IT Services Guides

Web Publishing Policy

• Guide C6.2

Last revision: January 2009

This Policy was approved by the Registrar & Secretary on 24th August 2007 and comes into force on 1st September 2007. Paragraph 3.10 was replaced with the current text on 29 January 2009 by the Information Management and Systems Committee. It replaces the previous Information Provision via the Internet: Code of Conduct.

1. Scope
2. General Principles
3. Responsibilities
4. Legislation & Regulations
5. College Web Servers
6. Departmental Web Servers
7. Personal Websites

1. Scope

1.1

This Policy is supplementary to the General Regulations and governs the public provision of information via the World Wide Web.

1.2

This Policy applies to the on-line publication of material:

1. On any web server with an address that is part of the College's Internet domains
2. On any web server managed by a department of the College
3. On any web server that is connected to the internet via the College network
4. By a member of staff in connection with his or her College employment
5. By a student in connection with his or her coursework.

1.3

The Wiki Community Policy supplements this Policy in respect of issues specifically relating to the publication of material on College wikis.

2. General Principles

2.1

All staff and students providing information within the scope of this Policy are expected to ensure that all material is prepared and maintained in accordance with the published regulations, standards and procedures.

2.2

Failure to observe this Policy will be considered a serious matter by the College, and may give rise to disciplinary procedures.

2.3

In providing information, no member of the College should act in any way that could endanger the good name or reputation of the College, nor provide material which is inappropriate for publication by the College.

3. Responsibilities

3.1

Responsibility for the following rests with Information Technology Services (ITS):

1. granting approval for any web project
2. providing expertise and support on technical and design issues in web publishing, and
3. identifying any failure to meet published standards.

3.2

Responsibility for approving student recruitment material on College and departmental web sites rests with the Communications and Publicity Department

3.3

Responsibility for the access of individual users to the College network and the licensing of public web servers rests with the Director of Information Technology.

3.4

In accordance with the External Publications and Publicity Policy, Heads of Department are responsible for ensuring that the content of all their departmental recruitment and promotional materials on the College web site is factually accurate and that such materials are maintained and regularly updated.

4. Legislation & Regulations

4.1

Any material made available on the web within the scope of this policy is subject to General Regulations and the JANET Acceptable Use Policy.

4.2

Anyone acting or deemed to be acting as an information provider within the College's Internet domain or other domain purchased for the purposes of the College must be an IT Services registered user and must abide by the appropriate regulations.

4.3

An information provider must ensure that material published does not risk criminal prosecution or civil legal action.

4.4

Material identifying living individuals (personal data) may only be published with the properly-obtained consent of the individual concerned (whether as part of an employment contract with the College, or by other means).

4.5

Under the College's Management Framework for Compliance with Information Law, the Director of Information Technology has a particular responsibility for ensuring the legality of arrangements for data collection via online forms. Any form collecting personal data from external visitors must be approved by ITS.

4.6

No material must be made available on College servers whose publication would constitute a copyright or trademark infringement.

4.7

Any advertising or publicity material must comply with the Code of Practice for Advertisers issued by the Advertising Standards Authority requiring that all advertisements should be ‘legal, decent, honest and truthful.'

4.8

In order to ensure that websites on College and departmental web servers comply with the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (2001) (SENDA), publishers must ensure that they follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines published by the World Wide Web Consortium.

4.9

Any material published by staff and departments is subject to the College's External Publications and Publicity Policy.

4.10

All material published on the Goldsmiths public website shall be accessible to the general public unless likely to be subject to an Exemption under the Freedom of Information Act, or exceptionally for other reasons approved by the Registrar and Secretary, who will be advised by IT Services on technical matters. Requests for permission to exclude a webpage from public access shall be referred initially to the Freedom of Information Officer, who will be responsible for investigating whether an Exemption applies, and any implications for the Publication Scheme.

4.11

Approval for any web project must be sought from ITS in the first instance.

4.12

Students are warned that, where degree regulations require that material submitted for examination must not have been previously published, prior availability of all or part of the material on a website might make it ineligible for submission.

5. College Web Servers

5.1

All the College's official websites are managed exclusively by Goldsmiths IT Services.

5.2

Staff preparing material for publication on the College's websites are required to follow the direction of the Head of Web Services in regard to design, technical standards and appropriateness of technology.

6. Departmental Web Servers

6.1

The establishment of public internet servers within the College is governed by the Devolved Departmental Public Web Serving Policy. Under General Regulations, IT Services may disconnect without notice any public Internet server which contravenes this policy.

6.2

All material made available on departmental servers and open to external visitors must have approval by IT Services prior to initial development.

6.3

Departmental websites which publish teaching materials or student work or departmental projects that require specialist websites are permitted to deviate from the approved web templates. Departments must gain approval from IT Services for deviation prior to initial development.

6.4

The College reserves the right to remove or make inaccessible any material on departmental servers which it considers contrary to the General Regulations, this Policy or the External Publications and Publicity Policy..

7. Personal Websites

7.1

The College provides a dedicated web server (‘Homepages') for the personal websites of staff and students. Use of this facility is subject to General Regulation 23.4.9.

7.2

Personal websites created by staff or students, whether on the Homepages server or on any other server, must not:

1. Imply that they are published by the College itself
2. Borrow the design template of a College website
3. Carry the College logo or crest or any element of them
4. Carry any other material of which the copyright belongs to the College.

7.3

Exceptions to provisions of 6.2 are permitted where

1. the explicit authorisation of the IT Services and the Communications and Publicity Department is given, or
2. the website is being created by a student as part of College coursework - students wishing to use the College logo must first seek approval from Web Services.

7.4

Where a personal website carries College information or College material under the exceptions allowed under 6.3, the site will be regarded as subject to this Policy, regardless of the server on which it is hosted, and will be expected to comply with the published Technical Implementation Standards for College and departmental websites, and to adhere to the design standards as far as is practicable.

7.5

Tutors who encourage, request or instruct students to create personal web sites in connection with College coursework are required to

1. Draw the attention of the students to this Policy
2. Take reasonable steps to ensure that the students are aware of the legal and regulatory requirements governing such sites. Students' attention should be specifically drawn to the fact that copyright material or trademarks which can be legally included in submitted coursework are unlikely to be legally publishable on a website.