08 Nov Can’t open the child-proof pill bottle? Ask a six-year-old for help.

A funny thing happened to Jeff White of the Halifax design group Brightwhite during a well-received traveling seminar sponsored by Economic and Rural Development Nova Scotia last month.

In Guysborough Town, the seminar took place in the local school. All was going well until White began his presentation on social marketing for small business.

[B]ecause we were in a school, all the main social media sites were blocked by the school board firewall! The principal summoned a Grade 7 nerd, who showed me how to bypass the blockage, and off we went.

I’ll seriously never understand why schools do their best to make sure students don’t get to learn and grow as social media becomes more important in our day to day lives. Teach them how to use these tools, don’t prohibit them.

As a commenter on White’s blog points out, the best thing about this story is that the principal knew exactly who in the school community had the chops to circumvent the board’s prissy strictures.

It’s not just schools. I know professional engineers and senior civil servants who can’t get onto social media sites because their IT department knows better than they do what sites they should visit. All they lack is a Grade 7 nerd. White’s presentation is definitely worth a look.