Gothamist: Department of Education Restricts Staffers From Publicizing Blogs in Official Email

Rocknrope

Mon, 12 May 2008 12:26:35 -0500

The DOE has more than 80,000 educators pontificating every day. The DOE can not and should not be in the position of agreeing with and approving every voice and opinion And thusly, should not allow personal viewpoints, opinions and attitudes advertised on corporate communication channels, regardless of their relevancy. There are plenty of professional organizations and associations that allow networking, discourse, and information-sharing opportunities.

sonyactivision

Sat, 10 May 2008 00:32:50 -0500

#2, in their own fat, or someone elses? Recipes!

InnovativeEdu

Fri, 09 May 2008 22:46:25 -0500

The suggestion of linking a professional blog to a personal email misses the point of reaching the right audience. My professional (non-commercial) blog is created for my professional audience and has no relevance or interest to those in my personal life (with perhaps the exception of my mother). The DOE has more than 80,000 educators pontificating every day. The DOE can not and should not be in the position of agreeing with and approving every voice and opinion. Educators with professional blogs should be given the respect to inform others through their professional email signature, business card etc. of a resource they have created to support their network. While I agree, someone could post something inappropriate, unprofessional or not in alignment with the DOE they can also say, do, or teach something inappropriate or unprofessional. If that happens it should be addressed. However, holding back an educator's ability to share and celebrate what they are doing stifles enthusiasm, sends an unfortunate top-down message of distrust, and is just plain disappointing to enthusiastic people like me who must follow such marching orders. Lisa Nielsen The Innovative Educator http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com

Steven

Fri, 09 May 2008 11:48:22 -0500

I'm on the DOE side here. If you want to advertise the blog,link it to your personal email account not at work. Linking it at work makes people think the DOE approves of the blog and the views it expresses.

bestview

Fri, 09 May 2008 11:12:10 -0500

I'm sure it also has to do with precedent. If they allow her to advertise her very professional blog on official email, then it will be tougher to keep teachers/administrative staff/custodial staff and so on from advertising some less savory blogs. Excuse me, now I'm going to check out the Innovative Educator. Can't argue with free advertising!

InnovativeEdu

Fri, 09 May 2008 10:47:34 -0500

Thank you for your attention to this issue. To clarify to those who have commented, I understand and am adhering to the directive of my employer. I just don't agree with it and hope they will reconsider the stance. I believe it is important that we encourage teachers to have a professional voice and I believe that should be a part of their professional identity. An additional clarification is that I am asked to place a disclaimer on my comments on other blogs, not comments on my blogs. On my blog I am placing a disclaimer that the views and opinions are my own. Regarding the inappropriate comments issue...as the owner of a blog I can delete inappropriate comments. Lisa Nielsen The Innovative Educator http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com

Rocknrope

Fri, 09 May 2008 09:52:40 -0500

Maybe when Nielsen leaves the DOE and opens her own consultancy, she can have whatever email signature she likes. Until then, she needs to adhere to the protocol of the organization that hired her and pays her salary. The content of her blog is irrelevant. If it's a personal endeavor, regardless of subject matter, it has no place within her workplace's communications. I'm amazed that this needs to be explained to her, but she's probably blinded by her own sense of self-worth.

Jen Chung

Fri, 09 May 2008 09:43:53 -0500

dbc-she does link to her specific email signature here but I agree with you and have replaced the graphic.

dbc

Fri, 09 May 2008 09:40:39 -0500

I agree with the DOE's stance. If she wants to include a link to her blog on her personal email signature, then fine; however, including it on her work email signature implies that the blog is in some way associated with or approved by the DOE, and that the views expressed are those of the DOE. I know several lawyers who keep personal blogs regarding various legal issues; none of them link to those blogs through their firm-provided email addresses. However, some of them include information from their blogs in their firm's newsletters--perhaps Ms. Nielsen can do something like that. By the way, I didn't see the email signature graphic included in this post in any of the links. Is it really a good idea to plaster this woman's phone number and email address on a blog posting?

babyhitler

Fri, 09 May 2008 09:27:13 -0500

I LIKE TO EAT BABIES!

babyhitler

Fri, 09 May 2008 09:27:01 -0500

because if someone linked on her blog and looked at the comments section and saw "I LIKE TO EAT BABIES!" then the DOE could get into a lot of needless trouble by association.