[Air-l] what can/'t you say on a blog

[Rowin Young]

Not a university, but a large company: about a year ago, Waterstone's booksellers here in the UK sacked a member of staff because of their personal blog: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/11/waterstones_blog/.

________________________________

From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org on behalf of Barry Wellman
Sent: Wed 4/19/2006 21:01
To: aoir list
Subject: [Air-l] what can/'t you say on a blog



Shani Orgad asks what can/can't you say on a personal blog.

I can give you two sides to this, both true even if contradictory.

1. If it is at all maintained by the university, the university can have a
right to say No. (Warning: I don't know UK law.) Even if you're using a
university computer, they have a right.

2. OTOH, in my 40 years of experience, many university administrators
don't know the law -- or even their university ethics codes -- and just
assert stuff. So you can always ask them to show you where the law and
code forbids stuff.

It's always better to have a trusted representative working for you on
such matters, especially if they are a knowledgeable greivance officer of
your faculty union or an experienced lawyer in the area -- libel, labour,
etc.

Having given my 2 shillings worth of advice, I must cut and run off to a
conference until May 1. And it is too painful for me even now to discuss
any more the details of my own experience.

Good luck,

 Barry
 _____________________________________________________________________

  Barry Wellman         Professor of Sociology        NetLab Director
  wellman at chass.utoronto.ca  http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman

  Centre for Urban & Community Studies          University of Toronto
  455 Spadina Avenue    Toronto Canada M5S 2G8    fax:+1-416-978-7162

  You're invited to visit -- and contribute to -- my new fun website
 "Updating Cybertimes: It's Time to Bring Our Culture into Cyberspace"
             http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php
 _____________________________________________________________________


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