Content Ratings
How is Content Rated?
At its core, the DrawBridge filter engine classifies text into categories. But what kind of categories? And what do those categories represent? DrawBridge uses a rating system to depict the tone of a category and represent it visually.
But what kind of rating system? Unlike other content filters, DrawBridge does not rate content by who it is appropriate for - as in Everyone / Teens / Adults - instead representing where it is appropriate. The rating names are drawn from the concept of particulate filtering - how fine or coarse is the filter mesh that would permit the content to get through.
A key assumption is that the Internet most frequently is being used in a business or workplace context, facilitating the everyday tasks of research, transactions, and commerce. Usage reports are colorized according to the Category Ratings of the content that was accessed.
Below is a list of rating definitions that DrawBridge uses to filter all content. Just like a physical particulate filter, the goal is that appropriate content will pass through untouched while inappropriate content gets removed or blocked by the filter.
Ratings
The Base Rating is the most general grade, including categories like Search Engines or Technology Services. Any more specific category and rating would be preferred. For example, it's great to know that a body of text is about Search Engines, but it's even better to know what is being searched for.
The Silt Rating is expected usage in the workplace environment. While not every workplace will commonly access every category in the Silt Rating, any given user in the business environment will periodically need most categories found here.
It is recommended that all categories in the Silt Rating be "allowed" in the workplace, although policies can be created to limit access to given devices.
The Sand Rating will still be frequently used in the workplace environment, although the industry type will very much determine how much categories in Sand Rating are accessed.
Categories in the Sand Rating can "allowed" or "blocked" per the business owner's preferences or the preferences established by the Accountability Policy.
The Pebble Rating contains categories that generally fall outside the workplace, while remaining universally pertinent to other areas of life, such as Medical, News, Clothing, etc.
Categories in the Pebble Rating can be "allowed" or "blocked" per the business owner's preferences or the preferences established by the Accountability Policy.
The Stone Rating contains categories that are increasingly beyond the scope of any type of workplace, reaching more into popular culture and society at large.
Categories in the Stone Rating will typically be blocked by most business owners and school administrators.
The Rock Rating contains categories that tend to represent the rougher edges of popular culture and general society. It may be that in corner cases of research or counseling that these categories can be legitimately accessed, but this is considered far outside the normal.
Categories in the Rock Rating will typically be blocked by all business owners and school administrators.
The Boulder Rating contains categories that represent the "redlight" district of the internet. These categories cannot be enabled in the Redwood Console even by super administrators.
Categories in the Boulder Rating are always blocked.
Some organizations and businesses will need access to content that is outside of the usual filtering defaults. That is why we have designed DrawBridge with powerful flexibility and customization options to meet your specific filtering needs.
Note: Certain categories are always blocked, and cannot be allowed.
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