I receive NCTE’s INBOX, a weekly email regularly filled with links to sites that require registration to access articles. In the past, I’ve angrily closed the browser window to that site, refusing to give my private information away. I hate registering with Web sites so much that I’m willing to miss out on good content in order to keep my private information secure and, as a result, I surely miss out on a good articles that are hidden behind a registration wall. Parents would expect me to be just as protective of information on students in my classroom, but I don’t want to close the door to the wealth of information that is available online. While writing a previous post, another site popped up that solves this problem.
Researching? Reading? REGISTER!
Imagine that students are doing research online. This is a good thing and provides the opportunity for students to experience a greater online world than the usual one they inhabit. They move from site to site, gathering data and accurately recording information for a list of works cited. But they hit a roadblock when a link to what seems to be the perfect article about their topic is really a link to a registration page. Suddenly, their research comes to a halt as the students decide whether or not to go through the lengthy process.
Or maybe you’ve found an interesting article at the New York Times Web site that you want your students to read. You came across the article because you registered with the NYT Web site years ago, but your students haven’t so they can’t see what you want them to.
Their research and their reading may be stymied due to sites requiring registration to access their files. Registration is free, but they do collect a certain amount of private information in the registration process. Is it worth registering? Do I really need to look at that archived story on the LA Times site? Will this research on edweek.org add to my paper? Relax, weary internet traveler.
They Say, “Bypass Compulsory Web Registration”
BugMeNot generates login information for you, relieving you of the tedious and invasive task of registering at countless sites. No longer question if registration is worth the information on the other side. A quick trip to BugMeNot and you are as good as registered, without telling anyone your birthday, sex, home address, mother’s maiden name, or the answer to your “secret question.”
If BugMeNot’s login information doesn’t work, just click on “This Login Didn’t Work” and try the next one or the next or the next. If you have login information you’d like to share with the rest of the world, “I Want To Add My Own” lets you give back to the community.
Given the rising concerns about keeping identity as private as possible, students using this site instead of giving away their personal information through some form of registration makes sense. It saves time, too; those registration pages can be complicated and take time to process. Imagine everyone in your class through the registration in one minute or less.
Combined with using Mailinator for email, students may never have to disclose personal information online again.
1. Debbie says:
[10/6/2005 - 6:27 pm]
Let me know if you want something through NCTE’s weekly mailing. I’ve registered for many of those websites because I don’t care that much.
Have you ever read the YA book Feed? Kind of… disturbing.