External Affairs :: Policies & Procedures

The University of Georgia's presence on the World Wide Web is essential to its mission of teaching, research and public service.  Web pages on the Internet are the preferred source of information for many individuals, and the University's Web pages are the first and only view of the University of Georgia community for many people.  UGA Web pages need to reflect the values of the University including respect for intellectual property, respect for individual privacy, the need to make information available to everyone without regard to disability, the need to support open public dialogue and respect for the law.  Thus, the Office of Public Affairs Web policy's standards and guidelines:

• Support the vision, mission, goals and academic values of the University;
• Assist campus Web developers and publishers in developing sites that comply with University policies, rules and regulations and local, state and federal laws;
• Facilitate the official business of the University and enable appropriate online transactions.

The Web Communications Group, a unit of the News Service, provides services that are analogous to those that are provided by other units of the Office of Public Affairs. These services are provided in compliance with the order of priority followed by other Public Affairs units-- the Office of the President, the senior administration, the Division of External Affairs and other campus units as production schedules allow.

• Designers in the Web Communications Group produce Columns and support the design and Web development needs of the News Service. The group also designs, develops and maintains the University of Georgia's home site and second-level pages, and designs, develops and maintains other designated digital communication products for the Office of Public Affairs including:
  
  
  • UGA.TODAY
  • Columns
  • Visitors Center
  • Master Calendar
  • WUGA
  • Crisis Communications
  • Safe and Secure
  • Georgia Magazine
  • The UGA Style Guide
  • The UGA Identity
  • Living History

The Group also designs and develops designated Web sites and digital communication products for departments and programs in the Division of External Affairs including the Office of the Senior Vice-President for External Affairs,  the Office of Development, the Office of Government Relations, the Office of Special Events and the  Georgia Fund and Senior Signature programs.  Additionally, the Group  provides assistance in Web site design and development to colleges, schools and university-wide programs.

Overall responsibilities of the Web Communications Group include:

• Developing and designing Web sites
• Integrating invested technologies into Web-based applications for content management and delivery
• Investigating and implementing emerging technologies
• Suggesting, supporting and implementing campus-wide solutions
• Providing in-house training
• Establishing a forum for campus Web developers & IT personnel to share resources, training opportunities and expertise
• Making online products available for use by other campus units to enhance their online capabilities, reduce redundancy of effort and save the University money

The Group also performs the following services:

• Management, information architecture, taxonomy, graphic design selection, usability testing and content training and review
• Oversight of all new Web content as it pertains to established policies and practices
• Coordination of divisional inclusion into the University Web site and the content reorganization across departments
• Guidance to division content managers and leadership to the content teams
• Management and oversight of the development and implementation of Web content policy, procedures, standards and style guide
• Collaboration with content teams and division content managers to institute best practices
• Maintenance of all upper level pages
• Annual "certification" that the information on the University's Web site is current and accurate
• Provision of monthly Web tracking, assessment and analytics reports

The following policies and guidelines apply to digital communication products designed, developed and maintained by the Web Communications Group in the Office of Public Affairs News Service including, but not limited to, Web pages, E-newsletters and material placed on a Web site, including graphics.

The University's Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS), which includes the Office of Information Security and the Office of the Chief Information Officer, govern campus computing and networking activities, including use of the World Wide Web. (See http://www.infosec.uga.edu/policies/ for a complete list of  UGA computing policies.) The  Web Communications Group will follow the account management best practices for security and training developed in partnership with EITS. These practices include Web service security, system scripting security, formalized account management and ongoing security training.

The Web Communications Group will work with EITS to communicate Web and server security awareness among campus Web developers and administration.

In partnership with EITS and campus Web developers, the Web Communications Group will  take a lead role in creating a Web style guide that includes a set of standard Web tags, suggested semantic markup language, coding best practices and University-branded Web templates.

Web sites that collect individually identifiable information including, but not limited to, photos must provide a privacy statement (http://www.infosec.uga.edu/policies/).   The statement must be clear and easily accessible and should cover the Federal Trade Commission's five core principles of privacy: notice, consent, access, security and enforcement. Web sites that collect individually identifiable information and provide services to children aged 12 and under also may be required to comply with provisions of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Anyone who collects personal or financial information should consult with the EITS Security team.

The Board of Regents of the University System has determined that institutions under the Board of Regents fall within the scope of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998.  States receiving funding under the Assistive Technology Act are required to comply. Therefore, the University's Web sites are subject to Section 508 compliance. By policy, University Web sites comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and University non-discrimination policies. All electronic publications, to the extent feasible, should be made accessible to people with disabilities. If accessibility is not feasible, the information should be available by alternative means. (For further information, see

(http://wiki.eits.uga.edu/campuswebhelp/index.php/Web_Accessibility_and_Persons_with_ Disabilities)

While deans, directors, unit and department heads or respective designees of University schools, colleges, divisions, departments and units are responsible for reviewing, clearing and maintaining information posted on University sites, site developers are ultimately responsible for page information.  Web developers are responsible for following University policies and local, state and federal laws to ensure that information on University Web sites is accurate, current and represents the University,  the Board of Regents and the State of Georgia in a professional manner.

