The New York Times Bits blog reports on changes at internet forum reddit with, Reddit Introduces Anti-Harrassment Policy. Yesterday blog.reddit posted, Promote ideas, protect people explaining updates to their privacy policy and discussing the evolution of the site. reddit found that the absolute openness and anonymity of their format sometimes led to harassment and even to concerns regarding personal safety, thereby limiting some users from expressing their views and discouraging them from sharing the site with others. As this new policy and the Times coverage indicate, reddit has been evolving in recent years and clearly hopes to be known as a place for ideas rather than as a seedy message board. The challenges of a safe space where ideas can be freely explored and debated reminded me of discussions in my Librarianship 101 class. I think reddit’s decision could serve as a great way to spark dialog on the difficulties that come along with the ideals of our profession in many contexts. If you agree and have the opportunity to try this with a group of students, let me know how it goes!

Andre Picard of Canada’s The Globe and Mail wrote this thoughtful discussion of “right to try” laws which mentions Johnson & Johnson’s announcement last week of an ethics panel to deal with such cases. Hat tip to @tbtam for tweeting the Picard Article.

This week the Federal Government said that insurance companies cannot charge for anesthesia in screening colonoscopies (even if polyps are found and removed). More on this from Michelle Andrews of Kaiser Health News here.