Thursday, February 28, 2008

No More Blogging on Air Force Networks

The US Air Force has banned all URLs with the word "blog" in it.
Maybe they should add this tidbit of info in their recruiting ads...

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/air-force-banni.html

I think it's interesting that Blogs have become such a central focus point for an institution like the Air Force - kind of surprising to me. It seems that their justification for blocking access to blogs is that they are not media outlets, and should not be read at work. I thought this related well to our class conversations regarding how the Web has changed our notion of what constitutes knowledge. It seems that the Air Force is a bit stuck in the past and hasn't yet embraced the Wikipedia-esque notion of knowledge.

2 comments:

web difference said...

It's alarming that the Air Force would use such a blunt instrument to combat the problem. Evidently some blogs are not workplace appropriate for those working at the Air Force, but blocking all blogs is going way too far. To give just one example, my friend runs a blog called "Fly High, Fly Far" detailing his experiences as an Air Force Navigator. (It's located at http://www.xanga.com/ djaznflush.) As far as I can tell (and I've been reading it for a while), it paints the Air Force in a very positive light. It basically has to be completely positive - if he ever said anything negative, his commanding officer might read it. In addition to some stunning flight photos and interesting training stories, it also describes a recent trip to LA and some other activities that make life in the Air Force seem pretty normal. I can't imagine why the Air Force would not want its members reading a blog like that.

web difference said...

Apparently, this is how governmental bureaucracies respond to new communications technologies in general.

http://www.fedsmith.com/article/1532/

It really is interesting that we trust these employees with some of the most critical aspects of running our country, but forbid them from accessing blogs at work. Ironic?