Information on official University Web sites should be accurate as of the date prepared, and the Office of Public Affairs disclaims any duty or obligation to update this information or any news releases not prepared by the office.  The Office of Public Affairs also makes every attempt to work from authoritative sources and ensure that information on Web sites is as current as possible, but the office cannot and does not warrant that the information on a site is absolutely current. Individual Web sites have modification dates that can be used as guides to the timeliness of the data; however, the Office of Public Affairs cannot warrant that no changes have been made to the source information since that date. Information contained in a news release or other document about companies or organizations other than those affiliated with the University should not be relied upon as being provided or endorsed by the University.

University Web sites or digital communication products are prohibited from hosting pages on behalf of individuals and organizations that are not affiliated with the University. It is a violation of state law to run a private business on a University computer system. Exemptions to this policy may be considered when hosting a Web page that will serve the University's mission of teaching, research and service and will be approved by a division head or by the Office of Public Affairs. This policy does not prohibit official units of the University from providing information on conferences and other professional and scholarly activities in which University members are engaged.

Personal Web pages created by faculty, staff or students are the sole responsibility of their authors. Comments on the contents of those pages should be directed to the page author. As a service and for informational purposes only, the University may provide links to personal Web pages. The Office of Public Affairs is not responsible for and does not monitor the content of these pages. However, the EITS Office of Information Security investigates complaints and may remove or limit access to Web pages that violate local, state or federal law or university policy.

Personal pages must not convey the impression that the author is representing, giving opinions or otherwise making statements on behalf of the University of Georgia, the Office of Public Affairs or any unit of the University. This disclaimer will be included:

The content and opinions expressed on this Web page do not necessarily reflect the views of,  nor are they endorsed by,  the University of Georgia or the University System of Georgia.

All electronic publications must follow University and legal standards regarding copyright. In general, Web publishers must secure permission from the owner of the copyright when including copyrighted or trademarked material, such as text, photographs, audio, video, graphics, maps or logos, and include a permission statement or disclaimer as required by the owner of the copyright or trademark.  Provisions of fair use can allow restricted use of copyrighted materials without permission of the copyright holder. The TEACH Act provides some extensions of fair use for distance education.

The University of Georgia Web site is an official publication of the University. Unless otherwise indicated, all text and photographs appearing on the home page or subsequent official pages linked to it are copyrighted and should not be reproduced without written permission from the Office of Public Affairs, (706) 542-8090.

Web sites designed, developed and maintained by the Office of Public Affairs are protected by copyright owned in whole or in principal part by the University of Georgia and the state of Georgia. Documents can be downloaded for reference and research purposes only. Exception: News releases and UGA facts make be downloaded and/or reproduced.

Distribution and/or alteration of information from Web sites by not-for-profit research or educational institutions for their local use is permitted as long as the following notice is kept intact and attached to the document: ©2009 University of Georgia. This work may be reproduced and redistributed, in whole or in part, without alteration and without prior written permission, solely by educational institutions for non-profit administrative or educational purposes provided all copies contain the following statement: "© 2009 University of Georgia. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of the University of Georgia. No other use is permitted without the express prior written permission of the University of Georgia. For permission requests, questions, or further information, please contact news@uga.edu."

Any other distribution of copies of the document or any altered version thereof is expressly prohibited without prior written consent of the University.

Copyright notices are not required under United States law for works created after 1978 to claim copyright or the protections of copyright law. It is nonetheless useful to include a notice on all Web sites to reinforce the protected nature of works and provide information about whom to contact for permission to reproduce a work.

Sample notices from the most restrictive to the least restrictive:

1.   © 2009 University of Georgia. All rights reserved.

2.   © 2009 University of Georgia. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced, displayed, modified or distributed without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder. For permission, contact [insert e-mail or mailing address.]

3. © 2009 University of Georgia. This work may be reproduced and redistributed, in whole or in part, without alteration and without prior written permission, solely by educational institutions for non-profit administrative or educational purposes provided all copies contain the following statement: "© 2009 University of Georgia. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of the University of Georgia. No other use is permitted without the express prior written permission of the University of Georgia. For permission, contact [insert e-mail or mailing address.]"

4.  © 2009 University of Georgia. This work may be reproduced and redistributed, in whole or in part, without alteration and without prior written permission, provided all copies contain the following statement: "© 2009 University of Georgia. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of the University of Georgia."

(For more information on copyright, see the U.S. Copyright Office Web site  http://www.copyright.gov/) or review the University System of Georgia's policy on the use of copyrighted works in education and research at (http://www.usg.edu/copyright/).

The University allows links to its Web site for educational or informational purposes. Links from University Web pages to any non-University site must not imply University affiliation with, or endorsement of, the site's products or services. A disclaimer must be included unless it is clear from the context that the University does not endorse the product or service. The official disclaimer policy can be downloaded at http://www.uga.edu/wsdp/.

