Student Computing Services - Personal Web Pages:

Administrative Guidelines

Development of Internet Content by Faculty, Staff and Students at Southern Wesleyan University

Overview

The Department of Information Technology, through its local and wide area network connections, provides Southern Wesleyan University faculty, staff and students access to the Internet and the numerous resources found on the World Wide Web.

The University recognizes the value of information published on the World Wide Web and encourages faculty, staff and students to participate in its use. This policy outlines the responsibilities of those who publish material on Southern Wesleyan University web servers, web servers under contractual agreements and social networking services not sponsored by the University.

General Rules
All activities at Southern Wesleyan University should be compatible with our Christian purpose, with the Golden Rule of Matthew 7:12 ( So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you (NIV)) and, except in the very rare cases where obedience would violate informed Christian conscience, with the laws of South Carol ina and the United States, and the SWU Honor Code.

Due care must be taken to avoid copyright violation (use of previously published material without permission) and invasion of privacy.

Use of the Internet, including publication, must not interfere with the principal educational purposes of University computer resources.

Any material submitted to a SWU web server for publication to the Internet must be consistent with the purposes of Southern Wesleyan University, and with the previous paragraphs of this document. Since Southern Wesleyan University's purposes include gaining experience in communicating, the University encourages publication on any subject by students, classes, student organizations and by non-students involved in SWU-sponsored workshops and camps, so long as the guidelines above are not violated.

Material must be compatible with SWU equipment, and should not place undue requirements on remote equipment used to access it. (e. g., graphic files should not be too large; requirement of unusual plug-ins should be avoided, if possible.)

Decisions on posting material on SWU web servers will take available storage space and other demands on that server into account.

Published material may be examined at any time by those in authority, either by examining those files on the server, or by browsing. All files available for browsing must be hyperlinked, directly or indirectly, to the user's home page.

If requested to do so, users must make modifications to their files promptly. Files may be deleted at any time by those in authority and usually will be deleted 90 days after termination of employment, the end of a semester or the academic year unless part of a major student's work, which will normally be kept available as part of that student's portfolio or supported substantial material. Users may delete their own material at any time. Users are responsible to maintain regular backups.

The university has no obligation to maintain personal materials for anyone no longer affiliated with the university.

Official University WWW Content

A University page is considered official when it is published by the University itself, or an official academic or administrative unit of the University. The Office of Public Relations is responsible for the administration of www.swu.edu.

Official University pages shall be considered University publications. Content is the responsibility of the appropriate individual academic or administrative unit and are subject to review by the Office of Public Relations.

The Office of Public Relations shall develop publication standards and review procedures for official University pages and shall develop and maintain the official Southern Wesleyan University website.

Individual academic and administrative units may modify content on official University pages using software tools authorized by the Office of Public Relations. Published material may be examined at any time by the Office of Public Relations, either by examining those files on the server, or by browsing. All files available for browsing must be hyperlinked, directly or indirectly, to the user's home page.

If requested to do so, users must make modifications to their files promptly. Files may be deleted at any time by those in authority.

Personal Web Pages Published by Faculty, Staff and Students

In general, a personal web page refers to any Internet-accessible page that communicates to the reader, whether in text or graphical format, personal information such as name, address, e-mail and telephone number, hobbies, blogs, vitae, pictures, family information, class work, e-portfolios, supported substantial work or pages built as a class project.

This document differentiates between two types of personal web pages, namely University-sponsored pages and personal social networking pages. Neither of these is considered to be official University publications. The University assumes no liability for them, and they cannot be taken as official University policy. All of these are subject to the guidelines in the General Rules section, above. Academic and administrative units may define additional guidelines for those under their supervision. Any such guidelines must be consistent with the overall policy.

Faculty and staff are expected to develop and publish content on Southern Wesleyan University web servers that is directly associated with their various academic and administrative duties and activities. Content must comply with the General Rules section in this policy and are subject to review by the Office of Public Relations.

Faculty and staff shall not utilize university networks, equipment, identification or addresses to participate in social networking services like myspace.com and facebook.com. Employees are not permitted to use University resources to maintain or create personal profiles. Employees who have accounts must immediately remove any references to Southern Wesleyan University employment, Southern Wesleyan University contact information or position titles, phone or e-mail contact. Although the university cannot prohibit personal use of such sites beyond the workplace, all profiles must be fully personal in nature and must not contain information that would in any way or manner identify users as employees of Southern Wesleyan University.

Students are encouraged to develop their own personal web pages as part of their educational experience. Such pages may be included as part of a student's e-portfolio. Such pages are subject to all the guidelines in the opening paragraphs of this document. Mistakes will be tolerated (but not encouraged) and the University assumes no obligation to maintain such pages when the student is no longer enrolled. It is understood that students will make mistakes of all kinds, including broken links, bad color schemes, incorrect English usage, etc., and, although this may lead to deductions from their grades, and students may be expected to correct their work in some cases, material will not be removed simply because of such mistakes. In other words, mistakes will be tolerated, but not encouraged.

The University does not discourage or restrict the use of social networking services for our students. Students participating in social networking services like myspace.com and facebook.com should do so in a manner that is consistent with our Christian purpose as stated above. Information published to these pages is widely viewed and can be used by the University or potential employers; however, students are discouraged from posting information that would endanger themselves or other students or violate the safety and security of the university and campus.

Student Organization WWW Pages

The publications of student groups (e.g., school newspaper or cyber-equivalent, yearbook, Student Government Association, SMF) may be published. This includes non-computer science classes. Such work should be done in cooperation with a computer science student if possible. Students may accept remuneration for such work, under the usual University guidelines for student employment.

The home page of such a publication should state that this is a student publication, and does not represent official policy or opinion of the University. The computer science faculty will furnish code and instructions for publishing such statements.

The sponsor of the organization is responsible for the content. Publication must be through the computer science faculty.

Terms and Conditions

Faculty, staff and students who publish content to the Southern Wesleyan University web servers consent to this policy and agree to comply with all of the terms and conditions including applicable local, state and federal laws and regulations.

Responsibility

The Director of Information Technology and the Director of Public Relations jointly share the responsibility for the administration of this policy. Issues of interpretation and enforcement of this policy shall be jointly resolved and may include participation from appropriate academic or administrative officials or committees as deemed necessary by the Director of Information Technology and the Director of Public Relations.