World Wide Web

The World Wide Web allows Wright State University faculty, staff, and students to promote university educational opportunities and activities to a local, regional, and international community that includes alumni, current and prospective students, faculty, staff, and friends.

1. Wright State University's World Wide Web pages are considered university publications, as well as campus-wide information sources. The Web administrator and the Web Advisory Committee oversee the structure and development of the Wright State University main home page and determine guidelines for consistent graphic design, writing style, and accuracy of official information for the home page (located at http://www.wright.edu) and the pages linked directly to it.

2. The Web Advisory Committee is appointed by and reports to the provost.

3. The Department of Computing and Telecommunications Services (CaTS) provides the computer hardware and access to the Wright State University (WSU) main Web server, in addition to providing various Web-based services.

4. Various areas of the university also maintain Web servers, using university equipment and staffing. This policy applies to any WSU Web server, Web server administrator, Web server page owner, or Web page publisher.

5. Web server information

   1. General principle: Wright State University does not grant unique domain names that are not a variation of the wright.edudomain.

   2. Registering domain names (outside the wright.edu domain) that point to Wright State University IP (Internet Protocol) addresses without express written permission from the director of Computing and Telecommunications Services or his/her designee is strictly prohibited.

   3. General principle: Any individual or organization receiving WSU Web server space must abide by all university guidelines, including the university's Web policy.

   4. Any individual or nonprofit organization that receives funds through the university (i.e., anyone who has a letter of agreement with Wright State University) may request Web server space. If support is requested, the individual or organization will be notified that such service is not guaranteed and, if provided, will be treated as a low priority for the Web server staff.

   5. A professional, nonprofit organization sponsored by a member of the Wright State University community, whose mission is directly tied to the university's mission, may qualify for server resources. Resources may be provided only if those resources do not have a negative impact on server efficiency. The faculty or staff member affiliated with the organization will be responsible for developing and maintaining the Web page, with no support from the Web or CaTS server staff. Any faculty or staff member requesting server space must submit a written request to the CaTS Help Desk and must state how the mission of the requesting organization is tied to the university's mission.

      1. Acquiring Web server space does not guarantee a link from an official WSU Web page, nor does it imply that the server space holder will receive a requested URL (uniform resource locator).
      2. A professional, nonprofit organization's files will reside in the personal Web directory of the affiliated member, who also is a WSU faculty or staff member. Therefore, the URL will contain the affiliated member's e-mail name (e.g.,www.wright.edu/~e-mail.name/organization.name/).

The Wright State University Web site includes both official and unofficial pages. Any WSU Web pages that contain official university information or are directly connected with the university's mission, including faculty, staff, and student organization pages and any pages that provide classroom or coursework materials, are considered official pages.

1. Wright State University is not responsible for unofficial pages. The university reserves the right, however, to remove from any WSU Web server any page that is found to be in violation of the law or university policies or interests or that is detrimental to performance of the Web server or the network.

2. The following statement must appear on any WSU Web page that provides links to unofficial pages: "The views and opinions expressed on unofficial pages of Wright State University faculty, staff or students are strictly those of the page authors. The content of these pages has not been reviewed or approved by Wright State University." The disclaimer statement must be placed immediately preceding links to unofficial pages.

1. The names, initials, seals, mascots, and logos associated with Wright State University are trademarks owned by the university. Any representation of university marks (art work or graphics) must adhere to the guidelines in the Institutional Identity Standards Manual and must be approved as to design and usage through the Office of Communications and Marketing.

2. WSU Web page owners and publishers are responsible for the content of their pages and are subject to all university policies and standards pertaining to print publications and computing ethics, including but not limited to:

   1. The University Policies, in particular, Policy 12010 (Copyrighted Materials) and Policy 11210 (Responsible Use of University Computing Resources).
   2. WSU Institutional Identity Standards Manual.
   3. WSU Student Handbook, including "Policy for Responsible Use of Information Technology, WSU Students."
   4. Applicable federal, state and local laws.

3. Without specific authorization from the Web Advisory Committee or its designated agent, WSU Web servers may not be used for the following purposes:

   1. Advertising or server space for non-university persons or organizations.

      1. A Web advertisement consists of:
         1. text or graphics placed on a Web page that has been paid for by a non-Wright State University organization; or,
         2. text or graphics placed on a Web page in exchange for goods or services.
      2. The following examples do not constitute an advertisement:
         1. General interest links to commercial Web sites that may be of interest to Web viewers and that are available free of charge (e.g., links to Alta Vista search service, City of Dayton home page, area weather links);
         2. Links to subscription services or site licenses for which the university pays, in order to gain access to a commercial service (e.g., Netscape Navigator, FirstSearch);
         3. Information that relates to or supports the teaching, research, or service mission of the university, such as academic departmental conferences; or,
         4. Listings of sponsors for a performance or special event (the listings must not be hyperlinks to a commercial sponsor's Web page).
   2. Activities that would provide non-university related persons or organizations monetary gain; or,
   3. Activities that would provide direct financial benefit to any non-Wright State University organization.