The University of Georgia is committed to the responsible use of personal information collected from and about its students, faculty, staff, business partners and others who provide such information to the University. This commitment is in accordance with both state and federal regulations concerning the use of personal information. Such personal information includes information that could be used to cause financial harm or reputational harm to any individual. This policy applies to personally identifiable and sensitive information and how it is collected.  (See http://www.infosec.uga.edu/policies/documents/UGA_Privacy_Policy_Draft_12_2.pdf.)

To protect the educational nature of University Web sites and to preserve their primary role in support of the University's mission, commercial advertising is prohibited on the uga.edu domain, with delineated exceptions including Georgia Magazine, as is using the University of Georgia's Internet protocol ranges. The Computer Security and Ethical Use Committee  (http://www.uga.edu/compsec/) is responsible for policy guidelines regarding non-educational advertising on University Web sites (http://wiki.eits.uga.edu/campuswebhelp/index.php/Policy_Guidelines_Regarding_Non-Educational_Advertising_on_University_of_Georgia_Websites)

Sponsors may be acknowledged on official University sites related to University-sponsored artistic or cultural programs, conferences or special events. These acknowledgements must be supported by a written agreement between the sponsor and the University entity that specifies a limited term, typically concluding with the end of an event or series.

Acknowledgements may include the sponsor's corporate name or logo but may not include a street address, telephone number, e-mail address, product name or service information. Acknowledgements may not include a call to action or comparison. The acknowledgement must include a disclosure such as, "The Artist Series acknowledges the support of these sponsors" and should not imply endorsement by the University.

Sponsors are not entitled to display University marks on their Web sites without prior written consent from the University of Georgia's Licensing Trademark Program.

Official University sites covered by this policy may acknowledge business partnerships for services provided at no cost that assist the University in achieving its mission as, for example, access to an online research service or a search engine. Otherwise, all the provisions for sponsorships apply to partnerships, except that logos may be hyperlinked to the service provided.

The Division of External Affairs, and activities authorized by the President of the University such as campus campaigns, are the sole entities authorized to conduct fundraising via pledge forms or direct contributions on the "Giving to Georgia" Web site. Web sites designed by the Web Communications Group may not contain information about fundraising campaigns on personal pages or link to a fundraising page other than that of the University of Georgia Arch Foundation or an organization authorized by the President of the University.

Fraternities, sororities and other service organizations may describe philanthropic efforts on their Web sites and provide a street address and phone number for contributions.

EITS will provide the technical support for Web sites designed and developed by the Web Communications Group.  Such support may include, but is not limited to, oversight of the technical architecture, permissions, security, database administration, Web site administration and possible creation of plug-in applications. Depending on service level agreements with EITS and vendor contracts, the Web Communications Group shall either perform these activities or supervise them. Work expected of the Web Communications Group shall be assessed and approved by EITS and, if appropriate, approved by the Computer Security and Ethics Committee.

The Web Communications Group, with input from EITS, will determine the use of any tools and technology to manage the comprehensive University of Georgia's Web presence.

The Web Communications Group develops intranets and extranets to share, distribute and archive information; offers a range of expertise, tools and use of emerging technologies; adapts skills and upgrades products to meet changing needs and technologies; and customizes and develops applications to suit each unit's goals and missions, thus making the applications available to other units within the Division of External Affairs and the University. 

The Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness, EITS and the Office of Public Affairs are jointly responsible for developing crisis communication Web-based strategies. The Office of Public Affairs will use the University Web site home page as a primary source for disseminating and updating information on emergency situations that could pose danger to the campus and students, faculty, staff and visitors.  The home page will be linked to other pages with detailed information. The Web Communications Group will also create special pages or sites about a situation as deemed appropriate by the Vice President for Public Affairs or a designee.

The Web Communications Group has developed a template for a crisis Web site, with limited navigation, message boards and other features that can be used as needed. It also has developed a "lite" home page. Other possible online steps may include removing Flash features, taking down images or seeking backup Web support from colleagues at the University System of Georgia in the event of a crisis.  The News Service director, working with the Web Communications Group and in consultation with the Vice President for Public Affairs, will be responsible for overseeing all of these changes and needed updates.

No one is authorized to update the official online presence of the University of Georgia in a crisis without clearance from the Vice President for Public Affairs or a designee.

The Vice President for Public Affairs or a designee may edit or delete any documents, information or other content appearing on official University of Georgia Web sites.

The Vice President for Public Affairs or a designee may use and assign all information regarding the University of Georgia and all information provided by members of the University of Georgia community in any manner consistent with University privacy policy.

Complaints regarding apparent violations of policy or law regarding use of computer systems can be submitted to the Office of Information Security at http://www.infosec.uga.edu/policies/index.php, or by contacting the EITS Helpdesk (http://eitshelpdesk.uga.edu/) at (706) 542-3106.

  For questions, comments and suggestions about the sites developed and maintained by the Web Communications Group, contact the UGA Public Affairs News Service, 706/542-8083, or email news@uga.edu.