THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES POLICIES AND GUIDELINES FOR PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION ON THE WORLD-WIDE WEB

Background and Rationale

1. As use of the Internet and the World-Wide Web (WWW) gains in popularity, it will become the major means of communication, not only inter-campus but internationally. The information published through this medium under the aegis of UWI must therefore be accurate, well presented and must not in any way inpugn the good name of the University.
2. The intention of these guidelines is not to stifle creativity and/or initiative on the part of UWI's Internet users but rather, to ensure that basic standards are adhered to; that the material presented maintains a consistent image, is accurate and is updated on a regular basis.
3. The University reserves the right to control all material published on its web site.
4. The ensuing guidelines stipulate what is acceptable and unacceptable use; give suggestions about style and presentation and offer advice on the legal responsibilities of communicating on the World-Wide Web.
5. While it is impractical for the University to vet all the material produced prior to publication, checks will be made from time to time and home page authors found guilty of flouting any or all of the guidelines will be asked to make the necessary corrections.

Official Pages

Web pages related in any way to the work of The University of the West Indies, its Faculties and Departments, are considered Official Pages and must be registered with the University Information Systems Unit on the relevant campus.

1. Each Official Page must have a link back to the main UWI Home Page.
2. The University Crest (coat of arms) should be displayed in the top left-hand corner of each Official Page. Pre-designed templates for Official Front Pages will be provided. Departmental logos will be permitted on Official Pages, provided they conform to the size and style suggested on the template and retain the University's identifier.
3. The E-mail address of the author or contact person should be included; it is desirable that fax and telephone numbers of the individual units be also given.
4. In order to maintain freshness, the content of each Official Page should be reviewed regularly, but at least once within a four-week period. An indication of the date when the Official Page was last updated/reviewed must be included.
5. Each Faculty and Department must nominate a contact person who will be responsible for ensuring accuracy of the content of Official Pages issued from the Department or Faculty in question. This contact person must validate or revalidate the accuracy of content with the relevant Dean/Head of Department at least once every four weeks and relay all updates to the Web Administrator. Failure to do so could result in the deactivation of links to these pages.
6. Care should be taken to ensure that the content of Official Pages is of the highest editorial standards (spelling, punctuation, grammar, style, etc) and factually accurate.
7. Official Pages should contain a disclaimer such as, "The links from this page are the personal home page of UWI students, staff and faculty. The views and opinions expressed in them are strictly those of the page authors".
8. All articles of a commercial nature must be sent to the campus Business Development Unit.

Appropriate/Inappropriate Use

1. All persons submitting materials to UWI WWW servers represent and warrant that the submission, installation, copying, distribution and use of such materials in connection with the WWW servers will not violate any person's proprietary or other rights.
2. Copyrighted works such as published articles, cartoons, songs, software, photographs and graphics scanned from other web pages should not be used without the expressed permission of the copyright owner. UWI accepts no responsibility for copyright infringement by WWW users.
   
   Any quotation from material other than one's own should be credited.
   
   If a user wants to include material from another web page then it is better to link to it, rather than copy it.
   
   Consistent failure to adhere to the guidelines or users found guilty of copyright infringement, harassment or promotion of pornography, calumny, obscenity, defamation or other illegal activity, shall have their pages removed and be subject to disciplinary action.
3. Pictures or videos should not be included in one's web pages without the permission of the persons appearing in the images. Failure to gain permission could be considered an invasion of privacy and may also involve copyright infringements.

4. Intellectual Property Rights

Information providers should be careful not to compromise intellectual property rights belonging to them or to the University. In particular, premature dissemination of information on the WWW could invalidate a patent claim or prejudice future journal publication.

Disclaimer

1. All official front pages must provide a link to the following disclaimer statement. The link must appear somewhere on each home page. Placement is at the discretion of each web editor.
2. The University of the West Indies WWW servers were designed to provide information about the University of the West Indies and its community, and links to specific external sites. Use of the system for any purpose other than that for which it was designed is unauthorized and prohibited.
3. All persons submitting materials to the UWI WWW servers understand and agree that the University of the West Indies is not responsible for any errors in or damage to materials as a result of the installation or maintenance of such materials on UWI machines or equipment or their use by anyone accessing the UWI servers.
4. While efforts will be made to keep information in the WWW servers accurate and up to date, the University of the West Indies does not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of such information. Readers should therefore verify information with the appropriate UWI authorities before relying or acting on it.
5. Unless otherwise noted, the web information does not represent official statements or views of the University of the West Indies. Comments on the content of web pages of UWI staff or students should be directed to the page authors."

Guidelines for Internet Users

1. Backgrounds that are busy or with loud and glaring colours should be avoided. An attractive presentation that uses graphics and colour in moderation is preferred.
2. A web page should, on average, not exceed 1½ - 2 pages worth of information (a page being what is displayed on the screen without scrolling). If the material is longer than this, it should be broken down into separate pages with the necessary links. A bulleted list of links with annotations explaining the link in more detail is recommended.
3. The unexplained use of acronyms should be avoided. It must be remembered that the target audience is global and acronyms familiar to the UWI community will not be understood by the average user.
4. Announcements that a site is "under construction" is bad form. Authors should avoid putting incomplete pages on-line. This is not to say that completed pages should not be updated from time to time.

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Copyright © University of the West Indies. 2006 UWI Web Policy