Illinois Wesleyan Web Policy Statement

The World Wide Web (WWW) is an important electronic publication medium for fulfilling the mission of Illinois Wesleyan University. This policy statement is intended to promote the appropriate use of this medium by clarifying responsibilities of web page authors and by promoting the design of web pages that are accurate, useful, and attractive.

The Web Advisory Group, a sub-committee of the University's Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable, reviews the University's World Wide Web policy. The Web Advisory Group is comprised of faculty, staff, and student representatives. The mission of the Web Advisory Group is to:

1. oversee development of Illinois Wesleyan University's Web presence;
2. recommend appropriate Web policies for IWU;
3. provide recommendations for the overall structure and top-level menus for University web pages;
4. help educate the campus community about the educational potential of the Internet and the WWW.

Since the following guidelines constitute a working draft, they should be flexibly interpreted and applied and are open to revision based on user experience and comments. Comments and queries about the IWU Web policies and guidelines should be sent to the Web Advisory Group.

Guidelines for web pages at Illinois Wesleyan University

IWU hosts three categories of pages on its web site:

• University Web Pages
• Department and Organization Web Pages
• Personal Web Pages

While specific guidelines apply to each category, the following standards apply to all web pages hosted on IWU servers:

1. IWU as an institution must be represented with up-to-date information.
2. University fundraising may be conducted only under the auspices of the office of Development.
3. Authors of web pages must abide by University policies set forth in the Faculty Handbook, Student Handbook, Support Staff Handbook, and the IWU Information Technology Usage Policy. This policy includes provisions for system integrity, copyright observance, privacy rights, courtesy, sanctions, and liability.

Questions regarding these guidelines should be addressed to the Web Advisory Group.

University Web Pages

The University's pages located on IWU's web site are official IWU publications. As with printed publications, only approved University information may be communicated on these official University pages.

The University web pages constitute the central campus web site and contain top-level information about the University. In order to keep the organization of these top-level University pages reasonably succinct, links from them are generally limited to the offices, departments, and organizations listed in the Illinois Wesleyan University Directory, published and updated annually. University sanctioned organizations not currently listed in the Directory may also apply to the Web Advisory Group for a web account and/or a link from a University page.

The Office of Information Technology is responsible for maintaining IWU's official University Web pages. To assure consistent appearance, the webmaster controls the graphic and navigational elements through the second level of links. University offices linked at these levels should work with the webmaster to assure that their lower-level pages are consistent with these higher-level ones.

Department and Organization Web Pages

Currently, University pages link to initial versions of department pages. Departments are encouraged to develop their own accurate, useful, and attractive department pages, with links to and from the appropriate University pages.

The Web Advisory Group has developed five guidelines to provide readers with a sense of continuity as they progress from University pages to department or organization pages:

1. Web pages must be clearly identified as representing a department or organization of Illinois Wesleyan University. Informative titles are important. Department pages should use "IWU" in their html titles. The university provides a small selection of uniform graphics and a sample html template.
2. Sites should provide a link to the appropriate referring University page.
3. Pages should include a "mailto" link so as to provide readers immediate access to an e-mail address of a reliable department or organization source.
4. Pages must include a link to the University provided disclaimer statement.
5. Web pages should accommodate text-only browsers. When graphics are displayed, an alternative description of the graphics should be provided.
6. Web pages are required to support browsers listed on the Information Technology Supported Software page.

Department and organization pages are the responsibility of the appropriate dean, director, department head, or faculty advisor. Content on department and organization web sites must be maintained with timely, accurate, and useful material. In an effort to ensure department and organization web sites present accurate and updated material, the University Webmaster will use the following procedures, as recommended by the Web Advisory Group:

• Every three months the University webmaster will monitor all departmental and organization web sites linked from University web pages. The webmaster will note any outdated content and send a notice informing the department or organization of the expired content.
• The webmaster will perform a second check of the web site approximately two weeks from the initial contact. If the website still contains outdated information, the webmaster will call the appropriate dean, director, department head or faculty advisor, informing him or her of the problem.
• If the website is not updated upon the following three month check, the webmaster will remove links on University pages to the department or organization web site. In its place, for department sites, the webmaster will create a standard department web site based on information from current information guides. The webmaster will reinstate department or organization web site links when the department or organzation has updated their site.

The office of Information Technology will offer assistance with updating department or organization web pages in the form of training for any faculty, staff, or student. The office of Publications, Printing, and Mailing Services will offer graphic design assistance on a fee basis.

Personal Web Pages

IWU faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to develop personal pages using their accounts on IWU servers. Authors of personal pages may not present their personal pages as official University publications. Responsibility for personal pages rests solely with the authors of those pages.

University pages will link to personal pages on IWU servers only through the faculty/staff or student indices. Personal pages may link to University or department pages. At their discretion, department pages may provide additional links to personal pages through their department pages.