We, too, enjoy cooperative, genial faculty and staff. It builds
stronger relationships with the people we serve when we're respectful
of people's personal "digital space," whether asking if we can
"drive" when showing them something with the keyboard/mouse or
utilizing remote support tools.
That said, we need to remind a few folks now and then that the
computers belong to the school. We strongly discourage using school
owned computers for doing personal business of the sort that might
prompt someone to become uncomfortable about our remotely accessing
"their" computer (which I call "the computer you typically use for
work"). Occasionally, employees have boundary issues, but mostly it
seems to happen when they retain habits formed when school was the
only place they had access to computers, the Internet, and email, or
because they are still in this situation.
Our AUP contains similar language to yours about monitoring, and
includes a statement that sets a privacy expectation appropriate for
an enterprise level networked computing environment. Its terms also
make some allowance for personal use, but states that with respect to
this issue that "Laboratory Schools employees' use of computing
resources is expected to reflect appropriate standards for
professional conduct as determined by your supervisor or as specified
in your contract."
As for your second question, mandating monitor placement penalizes
employees who use school resources appropriately. The costs in terms
of trust and relationship building far outweigh the benefits of
keeping an eye on the few folks in your building who don't control
their eBay habit during work hours (plus it would just drive the
behavior further underground - cat and mouse would begin in earnest).
We usually know who these folks are anyway -- here, they get far more
spam than anyone else and exceed email quotas often.
Now I'll send this post and see how many spring break out of office
replies we get ;-)
Curt Lieneck
Director of Information Technology
The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
1362 E. 59th St.
Chicago IL 60637
Voice: 773.834.1863
Fax: 773.702.8480
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