PURPOSE:

To identify management and operational procedures for the official Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine presence on the World Wide Web as the source of easy, online access to College information resources and external information sources that support the learning, teaching, research, scholarly and institutional missions of the College.

POLICY: 

Web site content is provided by members of the OU-COM community, including faculty and staff, as a means of enhancing recruitment efforts, promoting osteopathic medical education, fostering communication and informed decision-making among constituencies by facilitating access to current OU-COM information, and promoting collegiality.  The OU-COM site is a cooperative project of the OU-COM Office of Communication, under the auspices of the Ohio University Communication and Marketing office, and OU-COM’s Information Systems and Instructional Technology office (ISIT).

The OU-COM Office of Communication, in collaboration with ISIT and authorized users, will:

·        maintain certain content areas of the site, as outlined in Tier I definitions below;

·        provide initial review for departmental and program pages, as outlined in Tier II below;

·        develop general guidelines for content management by information providers;

·        initiate dialog with other departments to encourage appropriate use of and participation on the site;

·        periodically review the function of OU-COM’s site, including evaluation and refinement;

·        develop general structural changes and/or additions, as necessary; and

·        address broad content, design and visual consistency issues.

The OU-COM Office of Information Systems and Instructional Technology, in collaboration with the college’s Office of Communication will:

·        identify the technical standards for operation of the OU-COM site that are consistent with computer hardware standards outlined in OU-COM Policy 9.02 (Computer and Network Use and Support);

·        define a security and back-up plan for the OU-COM Web site and maintain a secure infrastructure that minimizes threats to OU-COM resources;

·        develop and manage the authentication of users and access to the site facilities, its management systems and hardware platforms; and

·        develop general guidelines for users accessing site resources.

It is recognized that Web services and information resources are complex and require input from various technical experts, design professionals, information providers and policy agents.  Arbitration of issues where consensus is unachievable by OU-COM’s Communication Office and ISIT will be presented to the Dean by the OU-COM Director of Communication (or by the Dean’s designate) and the Chief Information Officer for review and deliberation, with resolution by the Dean.

Content and management of the OU-COM site will be identified by the following three levels:

Tier I - Official Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine Web Site

Tier II - Official OU-COM-Sponsored Web Sites

Tier III - Guidelines for Links to Personal and Other External Web Sites

Tier I  - Official Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine Web Site

Tier I of the OU-COM Web site is comprised of the home page, news pages, informational pages (e.g., What is a D.O.?, Osteopathic Medicine, history, college event calendar – as distinct from student event calendar), and front pages for each department.  These elements are official electronic communications of the college. Tier I will be governed by the policies and procedures outlined in the college’s Publication Policy as they pertain to issues of content management and design consistency (see OU-COM Policy 11.01). 

            Navigation schemes to associated materials will be developed and links to both Tier II and Tier III sites will be maintained by Office of Communication staff or their designate, so long as such staff is available. 

Tier II  - Official OU-COM-Sponsored Sites

Tier II sites include, but are not limited to, college departments, offices, centers, institutes and college sponsored programs. The scale of a Web site in numbers of documents, departments and individuals providing those documents – along with the rate of growth and change within such a system – requires close collaboration between Tier II publishers and the OU-COM Office of Communication.

            This policy, therefore, relies on a distributed system of information ownership – i.e., a content management system – which has the following characteristics:

• Each department/unit or office that publishes information on the site has full responsibility for the factual accuracy and currency of that information, just as they would for information which they publish by traditional means;
• Each department will identify a Web site custodian who will be responsible for the management of its own pages and will provide that individual’s name to the OU-COM Office of Communication and ISIT;
• All documents will be clearly labeled with contact information and latest revision date, so that comments can be directed to the appropriate individuals;
• All academic departments will identify a procedure to enable creation of a basic, individual Web page for every part-time and full-time OU-COM faculty member;

As with information currently published by traditional means, OU-COM’s Office of Communication will review all new documents through Tier II published on the site for general content and style. This will take the form of a one-time review of text for all new pages, except individual faculty pages, following the same process as that outlined for print publications in OU-COM Policy 11.01.  Thereafter, only major modifications to Tier II pages need to be submitted the the Office of Communication for review.  Individual faculty pages will be subject to review by the faculty member’s department chair, only, unless assistance from Office of Communication staff is requested. 

 
Tier III - Guidelines for Links to Personal and Other External Web Sites

The college recognizes that personal Web pages and other external Web sites can serve to promote the college’s faculty, staff, students and affiliated programs. OU-COM does not provide resources to host these activities.  However, links can be provided through Tier I and Tier II sites to external Web sites within the guidelines and approval process of the official OU-COM Web sites as described by their respective policies.  It is important, however, that visitors to OU-COM’s site be able to clearly distinguish between official pages published by offices and departments of OU-COM, and those from external sites.

            Following is a list of specific requirements to link to external Web sites from the official OU-COM site:

• External Web pages and affiliate links cannot promote any commercial or non-profit activities that are not affiliated or consistent with University policies;
• External Web pages and affiliated program links will not be used to misrepresent information or mislead, harass, threaten any group or individual, or transmit libelous information;
• External Web pages will not be used as a medium to transmit or store material copyrighted or licensed to others, except with appropriate permission and acknowledgement;
• External Web pages and affiliated program links will not employ any technology inconsistent with College or University standards or that in any way compromises the operation of OU-COM official pages;
• External Web pages and affiliated program links will not in any way compromise security measures on any computer system;
• Users will not attempt to modify any Web page for which they are not an authorized author or custodian;
• External Web pages will not unduly consume resources of the College or University, including electronic, technical support or staff time not consistent with University policies;
• Any external Web page or affiliated program site linked to the College or University that contains obscene, racist, misleading or offensive material will be blocked by ISIT and referred, first, to the appropriate department head for corrective action.  Absent action by the department head within five business days, the matter will be referred to the Dean or his named designate. 

Last updated: 06/19/2009