Panola College Policy on Electronic Publications

Purpose

The quality of information published by Panola College plays a significant role in the reputation and image of the institution in providing information about the college's services and programs.  The Panola College Electronic Publications Policy sets minimum standards for anyone who develops and/or contributes web pages for Panola College.  The College's policy strives to ensure that all electronic publications are attractive, well written and developed, and follows the high standards expected of other forms of published information.  At the same time, it is the intention of the policy to allow ample room for creativity and flexibility while maintaining a collegiate image.  The Panola College Electronic Publications Policy will be reviewed by the Technology Committee and amended as needed.

Policy

Panola College, in acknowledging the importance and value of electronic publishing, encourages employees and students to publish relevant information electronically.

Official Panola College electronic publications on the World Wide Web are official documents and must follow the same laws and policies and standards regarding nondiscrimination, libel, copyright, offensive material, visual identity, and so forth.  A web page may be considered offensive by merely containing a direct link to a page with objectionable material.  This includes links to other pages that may be maintained by other individuals.

Official pages are those publicly accessible electronic documents, whose URL’s contain “panola.edu” which represent the college, departments, offices, services, or other units, as well as officially registered student, faculty or staff organizations.  All initial pages representing any element or employee of Panola College hosted by the college's server or on any college computer must be submitted to the Webmaster for publication.

Wherever appropriate, all official pages of Panola College, divisions, departments, instructors, etc., and organizations should include (1) the name and email link to the person responsible for maintaining the page, (2) the date of the last revision, and (3) a link to the Panola College Home Page.

The Panola College Home Page, or top-level page, is http://www.panola.edu and is the responsibility of the Webmaster, as are other menu pages containing links to campus units and other general information about the college. The Webmaster also is responsible for creating and maintaining current pages and creating additional pages as requested by the administration and others based upon time permitting.

Panola College resources may not be used to create web pages for business or personal gain. In addition, neither faculty, staff, nor students may have links to personal non-educational sites from Panola College web pages. For an exception, the individual may appeal to the Technology Committee.

Personal pages are pages stored on college computer/servers and/or using an address in the college's Internet domain (panola.edu) which are created by or for and represent an individual.  Personal pages must not present themselves as official pages and must follow all applicable laws and college policies.  Personal web pages will include this disclaimer, "The views and opinions expressed on the following page(s) are strictly those of the page author.  The contents are not necessarily endorsed by Panola College." The Webmaster authorizes links to personal pages from official college pages.

All student organization web pages must adhere to the Panola College Home Page Guidelines and Policy for Student Organizations.

The Webmaster has the right to review, restrict and possibly remove any electronic page published on Panola College computers or linked to the Panola College web site. If the Webmaster deems it advisable, she may take her decision before the Technology Committee for endorsement. 

All Panola College electronic publications created after the adoption of this policy by the Panola College Technology Committee must conform to this policy.  Any pages created prior to the adoption must be in compliance by September 1, 1999.  The Webmaster will notify all employees of the policy.

Date of Electronic Publications Policy adoption by Technology Committee: April 14, 1999.
Effective date: September 1, 1999
Revised:  February 27, 2002

Faculty & Staff | Panola College
Contact Webmaster
9/17/03