External Relations & Advancement
Web Creation & Web Management Policy
Approved by: President’s Executive Group
Effective Date: (in principle January 9, 2007)
1.0 Purpose
This policy:
§ defines who is responsible for the creation, management and updating of Trent University’s public web sites and pages; and
§ establishes minimum standards and guidelines to ensure accuracy, consistency and integrity, and to protect Trent University’s identity and image.
2.0 Scope
This policy applies to:
1. Trent’s public web site (www.trentu.ca) and all pages that form part of this site
2. All “myTrent” portals[1] and pages that form part of these portals
3. all other public web sites and pages published by the administrative functions of academic departments and administrative departments of Trent University, registered clubs[2], approved affiliates[3] or employees of Trent University in the course of their employment duties and responsibilities.
This policy does not apply to the Learning Management System[4] (e.g. Blackboard, WebCT) or to personal web pages published elsewhere by the faculty and staff of the University.
3.0 Policy
Web Site
The web site www.trentu.ca is to be used for University communications, student recruitment, retention, external relations and the promulgation of University information to the public, and institutional reputation management. Other uses of this web site are not permitted.
Members of the University community (including researchers and staff) who require a web site to collect data will normally use an external data collection service and external web server. Proposals for all web-based survey research must be reviewed in advance by the relevant research ethics committee.
Intranet
myTrent and any other intranet portals provided by the University are to be used for internal University communications and services for faculty, staff, students and prospective students.
Authority and Control
General oversight of the University's public web site and pages, and intranet portals, is the responsibility of the Marketing and Communications Office, External Relations & Advancement.
Marketing and Communications has the authority to remove any information or links on the University’s web site that contravene Trent University’s policies or standards. Marketing and Communications will normally consult those responsible for the material before exercising this authority.
Guidelines and Standards
Style
The Trent University Web Style Guide (under development) provides the guidelines and standards for the University’s public web site and intranet portals.
Templates
Marketing and Communications provides web page templates and web creation files to assist in the web page creation process (see section 4.0 below and the appendix for more information).
Accessibility
Laws, such as the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, address various access issues and are intended to ensure that information and activities are accessible to all.Trent endeavours to comply with all legislation and to make its web and intranet pages accessible. For more information about page flexibility and layout considerations see resources listed in Section 4 below.
Advertising
The Trent University web site and pages and intranets may not contain advertising for, or link to, commercial sites without advance written approval of Marketing and Communications.
Normally advertising or links connected to the promotion of an academic text book authored, co-authored or edited by a Trent faculty member, will be approved.
Other approvals will be considered only if:
1. the purpose of the advertising or link is consistent with the University’s mission, or
2. the advertising or link is essential to the purpose of the site.
Advertising on the web site or through a link will carry a disclaimer that the University does not endorse the product or service.
Copyright
Information on the University web site is subject to intellectual property law. Except as permitted by law, written permission is required from the owner of copyrighted material (including graphics, video, audio, and text) before copyrighted information can be placed on the University web site. For additional copyright and intellectual property information see references in section 4.0 below.
Fundraising
External Relations & Advancement is responsible for, and approves, all University related fundraising. Non-University related fundraising may not be conducted on or through the University’s web site or intranet portals unless approved in advance in writing by the Vice-President External Relations and Advancement.
Personal Information
Trent University web pages may not display personal information about individuals without their consent.
Web Page Creation
Responsibility for initiating a public page on Trent’s web site normally resides with academic and administrative departments, registered clubs and/or approved affiliates. All requests for web page creation or access to Trent servers must be made to Marketing and Communications. Three models of facilitation and support are available to accommodate differing requirements, programming skill sets and resource capabilities and these are described in Appendix A.
Web Page Updates and Management
Originators of web pages (academic and administrative departments, registered clubs and approved affiliates) will be responsible for keeping information on their pages up to date. Marketing and Communications will provide originators with training and access to Trent’s content management software for this purpose. Additional technical support, if required, will be available from the Department of Information Technology.
