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Web Management Policy
Background
Due to the increasing size and complexity
of the Skidmore College Web site, it is useful to clarify roles
and responsibilities for the creation and maintenance of College
Web pages.
Skidmore’s Web site continues to grow at a remarkable rate,
with current page totals in excess of 30,000. Departments and
programs, as well as students, faculty and staff throughout
the College, have developed Web presences on Skidmore servers.
As this presence grows, so does the amount of residual data
left behind along with out-of-date and unkempt pages.
Usage statistics show a substantial increase in the number of
users accessing Skidmore’s Web site. Given this growth and
activity, it is important that the College have a policy to
guide Web development and use and to help eliminate excess files
and ensure that pages are kept up to date.
In response to this need, the following Web policy has been
prepared and endorsed by the Office of College Relations and
CITS. Anyone having questions related to the policy and/or its
implementation should contact Skidmore’s webmaster.
Policy Implementation
The College Relations Web Team is responsible
for implementing and administering this policy in consultation
with the IRC Web Working Group. The Web Team will review the
policy as new technologies evolve.
Definitions
College Web Pages are those pages acknowledged
by a College office or academic department as official information
about that unit of the College. Typical pages include descriptions
of a major, office procedures, staff lists, forms associated
with that unit, and similar material.
Course Web Pages support a specific academic course. These may
include the syllabus, assigned readings, online exercises, and
related materials.
Scholarship Pages are those pages containing faculty/staff research,
writing, and creative works relating to their roles at the College.
Personal Pages are all other pages. They include, for example,
pages relating to hobbies, personal interests, and opinions.
Guidelines
for College Web Pages
Skidmore College owns all College Web
pages and their components. Individuals or external consultants
may create the pages, but the College retains the copyright
and may use or modify the pages as needed.
Each office or department is responsible for maintaining the
accuracy and timeliness of the College Web pages associated
with that unit. Each office or department will designate an
individual to serve as the primary contact responsible for the
College Web pages associated with that unit. This person will
approve all information pertaining to that unit and has the
primary responsibility for updating page contents. This person
may delegate work to others but retains responsibility for the
accuracy and timeliness of page content.
The department chair or office director will inform the Web
Team of the designated contact for that unit and adjust that
designation on a timely basis to accommodate personnel changes,
sabbaticals, and other workload modifications.
College Web pages are encouraged to adopt a page layout consistent
with the prevailing College design standards or templates.
The Web Team, in consultation with College officials, has the
right to review, update, or remove College Web pages that are
obsolete, inaccurate or otherwise misrepresent the College and
its mission. Wherever possible, the Web Team will assist units
in developing effective designs and will inform the appropriate
offices and individuals of all actions taken in their behalf.
College Web pages must always be stored within the /www directory
tree. They may never be stored in the Web sites of individual
users or stored on off-campus servers without prior consultation
with the Web Team.
Guidelines
for Course Pages and Scholarship Pages
Course and scholarship Web pages are
normally owned by the scholars whose work they present. If page
development is delegated to a student assistant or employee,
ownership of the information remains with the instructor or
principal scholar. Academic departments are encouraged to maintain
an archive of the pages in order to document their academic
activities and course offerings.
These pages should adopt a design that is distinctly different
from the College Web pages. Similarly, the authors must obtain
permission from the College Relations Office before using the
official College wordmark, seal, logo, or other College trademarks
on the pages. These pages should include links back to the Skidmore
home page and the department home page, if applicable. The
Web Team generally does not normally review or edit course and
scholarship pages except as requested by the individual owners
or in response to specific complaints.
Guidelines
for Personal Web Pages
Personal Web pages are always owned
by their individual authors. The College does not review their
content or presentation except as needed to implement this policy.
Individual owners are responsible for assuring that their pages
conform to current law, including copyright restrictions, as
well as campus rules and conduct standards.
Personal pages may never use the College logo or wordmarks in
their design, and they must avoid any layout that can be confused
with the other classes of Web pages. CITS may impose restrictions
on personal sites that are unusually large, create unusual resource
demands, or otherwise compromise the integrity of the College’s
technology services.
Special Situations
Professional
groups: The College Web site may be used to host nonprofit
professional associations whose activities are consistent with
the overall College mission. Hosting can take either of two
forms:
Personal: An individual can host
the professional group’s pages within his or her personal Web
space. No special authorization or notification is needed.
Departmental: The department
chair or office director may sponsor the group’s pages within
the Web space for that unit.
In either case, there must always be
a Skidmore employee who maintains these pages and who assumes
responsibility for assuring that the pages remain timely and
conform to current legal and technical standards.
Since Skidmore provides free hosting to these professional group
pages, the group should include links from their site back to
the Skidmore home page and any appropriate academic departments
or offices.
The College Web site may never be used for political solicitations,
commercial businesses, or to host professional groups who activities
are unrelated to the College’s mission. In case of dispute,
the appropriate dean or vice-president will decide on the appropriateness
of the hosting.
Student Organizations: Student
organizations’ Web pages will be treated like personal pages,
with the sole exception that their files may be stored within
the main server directories (e.g. /www/studentorgs). In cases
of dispute, the dean of student affairs will have the final
decision on whether a group of individuals constitutes a student
organization. The student organization pages are owned by the
current officers of that group. The officers are responsible
for the accuracy and currency of the organization’s pages.
Student organizations must adopt a Web page design that is distinctly
different from the College Web pages. The Web Team plays no
role in defining the content for these pages, nor is it responsible
for maintaining them.
Provenance
Drafted and adopted by IRC Web Working Group (4/2002)
Revised and approved by IRC (5/2002)
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Creative Thought Matters.
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