Wesleyan Web Policy and Guidelines

Introduction

Definitions

Web Administration

Legal and Policy Requirements

Location of Information

Content

Removal

1. Introduction

   The Wesleyan Web Policy and Guidelines defines the roles and obligations of the University, departments, and individuals in presenting material on the Wesleyan Web Site. The ITS Computer Use Policy takes precedence over the Wesleyan Web Policy & Guidelines.

2. Definitions

   Wesleyan Web Server
   The University's official central World Wide Web server is located at the address http://www.wesleyan.edu
   
   Wesleyan Web Site
   The Wesleyan Web Site consists of all information displayed on University servers that are pointed to by the Wesleyan Web Server.
   
   Web site
   A Web site is a group of Web pages structured to provide a coherent body of information about a particular subject.
   
   Web site owner
   The Web site owner is the Department Head or Student Organization Advisor or delegate.
   
   A professional Web site owner is the individual Wesleyan student, faculty, or staff member maintaining a professional Web site.
   
   Web site technical contact
   The technical contact is the person designated by the Web site owner to maintain the Web site.
   
   Home page
   A Home page is the initial page of a Web site, or the initial page of a specific subset of a Web site's information.
   
   

3. Web Administration

   The Wesleyan Web Site is administered by the Web Administrator with the guidance of the Web Steering Committee, of which the Web Administrator is a member.

   • Web Administrator

     The Web Administrator is responsible for ensuring the reliability and general organization of the Wesleyan Web Site. The Web Administrator works with Web site technical contacts and other information providers to maintain the site.

     The Web Administrator will:

     • bring any complaints of policy violation to the attention of the Web  Steering Committee for review

     • bring unreliable (faulty) links and references to the attention of the appropriate Web site technical contact

     • monitor the Wesleyan Web Site for organization and conformity to these guidelines

     • monitor the Wesleyan Web Server for technical problems

   • Web Steering Committee

     The University will maintain a Web Steering Committee responsible for:

     • development and oversight of the Wesleyan Web Policy & Guidelines

     • long-range planning for the Wesleyan Web Site

     • the organization of the Wesleyan Web Site's overall structure

4. Legal and Policy Requirements

   Web site owners are responsible for the content of their Web sites. These responsibilities include ensuring that all online material conforms to local, state, and federal laws including copyright and other intellectual property laws, license agreements, and contracts. Where appropriate, material must be protected from inappropriate access. All online material and conduct must be consistent with University policies and regulations including the ITS Computer Use Policy, which takes precedence over the Wesleyan Web Policy & Guidelines.

   Web sites should not provoke activity that interferes with the primary mission of the University. The Web committee has the right to review any pages or activities that generate network traffic to a degree that deprives other users of their legitimate use of these resources or impedes the efficient operation of the network. Use of Wesleyan's Web resources to promote a commercial venture is specifically prohibited. Users should be wary of posting images or audio of people without their consent or of using information about individuals who do not want the information posted.

5. Location of Information

   The official entry point to the Wesleyan Web Site is through the Wesleyan Web Server located at http://www.wesleyan.edu. It is recommended that all departments/groups contributing to Wesleyan's Web site serve their data from www.wesleyan.edu. Every department and authorized organization on campus can request space on this server.

   University initiatives using software as a solution choosing to run their own Web servers are entirely responsible for all hardware, software, maintenance, backup, and technical support. Server owners must commit to maintaining their Web site to keep it reliably on-line.

6. Content

   All information on the Wesleyan Web site should be accurate, timely, and consistently available.

   All Web Sites

   All websites created, maintained or sponsored by Wesleyan, its departments, programs or administrative units including professional sites for faculty and staff should contain only information that the department or organization is deemed to "own" on behalf of Wesleyan, or is in the public domain, or for which the information's owner has granted permission for its inclusion in the page. Web site owners wishing to provide access to information about other aspects of the University should do so by way of links to pages owned by the appropriate departments or organizations. The Web site owner has overall responsibility for all content and links from the site. The owner may designate a file administrator who will be the technical contact for the site.

   All department, program and administrative unit web pages must clearly display:

   1. the University standard Navigation which includes:

      • • the University logo linked to the Wesleyan homepage
        • the standard University links and search
        • the standard university navigation
   2. department name

   All professional web pages must clearly display:

   • • • the University logo linked to the Wesleyan homepage
       • the standard University links and search
       • the standard university navigation

   --or--

   • • • the Wesleyan logo and a link to the Wesleyan homepage
       • in a prominent location at the top of each page
       • the logo must be at least xxxpx wide

   It is at the discretion of the Department Web site owner to approve any links. It is the responsibility of the Department Web site owner to ensure the removal of any link determined, after appropriate investigation, to violate any local, state, or federal law or University policy.

   Personal Web sites

   Wesleyan faculty, staff, and students may maintain personal Web sites. Individuals are solely responsible for their sites' content and adherence to all policies stated in this document and all other University policies.

7. Social Media

   University departments and organizations, as part of their networking, communication and promotion strategy, may use social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  All social media channels must display a Wesleyan branded profile icon obtained from University Communications.  Each account should adopt the proper channel title syntax for branding consistency.

8. Removal

   Wesleyan does not intend to actively monitor the contents of Web pages. However, the University reserves the right to remove materials that violate these guidelines or the ITS Computer Usage Policy, to disable links, and to impose charges for expenses incurred in such disabling and/or removal.