What's blocked in Scottish schools and elsewhere? Help build a national picture

A while ago I helped out Gill from the BBC in setting up a blog project for the Symphony Orchestra. Today she was in touch today wondering if there was any centrally grouped information on what Local Authorities block. I'm not aware of one (though stand corrected if there is).

So, in the name of science (or a kack-handed attempt at it) I'd love to try and survey which of the following things you are or are not able to do. They are all do-able in East Lothian Council, so it's not an unreasonable expectation that you can do everything on the list.

You can answer the survey by leaving your Local Authority, the number of the tool below and a 'y' or 'n'. Feel free in this post to leave anonymous comments, or ones with a pseudonym.

1. Reading and leaving a comment on a blog on edublogs.org (try this one for consistency)
2. Reading and leaving a comment on a Blogger blog (try this one for consistency)
3. Viewing and editing a wiki (try this one for consistency)
4. Watching a video on GoogleVideo.
5. Accessing the following Flickr pic and leaving a note or comment.
6. Manipulating Jacko's face in this Flash page.
7. Use the podcast directory in iTunes (this assumes that, as a minimum, you have iTunes installed)
8. Create and/or use Google Docs and Google Groups / forums. (added later)

Spread the word amongst colleagues in other Local Authorities - I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what we get! If you're not in Scotland do let us know, too, what things are like in your area. Just don't forget to tell us where you are!

Comments

[John]

Glasgow, primary network:
1.Can see and comment on edublogs.org.
2.Blogger, can do both too.
3.The SEB Wikispaces is giving me access denied, I don't think it has anything to do with ours filters though.
4.We now seem to be able to see the google video page, but none of the movies show up, so that would be a no.
5.Flickr: The Websense category "Personal Network Storage and Backup" is filtered.
6.I can pull Mick's nose.
7.iTunes is not installed on networked machines so I do not know.

I really hope you get a good picture of the whole of Scotland, my impression is that EL is unique in allowing both Google Video and Flickr. It is pretty amazing that we do not have a list of this already.
(and you know how *I* think this should be addressed/worked around;-))

[Joe Wilson]

Ewan - bang on money and long overdue -
Can I suggest you add google groups and yahoo groups and some other online forums.
various groups have been used for qualifications development and we can never find one that is not blocked in some authorities. Glow Groups will ofcourse solve this

[Adam Sutcliffe]

Aberdeenshire
Can't get on to Google Video, but guesed as much before trying.
Can't get onto Jacko's picture because the server doesn't have Flas uploaded.
As for iTunes you must be kidding. Having access to podcasts, that requires something beyond Windows 98, which most of our place is still running on.
Apparently we are one of the only establishments which allows staff and pupils to access web email accounts.
My school outlook express has just binned all my inbox up until yesterday and created a completely new one, but the IT bods say that we shouldn't even be using Outlook Express because its not mail client for networks...and with all this we are expected to come up with innovative uses of IT.

[Floyd Geasland]

Wichita Kansas
1. Yes, but only because I got this address unblocked. Normally no.
2. Yes I can get onto Blogger
3. No unless I submit the address to be unblocked and it is reviewed for content.
4. No video except United Streaming
5. No Flickr
6. The flash page is a yes.
7. Only on the machines that I am an administrator on. Otherwise blocked from access.
8. Not blocked but have been told to avoid because of problems with the attendance software we have.

[Brian Cunningham]

Ewan, I am afraid the manipulation of Jacko cant be done at least in this part of East Lothian. None of the desktops in MGS seem to be able to do it.

Brian

[Matthew Reames]

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (west of London)

1. Yes to reading edublogs.org, not positive about leaving a comment.
2. No to viewing anything on Blogger - the entire domain is blocked.
3. No to viewing anything on wikispaces - the entire domain is blocked.
4. No to anything on GoogleVideo - the entire domain is blocked.
5. No to anything on flickr - the entire domain is blocked.
6. I was able to load the page with Jacko's face but even after saying it was loaded there was nothing to manipulate.
7. The iTunes is accessible but we don't have iTunes installed.
8. No to Google Docs or Google Groups - they both seem to require a secure page (https) which we are not allowed to access.

