USA Web Policies

These policies govern the management of those electronic documents accessible on the World Wide Web that represent the University of South Alabama (USA). USA encourages contributions to its World Wide Web site and these policies are intended to guide the preparation and management of such contributions.

For many people, the USA Home Page (www.southalabama.edu) and its associated web pages are the first point of contact with the University. The quality of electronic information published by USA is important in maintaining the strong reputation and image of the University. Thus, information on the USA Home Page is subject to the same policies and standards as print publications. These policies set minimal standards that are meant to ensure that information published electronically is accurate, visually appealing, clearly presented and follows the same high standards as other forms of published information.

The development of the USA Home Page, and official pages (see definitions below) are governed by the University Publications/Graphics Standards manual published by the Office of Publication Services.

The USA Home Page is maintained by the USA Public Reations, Web Services group. The USA Home Page includes the top-level pages that provide general information about the University, index, directories, search engines, and menu pages with links to departmental or organizational unit pages.

The Internet/Web Site Advisory Committee is charged with the development and enforcement of Web Policies provisions. Questions concerning the application of Web Policies should be referred to this committee.

Home Page: The first page of a group of related web pages.

Official pages are those publicly accessible electronic documents that represent the University, colleges, departments, offices, services, or other units as well as officially registered student, faculty or staff organizations. All official pages are linked to the USA Home Page.

Personal pages are those pages stored on University-owned computers or using an address in the University's Internet domain (southalabama.edu) or (usouthal.edu) that are created by and represent only an individual, not USA. Personal pages will not be directly linked to the USA Home Page. They may be indirectly linked to the USA Home Page via a USA unit's web page.

USA Home Page: The collective group of Web pages that constitute the top-level pages for the USA World Wide Web site. This includes the home page and all subsequent related official pages. The USA Home Page contains a link to all official pages regardless of which web server they reside on.

USA Unit: Official colleges, departments, offices, services, or other organizations as well as officially registered student, faculty or staff organizations related to the University.

Web page: a document presented on the World Wide Web; the document may consist of either a single home page or several related pages linked to the home page.

Copyright
The USA Home Page is an official publication of the University of South Alabama. Unless otherwise indicated, all text, photographs and graphics appearing on the USA Home Page are copyrighted and must not be reproduced by an unauthorized individual or organization without written permission from the appropriate University official.

Official pages must abide by all applicable laws and USA policies and standards regarding nondiscrimination, libel and copyright, offensive material and visual identity. A page may be considered offensive simply by containing a direct link to another page that may be maintained by other individuals or organizations that presents offensive material.

It is not legal to publish the work of others in web pages without their express permission. It is not legal to use another organization or individual's trademarked logos, musical selections or graphics without permission.

Musical backgrounds or selections on official pages are discouraged unless they are directly related to and identifiable with the USA unit. In any event, proper copyright clearinghouse permission must be obtained before the music can be used.

The USA web servers (www.southalabama.edu , www3.southalabama.edu) are intended for use as web servers only. They are not to be used for data storage that would otherwise be stored offline or on a departmental LAN server or a workstation. Very large files (those over 1MB) should be not be stored on the USA web servers unless they are an integral part of the web site itself. Very large files will be deleted by the USA Webmaster if the organization webmaster does not voluntarily remove these files. Any files not accessed in 24 months are subject to being archived after notification. Official Organizations are limited to a total of 50MB of disk space without the express permission of the USA Webmaster.

Official Organizations may purchase and use a domain name other than southalabama.edu if it is in the best interest of the University. All domain names will be approved in advance by the USA Webmaster before they are registered. It is the desire of the University to utilize the southalabama.edu domain name wherever it is practical and in the best interest of the University. Domain names such as library.southalabama.edu and admissions.southalabama.edu are encouraged instead of names such as www.usalibrary.com and www.southalabamaadmissions.org.

