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Policies & Procedures - MRI Web

Under Development

Purpose

To establish guidelines and procedures that will provide a consistant, high quality, accessable Web-presence for all of the Penn State Materials Research Institute (MRI) and our world-wide users, which adheres to both federal and Penn State policies and guidelines.

Scope

All publicly available Web sites and Web pages hosted on any MRI server. This includes all pages containing information sanctioned by the University or MRI and directly related to University or MRI business or academic activities. Compliance deadline is July 1, 2008.

Rational

Each year, thousands of people will visit our Web sites seeking information about who we are, what we do, and services we offer. Whether that person is a current student, faculty or staff member, a prospective student, a corporate donor, a parent, an alum, or a journalist, it is important that they find our Web sites easy to navigate, inviting to read, accurate, and informative. To facilitate this, Penn State and MRI provide Web-hosting and related services as tools that should be used strictly for authorized commerce, communication and research.

As further assistance, MRI also offers a customizable Dreamweaver template which is compliant, to level 3 priority, with all accessibility and usability guidelines. Contact the MRI Webmaster if you would like more information.

Policy

THOU SHALL:

• Exercise Acceptable Use: Faculty, staff and student access to the Web servers is a privilege, not a right. Individuals who violate policies and procedures will have their Web privileges suspended or terminated.
• Be a Responsible User: avoid actions which may cause you to lose your access privileges. Individuals must respect the rights of others, respect the integrity of the systems and related physical resources, and observe all relevant policies, laws, regulations, and contractual obligations.
• Be in compliance with MRI, Section 508 and AD54 guidelines, deadline July 1, 2008
  • MRI Requirements
  • AD54 Requirements
  • Section 508 Requirements
• Have a webmaster: each site will have a person assigned the task of overseeing the day-to-day changes and updates. Each site will also carry the contact information for said webmaster.
• Have a Web site owner: each site will provide a page with the name and contact information for the person responsible for the site content
  
  NOTE: in some instances the webmaster and the site owner may be the same person.
  
  
• Perform routine maintenance: all sites will be re-visited at least twice a year to ensure relevant, current content and to remove or replace dead links.
• Respect copyrights: copyright of text, sound, research and graphic material must be acknowledged. Appropriate copyright notices must be prominently displayed as necessary and access to such materials must be limited as required by the conditions of the license for use obtained from the copyright owner.
• Use a secure FTP agent: All interactions with an MRI Web server will be conducted through SFTP (Secure File Transport Protocol). MRI recommends and supports Dreamweaver for this purpose. Please check with the MRI Webmaster about the use of other agents.

THOU SHALL NOT:

• Work on any MRI Web server directly. All interactions with an MRI Web server will be conducted through SFTP (Secure File Transport Protocol).
• Use an MRI Web server for file storage or archiving. When files are no longer linked into a site, they will be removed. Please check with the MRI Webmaster about other means of archiving and storing files.
• Use MRI Web servers to host a site for personal business. PSU and MRI offer site hosting only for Penn State and Materials Research related topics and interests, not for personal use, personal business or gain, including advertisements for commercial services or products.
• Use any tool or service provided by PSU or MRI for inappropriate communications. This includes unsolicited advertising via email, commercial solicitation, using foul or obscene language, posting obnoxious or inappropriate announcements, or making defamatory statements.

Definitions

• AD54: Penn State's guidelines for image use, search functions, and accessibility for Web sites under the PSU domain, i.e., any Web site with a URL ending in “psu.edu”. For more information, please visit the PSU AD54 Web page.
• Dead link: a link which is no longer functional and/or returns a "page not found" or a "404 error"
• Section 508: enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals. For more information, please visit the government Web site for section 508.
• Webmaster: A person who has been assigned the task of overseeing one or more Web sites.
• Web page: a document, viewable via a Web browser, posted to a Web server and linked to a Web site
• Web server: A PSU computer that has the software necessary to link the file contained therein to the World Wide Web, i.e., any Web site with a URL ending in “psu.edu”.
• Web site: a collection of interlinked documents, web pages, images, videos and other digital assets, and hosted on a particular domain or subdomain on a Web server which forms an integrated presence.