Hamilton College Blogging Policies for Academic Blogs

About Academic Blogs at Hamilton College

Hamilton College has implemented a flexible blogging system that provides the ability for administrative offices, faculty and students to maintain their own blog. For more information, or to request a blog for use in a course, please contact Carl Rosenfield at crosenfi@hamilton.edu. For personal or departmental blogs, please use the request form located at: http://www.hamilton.edu/blogs/.

Roles, Usage, and Policies

For the Blog Owner

The individual requesting the blog is considered the Blog Owner. The Blog Owner’s Hamilton College email address will be listed in the Settings area of the Administrator page. Blog Owners are ultimately accountable for all content that is posted to the blog. If the blog is course-related, Blog Owners should meet with ITSST to make sure that proper use of the available options is understood before making content on the blog publicly available. For other types of blogs, please contact the ITS Helpdesk for support information. It is suggested that Blog Owners be aware of the following before making posts:

1. Hamilton College policies related to use of email and listserv lists also apply to blog posts. The blog owner should be familiar with the Appropriate Use of E-mail and ListServ Lists sections of the policies listed at http://www.hamilton.edu/its/rc/policies-electronic-mail-e-mail.
2. As Blog Owner, your posts will set the tone of the blog. Be careful with your wording. Avoid unintended meanings and offensive language. The blog is not to be used in a way that adversely affects Hamilton College or the Hamilton College community, or to personally attack others.
3. All comments will held for moderation until the Blog Owner or designated moderator decides to approve or delete them. The Blog Owner is responsible for checking for new comments and preventing comments that violate Hamilton College policies or are otherwise inappropriate from being posted on the blog.
4. The Blog Owner should fully understand that any actions such as post or comment deletions are irreversible. Under extreme circumstances, blogs can be recovered by Web Services.

For Admin-Level Users

Administrative Users are the user accounts that will have FULL CONTROL of the blog. Since the Administrator level provides the ability to grant all levels of access to other users, it is strongly recommended that the Blog Owner is the only Administrative User. The blog owner should recognize that any other users with Administrative access can approve, modify and delete entries and comments and add or remove access to the blog for other users, including the Blog Owner. In the rare cases where users other than the Blog Owner are provided with Administrative-level access, the new Administrative User should refer to documentation or consult with ITS to make sure that proper use of the available options is understood. Posts made by Administrative Users will not be subject to moderation and usernames of Administrative Users will be visible on any posts made by that user.

1. Assigned Administrative Users must follow the same requirements as Blog Owners (see above).
2. Administrative Users should not perform any actions with the blog that are contrary to the wishes of the Blog Owner.

For Post Users

Post Users are the people who will have access to post blog entries on this blog. They will not have full control of the blog settings, but will be able to add and edit posts. Posts made by Post Users will not be subject to

moderation and usernames of Post Users will be visible on any posts made by that user. This is usually the appropriate role for students in a class that are making substantial initial entries to a course blog. It is suggested that Post Users be aware of the following while making posts:

1. Hamilton College policies related to use of email and listserv lists also apply to blog posts. The blog owner should be familiar with the Appropriate Use of E-mail and ListServ Lists sections of the policies listed at http://www.hamilton.edu/college/its/policies_standards_plans/sec_5_email.html.
2. Post Users must be made aware that the entries that they post on the blog are associated with their Hamilton College user id and viewable by anyone in the world with an Internet connection. Additionally, entries are likely to be cached by web search engines such as Google and are extremely easy to copy and disseminate. Be careful with your wording. Avoid unintended meanings and offensive language.
3. If you receive confrontational or threatening responses to content that you have posted through the blog, by email, or some other way, notify ITS and your instructor immediately.
4. Do not use the blog as a tool to personally attack others.

For Comment Users

Comment users and groups are the people who will have access to post comments on this blog. Comments submitted Comment Users will be subject to moderation and usernames of Comment Users will not be visible on any posts made by that user. It is suggested that Comment Users be aware of the following while making posts:

1. Be aware that your comments must be approved by the Blog Owner or a designated moderator before being made visible.
2. Be careful with your wording. Avoid unintended meanings and offensive language. The blog is not to be used to personally attack others.
3. Comment Users cannot edit what they have written after submitting their comment. If an edit is desired, the commenter should email the blog owner directly to request that change be made.

Authentication

Additionally, Hamilton College blogs can be set to require a Hamilton College username to login. Note that while this may discourage individuals outside of the Hamilton College community from viewing or posting comments to a blog, it may not fully prevent this from occurring. In the blog settings area, permissions can be limited to specific audiences to prevent guest accounts from viewing or posting.

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