Georgia Perimeter College - OIT

Handbook for Standards and Guidelines for Web Publishing

OFFICIAL WEB PAGE PROCEDURE

Official Web Pages provide information relating to an office, department, center or other official services or functional unit of Georgia Perimeter College (known hereafter as GPC). The content of official web pages and pages that are linked to them should be consistent with the mission and goals of the GPC web pages and with the mission, goals, initiatives and image of GPC.

Responsibility:

Office of Information Technology, REducational Technologies Department (OIT/ET): Organizational structure and management of the site should be established and maintained by the Office of Information Technology (OIT), REducational Technologies (ET) Department. OIT/ET maintains ultimate responsibility for all aspects of the site including determination of proper placement within the hierarchical structure. Although OIT/ET may not be the office of origin of all information contained in the college web site, it is OIT/ET’s responsibility to ensure that the college personnel and other individuals follow established policies and procedures. Neither OIT/ET nor the Office of Public Relations have the institutional responsibility to review content of any properly submitted individual document prior to posting to the College’s web server, except insofar as necessary to insure that technical and web page procedures and policy compliance are followed. Nevertheless, the College reserves the right to remove from its server(s) any materials that are outdated, not properly maintained, or not in compliance with established policies and technical standards including the GPC WWW Style Guide. OIT/ET may also remove materials that are deemed erroneous, misleading, illegal, potentially illegal or detrimental to the mission or operations of GPC. OIT/ET reserves the right to remove the GPC logo from any document.

Offices, Departments, Centers, or other official services or functional units

are responsible for the content, links, and graphics on official Web pages that contain information about their units. All pages must be submitted along with departmental head signature of approval for posting to the GPC web site. Individual areas must submit a name of a designated individual responsible for insuring that official Web pages are consistent with GPC web procedures and College policies and with applicable laws. This person will be responsible for overseeing that the individual area’s web page information is current and the graphics, design, and style are in accordance with the currently published Style Guide. This person will also insure that links to outside institutions and other pages on the GPC server are appropriate, up to date, and follow GPC established procedures and policies and applicable laws. This person will be listed in the OIT/ET office as the official contact person designee for individual units.

Visual Identity

• The GPC web site should present the user with an aesthetically pleasing and uniform environment, information that is current and easy to navigate and a site that is constructed with the user in mind. The visual elements of the GPC web site should be consistent with the guidelines established for the College by the Office of OIT/ET and Public Relations. In addition, graphics that reflect the College’s current recruitment and/or marketing materials may be updated periodically thereby creating a consistent look among these major tools of communication.

• Guidelines for creating official GPC web pages will be published in the GPC WWW Style Guide. The Office of Public Relations and OIT/ET will collaboratively prepare the GPC WWW Style Guide to contain design and technical specifications. Design elements to be included within the Style Guide will include, but are not limited to format, color scheme, required components, aesthetic guidelines, allowable fonts/graphics and elements to avoid. Technical elements to be included within the Style Guide will include, but are not limited to size of pages/graphics, efficiency of pages, browser considerations, structural considerations and advanced technical considerations/guidelines.

Content

• Responsible content allows for academic freedom and personal expression but also must observe all GPC policies and procedures and relevant laws, regulations, and contractual obligations of the College.

• Use of Copyrighted or Licensed Material is not allowed without the written permission of the licensing party or copyright holder. Furthermore, all use of copyrighted material must be in accordance with the Regents Guide to Understanding Copyright and Educational Fair Use.

• Textual and graphical content within an official web page may not contain any textual or graphical material that is uncharacteristic of the GPC mission, goals, and initiatives, is offensive to any user, or would be unfavorably viewed by the public.

• OIT/ET reserves the right to remove from the College server web pages that in its sole discretion believes to violate the College Acceptable Use Policy, College policies and procedures, or has potential to harm the College’s network or user’s systems. OIT/ET may remove any page from the College server that is in violation of any applicable laws or has the potential to violate any of the above.

• Commercial content or advertising links used for a personal business, in return for any compensation, or for financial gain unrelated to GPC academic endeavors are not allowed to reside or to be published from the College’s server unless otherwise approved by the President’s Office.

Submission, Support and Training

• OIT/ET will provide training to faculty and staff to facilitate individual departmental/instructional publishing.

• OIT will provide support and assistance in the form of a Help Desk to staff, faculty, and students.

• Submission of web pages for posting must be submitted to the OIT/ET office for initial approval. OIT/ET will review the pages for compliance with established policies and procedures and Style Guide.

