University of Missouri  Extension Web Publishing Policies

The following policies apply to all pages/sites developed on the extension.missouri.edu (also accessible as outreach.missouri.edu, muextension.missouri.edu, missourifamilies.org) server, and all persons developing pages on this server. Policies pertaining to consistency, content ownership and credibility apply to all MU Extension programmatic and administrative websites, regardless of the server on which they are housed.

Comments and discussion are welcome. Please address comments to Kate Akers akersk@missouri.edu, MU Extension Web Support Team. 

Policy Statements

The University of Missouri Extension Web Support Team will maintain the University of Missouri Extension main page and statewide program pages. The Web Support Team is responsible for overall consistency, coordination and support of the extension web presence. The web support team issues accounts for web development on extension.missouri.edu and may revoke account privileges for policy violations or violations of the acceptable use policy.

The Web Support Team is responsible for making sure the MU Extension web presence is professional, well-organized, easy to navigate and adheres to the MU Extension Web publishing policies.  As such, Web Support Team members have the authority to make changes to any content in the MU Extension web site to correct problems and policy violations.

All University of Missouri Extension Websites and content are a reflection of the university and its employees. As such they are expected to meet a high standard of professionalism and credibility while providing unbiased, research-based information from the University of Missouri.

County office sites will conform to the graphic standards adopted November 1, 2002.  County office main pages and second level pages will all use standardized formats based on these templates: County office main page template

Second-level topic pages (Agriculture to Nutrition) will include a statewide section and a regional section, implemented through server side includes. The content for the statewide sections is determined by state program leaders.  Content for regional sections is determined by regional specialists designated by the regional director.  Detailed topic-page architecture

Pages about specific programs (third-tier pages) must meet the consistency requirements outlined below, and are strongly encouraged, but not required, to use the standard page format. All county sites are provided with these two standard templates: basic | two-column

For the sake of organizational consistency and navigability (for visitors who enter via search engines to non-main pages) all University of Missouri Extension web pages shall include the following elements:

• A University of Missouri Extension horizontal logo at the top of the page and a standard logo in the footer. ( http://extension.missouri.edu/webteam/style/logos.html) These should link to the extension home page (http://extension.missouri.edu).
• The name and e-mail address of the contact for that page. The contact person should be aware of the page, familiar with its contents, and willing and able to respond to e-mail regarding the page in a timely fashion. The e-mail address should be a "mailto:" link on the page.
• Last revised date. This date provides reference for both internal and external audiences as to the freshness and timeliness of the content. When pages are revised, the date should be updated. In some situations, this can be accomplished automatically with the use of server-side includes. The revision date must appear on all pages that have timely content. Pages that are timeless information do not need to have this date. Site front pages should always have a last revised date to let visitors know how "fresh" the site is.
• EEO/ADA Statement -- An EEO/ADA statement must appear on the main page, usually called index.html, for every extension web site, including county office sites, programmatic sites, newsletters, etc.
  It does not need to appear on every sub-page.
  For more information, see http://extension.missouri.edu/staff/eeo/

Footer templates may be obtained from: http://outreach.missouri.edu/webteam/style/.

4.  Electronic Publishing Responsibility

The extension Web Support Team provides overall coordination for University of Missouri Extension web development and provides technical and design support to site maintainers.

Program leaders and administrators have oversight of the content quality, but ultimate responsibility for the quality, accuracy and timeliness of content on the extension Website falls to the faculty members and professional staff who author and publish the content. Curricula and advisory information published in electronic form must meet the same academic review requirements as curricula published in any other form.

All content on MU Extension web pages shall be reviewed for accuracy. Accuracy is just as important in electronic publications as it is in print publications and shall have equally high priority. Programmatic curricula must go through the same review by Program Directors as for any other type of publication.

Content (text, photos, sound, etc.) from other sources will include complete citations of the original source with the same care and consistency as in any print publication. Copyright and fair use standards apply. See: Copyright & Fair Use Information for extension web developers.

Content that originates with the University of Missouri should be credited to the author and have an e-mail link whenever possible. Citations should be made the same as they would be in print, with the addition of a link to the source if available.

Additional information about web content may be found in the Extension Appropriate Use Policy for Information Technology Resources.

In accordance with University of Missouri Copyright Regulations, content produced by employees that is considered  "University-sponsored" may bear the following copyright statement: 
© Copyright (year) by The Curators of the University of Missouri, a public corporation 

Copyright attributed to any other portion of the University is not valid - ie a program, unit, office, employee, etc.

