| Title: | UConn Web Policy |
|---|---|
| Policy Owner: | Information Technology Services |
| Applies to: | Faculty, Staff, Students |
| Campus Applicability: | All departments at all campuses except UConn Health |
| Effective Date: | February 24, 2009 |
| For More Information, Contact | ITS |
| Contact Information: | (860) 486-4357 |
| Official Website: | https://its.uconn.edu/ |
Background and Reason for the Policy: The University of Connecticut’s World Wide Web presence is increasingly an important method for communicating with students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and friends of the University. As the role of the Web expands, it is essential that there be clear guidelines regarding the creation and maintenance of University websites.
Creativity and diversity are important components of an academic community – however, through the establishment of an identity program in 1998, the University of Connecticut has made a significant commitment to its existence and image as “one university.”
Purpose of Policy: The purpose of this policy is to provide clarification of standards, consistent with Federal, State and University laws and policies, for displaying information on any official University website that is accessed or pointed to through the main University website.
Expected Institutional Outcome:Adherence to this policy will result in a University web presence that provides important University information for effectively communicating with varied audiences while providing a consistent University image and remaining in compliance with Federal, State and University laws and policies.
Applicability of Policy: This policy applies to all developers of University of Connecticut web pages
Definitions:
University website: The University website comprises the main University website (www.uconn.edu) and the publicly-accessible homepages and websites of departments, offices, and other units of the University.
Main University website: The main University website is located at www.uconn.edu and is managed by University Communications.
Official University websites: Official University of Connecticut websites are those that have been sponsored by the University of Connecticut, whether they are stored on the University’s central server or on a University distributed server.
Official University webpages: Official University of Connecticut webpages are those that have been created by the University, its campuses, colleges, schools, departments or other administrative units, for University business. Official University webpages clearly convey a relationship to the entire University and support and advance the University’s mission.
Unofficial websites: Websites that are hosted but not sponsored by the University of Connecticut. The University of Connecticut does not endorse, regulate or maintain the contents of these sites, nor does it accept responsibility for the information contained in these websites.
Unofficial webpages: Individual webpages created by faculty, staff, students or student organizations. The University of Connecticut does not endorse, regulate or maintain the contents of these pages, nor does it accept responsibility for the information contained in these webpages.
Please see the links below for policies that complement the University of Connecticut Website Policy:
Electronic Privacy and Disclaimer Notice
Policy Statement: The rights of academic freedom and freedom of expression apply to the University website. However, all Official University websites must adhere to all applicable Federal and State statutes and University policies, including the University’s Acceptable Use policy.
Per a March, 2007 directive by the President’s Office, all Official University webpages must adhere to University Web Standards developed in collaboration by University Communications and ITS. These standards, as well as technical resources, are defined at the WebTools website. In addition, all Official University webpages must clearly convey a relationship to the entire University and adhere to the University Logos and Graphic Standards.
The University Web Standards do not apply to password-protected University web applications.
Responsibilities:
The Chief Information Officer has overall responsibility for this policy.
University Communications is responsible for overseeing the content and design of the main University website and for maintaining and publishing the University Web Standards.
The University’s webmanager in the Office of University Communications is responsible for approving all links to the main University website based upon the linked site’s adherence to this policy.
A department head or equivalent administrator will be considered the “owner” of a unit’s website and will be responsible for the overall function of the information it contains and for the adherence of its website to this policy.
A technical contact (webmaster, webmanager or site administrator) must be appointed by the website owner to maintain the website and its data. This technical contact will be the unit’s website administrator. The functions of the website administrator include:
- Adhering to University website policies and regulations, along with any additional department policies and procedures;
- Keeping the website consistently on-line and available to users;
- Implementing and maintaining the website software and the hardware, if maintaining their own server, including providing security for and integrity of the data; and
- Staying informed with respect to changes to website policies and University Web Standards.
Deans, directors and department heads may, at their discretion, permit individuals from their unit to display personal home pages through the department’s home page. However, if a personal website is found to be in violation of University or other appropriate policies, regulations or laws, the link from the department’s website may be removed until the issue is addressed.
Enforcement and Review:
The University reserves the right to deny publication or to remove from display any information that is considered inconsistent with published policies and practices.
Requests for exemption to this policy should be directed to University Communications, accompanied by written justification for the exemption request.
This policy and the University Web Standards will be reviewed on a bi-annual basis.