86th chat, Monday July 24 2017: net neutrality
11am Pacific / noon Mountain / 1pm Central / 2pm Eastern

moderated by @mfgaede @bembrarian
Storify (pdf, html) by @mfgaede

This chat is based around net neutrality, primarily focusing on the context of recent governmental decisions/stances and organizational responses regarding net neutrality laws, with net neutrality literacy and net neutrality education being primary themes/talking points. The goal of this chat is to show what libraries are actively doing and thinking now, and what next steps are needed to follow-up on these issues.

As an extension of December 2015’s “Privacy Education in Libraries” #critlib chat, we will also continue to gauge where libraries stand on privacy education, patron data, and vendor/technology relationships (and their transparency or lack thereof).

Suggested resources:

• Net Neutrality Overview, Vox, May 21 2015
• The FCC’s new net neutrality rules, explained in 172 seconds Vox, February 26, 2015 (3 minute video)
• A Timeline of Net Neutrality
• Join the Fast Lane
• ALA Statement on Net Neutrality

Discussion questions:

• Q1. How does net neutrality relate to equity and how is it a social justice issue? #critlib
• Q2. What is/should be libraries/library workers’ role(s) in the conversation about net neutrality? #critlib
• Q3. What are effective resources for exploring/explaining net neutrality that have you have successfully shared in your library? #critlib
• Q4. How do you balance providing service, using patron data for better service, and protecting users’ privacy? #critlib
• Q5. How is data valued at your library? Do you know what your vendors do with your data? Do these factors affect vendor choice? #critlib

Additional resources:

• Mozilla’s statement on Net Neutrality
• A Brief, Strange History of Net Neutrality. Los Angeles Times, May 3 2017.
• Public Knowledge on Net Neutrality
• The Battle for the Net
• #critlib on Privacy Education in Libraries (December 2015)