Compliance with ADA Guidelines

Official web pages must allow readability access for the disabled. To insure accessibility, pages may be scanned at www.cast.org/bobby. Pages must pass all Priority One items to be considered ADA compliant. Pages should be reviewed and rescanned regularly to assure compliance is maintained.

FACULTY, STAFF, AND STUDENT ORGANIZATION WEB PAGE PROCEDURE

Faculty and staff web pages are not considered official GPC web pages but are extensions of the GPC web site. GPC supports academic freedom; however, authors must insure that their Web pages are consistent with GPC’s image and academic mission and comply with College policies and procedures, the Regents Guide to Understanding Copyright and Educational Fair Use, and applicable laws.

Student Organizational Page authors must obtain the signature and approval from their designated advisor for submission to the OIT/ET for posting to the College’s web site. Advisors are responsible for insuring that a currently enrolled student or staff member is designated to maintain their organization’s page. This person’s name must be submitted to OIT/ET as the official contact person. The organization’s advisor is responsible for insuring that the web page’s content, design, and links are appropriate and comply with “GPC WWW Procedure B, Personal Web Page Procedure,” GPC Section 1101 Acceptable Computer and Internetworking Use Policy, all other College Rules and Regulations and applicable public laws with regard to copyright infringement or otherwise.

Responsibility:

Individual faculty, staff, and advisors who publish web pages from their personal directories are responsible for the content, links, and images on such pages. Authors must insure that their pages comply with “GPC WWW Procedure B, Personal Web Page Procedure,” GPC Section 1101 Acceptable Computer and Internetworking Use Policy, all other College Rules and Regulations, and applicable public laws with regard to copyright infringement or otherwise.

Disclaimers and copyright notices should be used on faculty and staff pages where appropriate to protect the author and the College:

• Disclaimer on syllabus: “Information and links from this syllabus were current at time of publication but is subject to change without notice.”

• Disclaimer on personal staff or faculty pages: “This is a personal web page and is not endorsed or affiliated in any manner with Georgia Perimeter College.”

• Disclaimer on student organization pages: “This page is authored by a student organization of Georgia Perimeter College. GPC does not guarantee or endorse the content.”

• Copyright notices must be clearly displayed on all instructional material to indicate ownership. Also, an e-mail address for the owner should follow for point of contact information.

Copyright © 2000, Dr. B. Good. All Rights Reserved.

bgood@gpc.edu

PERSONAL WEB PAGE PROCEDURE

Personal web pages are developed by students, faculty, and staff to contain unofficial information not affiliated or endorsed by GPC. In keeping with the unofficial classification, no personal pages are to include any GPC graphics or official GPC information.

Responsibility:

Personal Page authors are solely responsible for the content of their own pages. However, personal page authors must insure that their pages comply with GPC Section 1101 Acceptable Computer and Internetworking Use Policy and all other College Rules and Regulations and applicable public laws with regard to copyright infringement or otherwise.

A Disclaimer must appear in the footer portion of each page stating: “This personal web page is not an official Georgia Perimeter College Web Page. GPC does not endorse and will not be held responsible for material contained herein.”

Failure to Comply with GPC web page policies and procedures and standards will result in the page being permanently removed from the GPC web server.

Content

· Responsible content allows for personal expression but also must respect the server and users of the GPC service. Authors must observe all GPC policies and procedures in regard to copyright, plagiarism, etc. as well as relevant laws, regulations, and contractual obligations of the College.

· Use of Copyrighted or Licensed Material is not allowed without the written permission of the licensing party or copyright holder. Furthermore, all use of copyrighted material must be in accordance with the Regents Guide to Understanding Copyright and Educational Fair Use.

· Textual and graphical content within a personal web page may not contain any textual or graphical material that is obscene, offensive, or illegal or have potential of harm or violates College Procedure.

· OIT/ET reserves the right to remove from the College server web pages that in its sole discretion believes to violate the College Acceptable Use Policy, College policies and procedures, applicable laws, or has potential to harm or abuse the College’s network or user’s systems. OIT/ET may remove any page from the College server that is in violation of any applicable laws, College applicable policies and procedures, or has the potential to violate any of the above. OIT/ET has the right to remove all GPC logos/artwork from personal pages. OIT/ET has the right to remove pages from its servers of students that are not currently enrolled or of faculty or staff which are no longer employed.

· Commercial content or advertising links used for personal business, or financial gain are not allowed to reside on the GPC web server.