Administrative Policies

Three groups will play key roles in the University of Central Arkansas' Web site development and oversight. Day-to-day operations are managed by (1) the Director of Web Development and (2) Computing Services. The (3) Web Advisory Council advises the Director of Web Development on the site design and is charged with oversight of policy-related issues.

I. Web Advisory Council

Mission:

The Web Advisory Council's role is to recommend policy regarding all Web pages stored on any university-owned or leased machine and sites linked to the university's Web site, and to resolve disputes regarding Web related issues and Web page content.

The Council also recommends standards, ensures that there is an ongoing process of review of Web content and adherence to these standards, hears grievances and makes recommendations regarding action to the appropriate person(s) regarding policy deviation.

Council Membership:

The Web Advisory Council consists of members representing faculty, staff, students and administration, as proposed by the Director of Web Development. The General Counsel will act in an advisory capacity to the Director of Web Development and the Web Advisory Council.

Reporting:

The Director of Web Development will serve as chair.

Responsibilities:

The Council, acting as a review group, will (1) approve policies related to the ongoing evolution of the university's Web presence and (2) evaluate disputes on Web use and content. The Director of Web Development is responsible for content and image of the university pages, and will serve as a liaison to computing services for matters pertaining to technical issues and access.

II. Web Page Levels of Content and Responsibility

Web pages are classified as university, departmental, and individual pages.

1. University Web pages contain official university information and are in direct support of the university's mission. Examples include but are not limited to the viewbook, catalog, faculty/student handbook, university directory and information about the campus, financial aid, admissions and institutional advancement. The Director of Web Development shall have final approval of all content on these pages.

All information not found in university Web pages is unofficial information and cannot be claimed as official university policy.

2. Departmental Web pages include information encouraged by the university but maintained by individual university departments. All departmental Web pages are in direct support of the university's mission. Examples include but are not limited to academic departments, student services, campus events, athletics, administration, and other informational resources. These pages are maintained by Information Content Providers (ICP) in each department with technical services support as needed from the Director of Web Development. Templates and an image bank are made available on the Web by the office of Web Development to help departments with the construction of their pages. The office of Web Development strongly encourages the use of these templates. Information on these pages is the responsibility of the department head/chair and their ICP. Departments are encouraged to conform to applicable university Web design standards.
3. Individual Web pages are pages sponsored and maintained by members of the university faculty, staff and students. Information on these pages is the responsibility of the individual. Individuals are encouraged to conform to applicable university Web design standards. Information on individual Web pages is solely generated and maintained by the author. Individual Web pages are the creative, intellectual, and personal property of the individual author. Individuals must maintain backup files. The university is not responsible for any corrupted, lost, or otherwise damaged files. The university may remove Web pages if the individuals are no longer affiliated with the university.

III. Use of University Web Pages

University and departmental Web pages must be informative and consistent with the mission of the University of Central Arkansas. University policies and regulations must be adhered to. The university Web servers may not be used for any activity prohibited by law.

Any person or group authoring Web pages must be aware of and follow university policies regarding confidentiality, harassment and computer usage. University ICPs cannot use copyrighted images, text, or software without permission.

University and departmental pages are intended to communicate information about the university and must not represent the personal views of an individual. Appropriate material for inclusion in these pages includes:

• policy documents, reports, procedures
• course descriptions, schedules and syllabii
• instructional materials
• tutorials
• computing and library guides
• campus calendars and announcements of events
• descriptions of available services and resources

Individual pages must conform to university policies contained in this document. Use of individual pages for illegal and/or commercial purposes is prohibited. Individuals are expected to comply with relevant university policies, state and federal law, and any relevant licensing agreements.

Material may not be included on university, departmental and individual Web pages if it:

• is in violation of federal and state law
• is derogatory or libelous to groups or individuals
• is of a confidential nature
• infringes upon the rights of another person
• is abusive, profane, or sexually offensive in the opinions of the majority of the Web
• Advisory Council
• includes information which may injure someone else and/or lead to a lawsuit or criminal charges including pirated software, destructive software, pornographic materials, libelous statements or terrorist restrictions
• includes advertisements for commercial products, enterprises or services not pertaining to the University of Central Arkansas

IV. Links from Web Pages

The university reserves the right to disable and/or remove the Web page links as well as publishing capability and privileges on university-managed servers of anyone who uses the Internet to violate university policy or to conduct or promote activities which are illegal or violate university obligations. These links and publishing privileges may be re-established following a review process. Disputes will be reviewed by the Web Advisory Council.