Except where it would be inappropriate, all official pages of the University will include:

• Official University of South Alabama logo and/or wordmark
• Date of last update, recommended format: MM/DD/YYYY
• URL address of the page
• Name and E-mail link to the person or USA unit responsible for maintaining the page
• Link at the bottom of the USA unit's home page to the University of South Alabama Home Page at http://www.southalabama.edu. The link should be formatted: USA Home Page or selectable through the use the USA logo or wordmark graphic.

Student Organization web sites must be in English and must include the following information:

• Official name of the organization
• List of current officers
• Purpose of the organization
• Meeting times and places
• Events, programs, etc.
• Faculty advisor, name, office location and telephone number
• Constitution of the organization
• Link on bottom of organization home page to the USA home pages (http://www.southalabama.edu)
• E-mail address of the organization webmaster on the bottom of the organization home page
• Date last changed on the bottom of the organization home page

Personal Gain

Official pages cannot be created for personal business or personal gain.

Official pages for both academic and service departments must not be used to advertise products or services from outside organizations without approval from USA officials. Requests to include advertising should be submitted to the Webmaster of the USA Home Page for referral to appropriate University officials. Examples of such advertising include, but are not limited to, display of vendor logos or other advertising in exchange for the use of "free" software.

For example, advertising is often included with hit counters provided by outside organizations. Since generic hit counters are available on the USA Web Server, hit counters that include advertising from outside organizations are prohibited.

Official pages will be reviewed for Web Policies compliance, style, appearance, and appropriateness before they will be linked to the USA Home Page. Subsequent changes to official pages are likewise governed by these Web Policies. Failure to comply with these Web Policies will result in the removal of the USA unit's web pages from the USA web server or removal of the link from the USA Home Page.

Official USA Symbols

The official pages template may be used if desired. Only official USA symbols can be used to represent the University on official pages.

Frames

The USA Home Page(s), www.southalabama.edu, should not be placed in a subordinate frame within a web site using frames. USA Home Pages must always be started as a new page.

Personal pages are not routinely reviewed or approved by USA. Personal pages must abide by all applicable laws and University policies and standards regarding nondiscrimination, libel and copyright, offensive material and visual identity. A page may be considered offensive simply by containing a direct link to another page that may be maintained by other individuals or organizations that presents offensive material.

The USA web servers (www.southalabama.edu , www3.southalabama.edu) are intended for use as web servers only. They are not to be used for data storage that would otherwise be stored offline or on a departmental LAN server or a workstation. Very large files (those over 1MB) should be not be stored on the USA web servers unless they are an integral part of the web site itself. Very large files will be deleted by the USA Webmaster if the personal page webmaster does not voluntarily remove these files. Personal Pages are limited to a total of 10MB of disk space without the express permission of the USA Webmaster.

It is not legal to publish the work of others in web pages without their express permission. It is not legal to use another organization or individual's trademarked logos, musical selections, video productions, audio productions or graphics without permission.

Personal Gain

Personal pages cannot be created for personal business or personal gain.

Personal pages must not be used to advertise products or services from outside organizations without approval from University officials. Requests to include advertising should be submitted to the Webmaster of the USA Home Page for referral to appropriate USA officials. Examples of such advertising include, but are not limited to, display of vendor logos or other advertising in exchange for the use of "free" software.

For example, advertising is often included with hit counters provided by outside organizations. Since generic hit counters are available on the USA Web Server, hit counters that include advertising from outside organizations are prohibited.

Personal pages can be linked from official pages with the approval of the appropriate USA unit official.

Personal pages may contain a link to the USA Home Page.

Disclaimer

The home page of personal pages must include the following statement at the bottom of the page: "The views and opinions expressed in these web page(s) are strictly those of the author. The contents of these page(s) have not been reviewed or approved by the University of South Alabama."

Official USA Symbols

Individuals may use the official USA symbols on personal pages to identify the author as a student, alumnus, faculty or staff member. However, the University official symbols may not be used in such a way as to imply that personal pages are in fact official pages, nor may University symbols be used in such a way as to imply sponsorship or endorsement. The University reserves the right to take action against any individual or group that violates these Web Policies.

Official USA symbols can be used on official or personal web pages when used in accordance with the graphics conditions of use provisions.