Client Support - Web Developers’ Time
Marketing and Communications will give priority to web activities supporting student and employee recruitment, retention and reputation management, official University information and official University communications.
Monitoring
Marketing and Communications will monitor the web site and intranet portals to ensure that accuracy, consistency, integrity and the protection of Trent University’s identity and image are upheld.
4.0 References
The following references will provide complementary information to this policy.
Trent University Policies:
§ Trent University Computing and Network Resources Policy (Acceptable Use Policy)
§ Computing Code of Ethics
§ Guidelines for Use of Information Technology
§ Supported Software
§ Supported Hardware
§ Trent University Policy on the Protection of Personal Information (2006)
§ Trent University Copyright
§ Research Ethics Board
External Policies, Guidelines and Links:
§ Canadian Intellectual Property Office
§ World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative
§ Ontarians with Disabilities Act Annual Access Plan
APPENDIX FACILITATION MODELS FOR CREATING PAGES ON THE UNIVERSITY WEB SITE
For purposes of these models “client” means academic and administrative departments of Trent University, registered clubs and/or approved affiliates.
The Department of Information Technology (IT) works closely and in conjunction with Marketing and Communications to provide technical support and ensure network security is maintained. Trent University supports:
§ a production web server that hosts Trent’s public web site
§ a development server for web page creation
§ secure intranet portals for students, faculty and staff usage
§ a content management software for clients to use when updating their web pages
§ static web pages[5] developed by clients
To protect the integrity of the enterprise web site, Marketing and Communications and IT shall be the sole developers of dynamic web pages[6].
Model #1 Marketing and Communications will develop, with and on behalf of its clients, web page(s) on the development server that conform to Trent’s web site design, look and feel as established in the guidelines and templates established by Marketing and Communications. Once the client and Marketing and Communications have approved the pages, Marketing and Communications will post the pages live on the production server. Every attempt will be made by Marketing and Communications to develop requested web pages in a timely manner.
Model #2 A client may choose to use its own web developers to create its web page(s) that conform to Trent’s web site design, look and feel as established in the guidelines and templates offered for use by Marketing and Communications. IT would grant account access, after input and approval by Marketing and Communications, to the client’s designated web developer(s) to work directly on Trent’s development web server for the purposes of web page creation.
Marketing and Communications would be responsible for approving the final design, content, look and feel of the client’s page(s) and for launching the web page(s) onto Trent’s production server from the development server. Clients will be notified by Marketing and Communications via e-mail that their approved updated/new web page(s) has been posted. Approved web page(s) will be posted within two business days.
Model #3 A client may feel strongly that it wants its web page(s) to be distinctive and does not want to conform to the look and feel established by Trent University and the Marketing and Communications Office. As in model #2, IT would grant account access, after input and approval by Marketing and Communications, to the client’s designated web developer(s) to work directly on Trent’s development web server for the purposes of web page creation.
In this case, Marketing and Communications would create a welcome page on the production server opening in a new window that links to the client’s sub-site (static web pages only) maintained either on Trent’s production server (once the pages were posted live from the development server) or on an independent third party server.
Web Creation & Web Management Policy
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[1] myTrent portals are web-based, secure, intranet services where the Trent community can share information in an internal, password-protected environment.
[2] Registered clubs are those approved by the University’s Clubs and Groups Committee
[3] Approved affiliates may include major conferences that will meet at Trent, academic journals, etc. which are recognized by Marketing and Communications
[4] Learning Management System – a password-protected course management system for teaching and learning which uses an ordinary web browser to either supplement face-to-face instruction or to deliver courses completely online (e.g. Blackboard, Web CT).
[5] Static Web Pages do not change – every request from a browser returns the same page.
[6] Dynamic Web Pages are returned to the user with custom content based on the results of a search or some other request. Dynamic web sites provide results individualized to each user.