1. University Official Pages

The University of Central Arkansas has only one official university Home Page, with links to official university Web pages. The official university Home Page and other official Web pages are reviewed and approved by the Director of Web Development. Links from these official pages are the responsibility of and are approved by the Director of Web Development.

2. Departmental Web Pages

Each department has only one departmental Home Page, with links to other departmental Web pages.

Links from the departmental Home Page and departmental Web pages are the responsibility of the department chairperson and/or the departmental ICP. The top of each departmental Home Page must have a link to the departmental disclaimer. The bottom of each Departmental Home Page must contain a link to the University's Official Home Page and a mail-to address link. The bottom of all other departmental Web pages must contain the following three links: (1) to the Departmental Page Disclaimer, (2) to the Departmental Home Page, and (3) a mail-to address.

3. Individual Faculty and Staff Web Pages

Departments wishing to include individual faculty and staff Web pages must include a directory with the individual page disclaimer for individuals' home pages.

The top of the individual's home page must contain the Individual Page Disclaimer in full text. The bottom of the individual's home page must contain a link to the department's home page, or the university's official home page if a departmental home page does not exist, and a mail-to address link. The bottom of all other individual Web pages must contain the following three links: (1) to the individual page disclaimer, (2) to the individual home page, and (3) a mail-to address. A directory of individual faculty and staff home pages will be maintained within the official university Web pages. This directory has the University Web disclaimer at the top.

4. Student Organization and Individual Student Web Pages

A separate server will be maintained for editing and publishing of home pages of individual students and student organizations.

A directory of student organizations and student Webpages will be made available. This page will contain the individual disclaimer at the top and all subsequent pages will also contain the individual disclaimer.

V. University Disclaimers

All disclaimers and links to disclaimers must be readable by a text-only browser.

1. Official university Web pages do not require a disclaimer. Official university Web pages will contain a logo or other marking to indicate their official status.

2. The alphabetical listing of departmental pages (A-Z index) will have the following Departmental Page Disclaimer at the top:

It is the policy of the university to abide by and follow federal and state laws. Although individual departments provide the information found on these pages, the university reserves the right to ensure that such information is consistent with its stated mission.

3. All alphabetical directories of Individual Web pages have a disclaimer at the top stating the following Individual Page Disclaimer:

It is the policy of university to abide by and follow federal and state laws. The personal pages of UCA's students, faculty and staff represent individual views and do not necessarily reflect the views and/or policies of the university. The university is not responsible for the content of these pages or any links that you may follow from this server beyond this point.

VI. Department and Individual Web Servers

The University of Central Arkansas maintains the university's Official Home Page on a specified server. All official university information is maintained on this server. The content is indexed and searchable.

Departmental, faculty and staff information is also maintained on the official server. However, departments and individuals may elect to run Web servers on other computers instead. In this case, the departmental ICP or other specified individual may request that a link be established from the official server to a remote, on-campus server.

To qualify for such a link, all applicable content and design standards must be followed. Also, the server must be up and running 24 hours a day. It must have a permanent IP address assigned to it. In addition, backups must be maintained by the individual or by the department so that service can be restored if necessary. Links from the official server are subject to removal if the department or individual server is unstable, out of service or not in compliance with university policy. Links from the official server will not be established to student Web pages on servers located off campus.

Web services on all remote, on-campus servers must adhere to all applicable content and design standards as specified in this document. Appropriate disclaimers must also be included. The university reserves the right to remove remote, on-campus services which do not comply with these standards regardless of whether links have been established from the official server.

Web content of remote, on-campus servers is not included in the search engine found on the official home page. Web pages on these machines, however, may of course be indexed by search engines on the Internet.

VII. University Web Review Policy

The official Web home page or other prominent official Web page(s) must contain an e-mail link to the Director of Web Development.

Challenges to the posting of a Web page developed by a university student, staff, or faculty and linked to the university Web pages must be addressed to the Director of Web Development. If the Director of Web Development concludes that there is a likely violation of the acceptable use policy, the Director of Web Development will sever the links between university-affiliated Web pages and the Web page in question. If warranted in extreme situations, immediate action to temporarily discontinue network services to the specified individual prior to the review process may be taken.

If the author disputes this action, the Director of Web Development will convene a meeting between the author of the Web page in question, a representative from her/his constituency, and the department chair. At this meeting, the participants will resolve the issue by either deciding that the challenge does not warrant a change in the Web page, modifying the Web page, removing university links to the Web page, or removing the Web page from university servers.