Guidelines for linking to external sources

6. Web site content re-publishing

It is NEVER an acceptable practice to re-publish content from other web sites or printed sources onto your own web site or into a printed publication UNLESS one of the following criteria are met:

• You have obtained specific written permission to republish from the original content provider (author or publisher). This includes content from other universities and government agencies.
• There is a clear written statement from the author or publisher that accompanies the work stating that it is permissible to republish or redistribute the work.
• The excerpt you are using is unequivocally permissible under the U.S Copyright Office doctrine of “Fair Use.”  See: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html 
• The content is unequivocally in the public domain and free of copyrights.

University of Missouri Extension is committed to providing equal access to our services and resources to all citizens, including those with disabilities. In addition, as part of the land grant university system, Extension is funded in part by the USDA which makes us subject to the ADA laws governing government agencies. In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.

Section 508, Electronic and Information Technology, took effect June 1, 2001, requiring government agencies to make electronic content accessible to people with disabilities.  Section 504 Prohibits "excluding people because they have disabilities from any program or activity that receives federal funding." 

References:
   www.section508.gov
   www.access-board.gov
   Web Site Accessibility Tutorial, from the Land Grant Training Alliance

Extension web page creators may incorporate the latest web technologies into their pages, such as:

• DTD HTML standards to take advantage of the timeliest web browser features
• Scripting languages, such as Java and Visual Basic
• Complimentary "plug-in" applications, such as Adobe Acrobat, streaming audio/video, Flash, Shockwave, etc.

However, to facilitate access to content by all audiences equally, pages that incorporate these features also must
1.  Be carefully checked to make sure all scripts and plug-in pieces work correctly and do not generate error messages
2. Provide a reasonably equitable alternative for text-only browsers and adaptive technology devices. This may be accomplished through use of alternate text for images, alternative format files, separate text-only pages, etc.

Content must be timely and accurate. Extension Website managers and the Web Support Team shall regularly review web pages for freshness. Out-of-date information shall be removed from Web pages. 

No confidential employee or learner information shall be stored on a publicly accessible storage media.

Financial transactions on the Extension pages shall be done only via secure procedures specifically approved by the Extension Web Support Team and MU Campus administration. 

MU Extension offices or units may not collect money through a third party Web service such as paypal.

Extension Learner Privacy Policy (adopted February 2002):
University and federal policy in compliance with federal statute provides that "personal" information (name, address, phone numbers, etc) about extension learners/students/partners/program participants (whether individuals, businesses or other groups) may not be provided to any outside organizations or individuals without the specific written consent of each individual or organization for which information is requested. Faculty and staff members who receive requests should not provide such information. This includes names, home or business addresses and/or phone numbers of county council members and program advisory group members and such information on newsletter lists.

Groups wishing to hire an independent contractor or otherwise engage someone who is not an employee of MU Extension to design, build or maintain web pages housed on extension.missouri.edu will involve the extension Web Support Team, prior to signing a contract or beginning work, in all discussions regarding the scope and nature of the work the contractor will do.

Employees may not share their login id/password for an extension.missouri.edu account with a non-employee for any reason. Doing so will result in the revocation of all login privileges. Non-employees may be granted login access to outreach.missouri.edu only after a request has been made and reviewed by the webmaster and system administrator. 

Content accuracy and adherence to policies always remains the responsibility of a extension professional staff member. Volunteers and contractors who work on web pages must do so with the oversight of a professional staff member.

In accordance with the Acceptable Use Agreement, independent contractors or firms may not advertise their services or company on a extension page.

Microsoft FrontPage 2003 is the currently supported Web publishing software for University of Missouri Extension web publishing activities. The software came preinstalled on all new computers delivered to field offices in the first half of 2004. Campus units may purchase the software from IATS for a nominal charge. Training is available in a variety of formats.

Other web publishing software may or may not work with the current server configuration. If you wish to use another publishing software or method on extension.missouri.edu, contact the extension Web Support Team.

Persons requesting an account for the purpose of modifying web pages on extension.missouri.edu, must read, sign and submit to the extension Web Support Team an Acceptable Use Policy Agreement before being granted access. 

Violation of the terms set out in the agreement are grounds for immediate revocation of account rights and publishing privileges.

All common gateway interface (CGI) scripts are subject to review by the Web Support Team and system administrator to prevent security problems and server outages due to script malfunctions.

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		Kate Akers  akersk@missouri.edu Last revised: 12/12/06