus organizations showed interest and started using
it. For instance, one of the regional libraries,
http://catherin.blog.usf.edu .

Alex

Clifford Collins wrote:
> A faculty member on our campus recently approached our IT group to have
> a blog and/or wiki set up to support her classes next month. This
> request was out of the blue and didn't go through normal channels
> (department head, planning committees, etc).
>
> IT's response was that some thought, planning and a server were
> necessary to do it right and therefore more time would be needed to
> provide a supportable solution. Now the faculty member is saying she
> will just use one of the many "free" ones on the Internet.
>
> I'm interested in people's view of any risks or other down-sides to such
> an approach. Pointers to papers, analysis and whatnot would be
> appreciated as well. Your thoughts?
>
>
> Clifford A. Collins
> Network Security Administrator
> Franklin University
> 201 South Grant Avenue
> Columbus, Ohio 43215
> "Security is a process, not a product"

--

----------------------
J. Alex Campoe
Associate Director, Systems / Data Security Manager
Academic Computing - University of South Florida - Tampa
Phone: (813) 974-1796

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