If there is no unanimous resolution from this meeting, the Director of Web Development will call a meeting of the entire council for deliberation. Action on Web page review shall be determined by majority vote in the Web Advisory Council.

VIII. Procedure for Requesting Access

Departments and/or individuals seeking to publish on the university Web server must complete an authorization form and submit it to the Director of Web Development. The only purpose of the authorization form is to verify that the proposing department chair/designee or author has read and is aware of the policies set forth by the Web Advisory Council. The authorization form will be available through the Director of Web Development.

Internet Content Providers (ICPs) must abide by the Computer Use Policy set forth by Computing Services.

1. University Web pages which contain official university information are handled by The Director of Web Development who is responsible for content and image and who serves as a liaison to Computing Services on matters concerning technical issues and access. Departmental pages are the responsibility of departmental ICPs. Each ICP is to request a departmental directory and an account from the Director of Web Development who will forward a copy of the request to Computing Services. Individual staff and faculty obtain accounts through their departmental ICPs who request accounts on the Web server from the Director of Web Development who will forward a copy of the request to Computing Services. Individual students may request accounts by contacting the Director of Web Development.
2. Web pages stored on remote on-campus servers and linked to the university Web pages are the responsibility of the department which maintains the server.

DEFINITIONS

Home page

Initial, entry, identifying page of a collection of pages for the university, individual departments, or individuals.

Internet Content Provider

An individual selected to be responsible for authoring Web pages for a university department, program or organization.

Official server

The server maintained by the university which contains the official University information.

On-campus, remote servers

All Web servers on campus, other than the official server

System Administrator

Computing Services person who is responsible for the technical management of the university network.

Departmental Page Disclaimer

The standard disclaimer statement that must appear at the top of each university departmental home page.

University Individual Disclaimer

The standard disclaimer statement that must appear at the top of each individual home page.

Director of Web Development

Full-time university staff person that works closely with the Web Advisory Council and Computing Services to assist individuals to identify Web uses and material for inclusion among the university Web pages. This person also has overall responsibility for providing directory and access privileges on the official server and authorizes new links.

Web Pages

Pages developed by university students, staff, and faculty and linked directly or indirectly to a home page.

ATTACHMENT

Authorization Form

Departments and/or individuals seeking to publish on the university Web server must complete this form and submit it to the Director of Web Development in Buffalo Alumni Hall. The only purpose of this authorization form is to verify that the proposing department designee or author has read and is aware of the policies set forth by the Web Advisory Council.

PLEASE PRINT

_________________________________________

Name
_________________________________________

Title
__________________________________________

Department
__________________________________________

Phone Extension

Web Page type:

• Department Web Page
• Individual Web Page

I have received, read and understand the policies set forth by the Web Advisory Council, on behalf of the University of Central Arkansas. I agree that the Web page(s) I create will abide by these policies.

___________________________________________
Signature Date

___________________________________________
Director of Web Development Date

Copy of this form sent to Data Center on____________

URL of Home Page ____________________________

GUIDELINES

Web Page Content

1. Official University Web Pages

Suggestions, changes, additions, and/or updates of official University information are made by contacting the Director of Web Development

2. Departmental Web Pages

When writing departmental Web pages, the following points must be kept in mind:

1. How to represent the university department to the world. What department information must be shared with the world? What department information would be interesting and informative to potential Web surfers? Which Web technologies to use in creating the departmental Web page(s)? In what creative ways can the department information be displayed? Can the department template, provided by the office of Web Development, be utilized?
2. Suggested items to include:

• overview; key benefits; distinctions; major/minor information; courses; faculty credentials, publications, and areas of research and expertise; recognitions; grants for special projects; office hours and tutoring schedules; selected student achievements senior project descriptions; related student clubs and activities; upcoming special lectures and/or presentations; summer research opportunities; career and graduate school information;
• alumni status and/or quotes.

Web Page Guidelines

When planning and constructing a Web page, the department chair and/or ICP must keep the following in mind:

• review policies set forth by the Web Advisory Council; compile all desired text materials; plan a logical order of presentation (hierarchy); associate with text any graphics, audio and/or video pieces; create page(s); identify all necessary links to other pages;
• save all original information to disk for backup.

The department chair and/or ICP needs to review the Webpages for:

• accurate information
• correct grammar
• printable and readable hypertext
• correct linkage.

Comments and suggestions about Administrative Policies are appreciated.
Administrative Policy contents comments to: Susan Lilly, SusanL@uca.edu