4. All requests to host a WSU Web site on a non-university Web server must be reviewed by General Counsel and then approved by the Web Advisory Committee. All university sites hosted on non-university servers must adhere to this policy, including accessibility guidelines. The Web Advisory Committee must approve any exceptions.

Web page owners are responsible for presenting accurate data and for updating any university material they publish on the WSU Web servers or on any third-party Web servers. Page owners and publishers who maintain official WSU Web pages must adhere to the following publishing guidelines:

1. Web page owners and publishers must adhere to the Web accessibility standards as set by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board as part of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The standards, and information on how to implement them, are outlined on the WSU Web Accessibility Information site located athttp://www.wright.edu/web/access/.

2. The words "Wright State University" must appear at or near the top of every WSU Web page as text or as a graphic image. When the Wright State University logo or wordmark is used, the image must be a link to the WSU home page located atwww.wright.edu. The Web page publisher must include the text alternative, "Wright State University home page." For information on using the WSU logo or wordmark appropriately, the page publisher should refer towww.wright.edu/cm/resources/wsu_id_manual.pdf.

3. Academic area Web pages must clearly identify with which college or school the pages are associated. The page publisher must spell out the college or school name rather than using the acronym.

4. Every Web page must include a descriptive title for indexing/search purposes. The page publisher should refer to the Web Style Guide located at www.wright.edu/cm/web-services/ for information on including a title.

5. The Web page publisher must include the name and e-mail link of a faculty or staff contact person or departmental e-mail address at the bottom of every page (an e-mail link must not be a student e-mail address).

6. The Web page publisher must provide the following, or similarly formatted, contact information on the top-level page of a department or unit Web site.

   Department Name -- E-mail: department_name@wright.edu
   Open Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. (or appropriate department hours)
   xxx Campus Building Name
   Wright State University
   3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy.
   Dayton, OH 45435-0001
   Telephone: (937) 775-xxxx Fax: (937) 775-xxxx

7. The Web page publisher must note the date the page was created or updated. If more than one person is maintaining the page, the publisher may want to include the name or initials of the person who made the last modification.

8. The top-level page of every department or unit site must link back to the Wright State University home page athttp://www.wright.edu. Every "lower level" Web page must provide a link back to the department or unit home page.

9. The Web page publisher must respect the copyrights of text, sound, and graphic material, remembering that the appearance of material in print does not indicate that Wright State University holds permission for use beyond that appearance.

10. Commercial links

    1. WSU Web pages may provide a text link to a commercial site if the university has an exclusive contractual relationship with the business (e.g., the Barnes and Noble College Bookstores, Inc., Web site for Wright State University). Logo links are not permitted on university pages unless an exception is granted by the Web Advisory Committee.

    2. WSU Web pages can provide a text link to a commercial site if the site provides a service to the university's primary community (faculty, staff, or students), as long as the university is not receiving any goods or services for creating the link (e.g., http://www.britannica.com/).

    3. WSU Web pages must not link to the site for any commercial Web developers who have created the site or the pages contained therein. This principle applies to situations in which the university paid for the service and in which the service was provided free of charge. Attribution can and should be listed, but no links can be provided and no commercial logos can be displayed.

11. Web page owners and publishers should review "The Web at Wright State University" at http://www.wright.edu/cm/web-services/. The document contains links to the Web Style Guide, design and content suggestions, and Internet resources. Web page owners and publishers also should check pages on a regular basis for dead links and should keep information current.

1. Web server space is available to any student organization registered with the university or to any student who is currently enrolled at the university.

2. The content of a student organization's Web page must relate specifically to the activities of that organization. Organization pages must include the campus address and phone number of the organization or the name of a responsible officer.

3. Space allocated to a student organization may not be used for personal pages of members or officers of the organization. However, an organization page may provide links to member personal pages. If links are provided to student personal pages, the standard disclaimer ("The views and opinions expressed on unofficial pages of Wright State University faculty, staff or students are strictly those of the page authors. The content of these pages has not been reviewed or approved by Wright State University.") must be placed immediately preceding links to those personal pages.

4. A student's personal pages should include an e-mail link for contact purposes. A student's personal pages will be removed from the server 30 days after the student's withdrawal or graduation from the university.

Appeals regarding any of the guidelines in this policy may be made to the Web Advisory Committee.

This policy will be reviewed as needed, at least annually.