Since we are not allowed access to anything requiring a secure page (https), that rules out any wikis that I know of (as they require a login) including pbwiki(which is unfortunate since we had started a fairly nice one).

In addition to blocking flickr, our LEA also blocks all Google images (anything with images.google.com in the address).

To top all this off, this week we had an INSET about our new VLE that is supposed to revolutionize our lives and 'make our lives a lot easier'. (Not that the VLE was working for the INSET, mind you.) The problem is that it's all done using FirstClass and it is all structured by someone else which greatly reduces the flexibility for any of us.

I would think allowing us the access to the free sites mentioned above, we'd be far better off...

[Matthew Reames]

As a postscript, I used to have access to flickr until I happened to mention to the LEA ICT Across the Curriculum guy that I was using some of my own travel photos to illustrate maths in real-life. The very next day, all of flickr was blocked.

Repeated requests to have anything unblocked are ignored.

[Kenny]

East Ren:-
1, Edu.blogs is blocked
2. Until recently, so were the blogger comments. However, still can't use the categories, or edit from school
3.Can edit wikispaces and pbwiki
4.No google video, although some pupils know a cheat...
5.No Flickr
6,7 and 8 still to try

I have the same problem getting sites unblocked, www.earthcam.com is a site I have used previously which is now blocked, and despite requests, seems to still be blocked. I was presenting an in-service at school on blogs and wikis, and discovered that wordpress and edublogs were blocked, and could not get the block lifted on edits on blogger. I understand why the authority does this, but made the presentation very difficult-had to record my screen at home.

[Andy Watson]

Aberdeen City

The only things blocked in our schools are sites filtered by RM's SafetyNet so everything mentioned should be available.

On Corporate machines Google Video is blocked and Flickr can only be accessed outside of working hours.

[Lynne]

In Argyll I can do everything except access the video and flickr sites - haven't tried number 8. To use YouTube videos I convert them at home using iTube so I can show the things I want to in school. For sites which are blocked I ask school librarian or technician to send them to service desk to unblock and most times they are able to do this.

[Colarusso]

I can verify that all but 7 are doable from my computer at Broughton HS (Edinburgh). No iTunes here. So, "no comment" on number 7.

However, before you start thinking we're remarkably free, they still insist on blocking the odd site or two. For example, since refresh we can't access YouTube despite the fact I used to us it for class. Go figure.

[Liz O'Neill]

Dumfries and Galloway:

1. No
2. No
3. Y (access)but N (edit).
4. No
5. No
6. Y access but N (image not there)
7. Y

[David Gilmour]

No.6, Jacko's face, perhaps doesn't belong here.

It's been created to showcase the Flash 8 player, so - assuming we can get to it, of course - it's telling us more about what's installed on the computer than what's being actively blocked by the LEA.

And talking of installed software, it's one thing not being quite up-to-date, quite another running software that's so old it's unsupported, like theWindows 98 Adam's having to live with.

[Ewan McIntosh]

I know Flash is an app, like iTunes, but they're pretty essential and if they're not installed you can't access the web - it's effectively a block on a lot of content. If LAs don't have a way of quickly rolling out updates, or aren't working on one, then that's something worth taking into account.

[Liz O'Neill]

Interesting. I had forwarded a list of the sites from home, and I asked a couple of my AH class which one of these they thought I would be able to access from school - we've been discussing content filtration and censorship. They predicted pretty accurately what would be available or not. They told me that anything with Flash 8 -like no 6 -would not be available. They were pretty annoyed about it!
I'm not against blocking sites -understand it's a necessary evil- but we seem to be unwittingly creating a sort of 'Own brand but out of date' version of the Internet in our schools.

[Gill]

Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment. It's much appreciated and is a good snapshot of the situation across the UK. I'd be interested to know if bbc.co.uk is blocked by any LAs!