Web Access and Publishing

The use of websites must be in support of educational, research, and professional activities that are consistent with the educational goals and policies of the University. This section of the Policy applies to all forms of University web presence, whether created by the University, departments, staff, or students.

University Websites

1. The university website *.uom.lk  is the sole property of UoM. University also owns the *.uom.lk domain. Unless for specialized and approved applications, University web presence must only be on *.uom.lk. While certain staff will have access to edit certain portions of the website, create new content, and remove old content, the website and all its sub-sites remain the property of the University.
2. University websites will convey the UOM brand and reflect the University’s broad values and culture. As it will be clearly identifiable as a part of the University, a consistent and identifiable representation of the University is of utmost priority.
3. The University website is the responsibility of the Director, CITeS (or their nominee).
4. Only the content provider (i.e., respective Head/Director of the department/division) may request from the Director, CITeS to set up a UoM organizational unit website for the department, division, or project. Any requests for a new website should include the following:
   1. The contact details of the content owner and website developers/moderators
   2. The high-level structure of the website and what content will be presented on the website
   3. The visual design of the website (if different from the visual designs available through the University Content Management System (CMS))
   4. Any special technical requirements for the site (databases, wikis, web services, and APIs).
   5. Anticipated workload such as types and sizes of content, users and their access patterns
5. Once the request is approved, a separate username and password pair must be issued for the development and maintenance purposes of the website. Moreover, if other resources such as database access is needed, a separate account needs to be issued for each service. All such accounts should be created in-line with the User Accounts and Password Policy.
6. The establishment and maintenance of such a department, division, or project website may be delegated with the permission from the respective Head/Director to named individuals within the department/division.
7. All websites of departments, divisions, or University projects must be under the uom.lk domain. In special circumstances, departments, divisions, and projects may have other domains given strong justification and prior approval of the Director, CITeS. In such cases, relevant policies need to be developed by the respective department, division, and project in-line with this Policy, and those policies must be approved by the University IT Strategy Committee within three (3) months of the launch of the website. Else, the website must be terminated.
8. To ensure consistent maintenance and application of patches and security updates all University websites must be hosted on the CITeS-managed web servers.

3.2       Web-based Content Access, Creation, and Hosting

1. Accessing, creating, hosting, and sharing content related to the University’s web presence, as well as using the University IT resources must comply with the Permitted and Prohibited Activities specified in the University Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).
2. Any requests for changes to the University website must be made through the Director, CITeS (or their nominee) and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
3. Users are encouraged at all times to use their department, division, or project websites to communicate in a responsible manner having due regard to the rights and reputation of the University and of others as outlined in the AUP.
4. CITeS Web Administrator must be consulted before a new website is created to ensure consistency, technical compatibility, and security. All efforts must be taken to implement new websites through the CMS provided by the CITeS.
5. All University websites must be responsive such that they work with popular web browsers and common screen sizes.
6. Homepages of all University websites must identify themselves as members of the University administration. Therefore, homepages of all University websites must contain a link to the University Homepage and University’s Privacy statement.
7. Use of the University logo and branding on department, division, or project websites is subject to the University branding guidelines.
8. Each website must contain contact details of the department, division, or project, as well as an e-mail address that is regularly followed up by the web content creator or web developer.
9. Publications must include a statement of copyright and sharing policy when appropriate. When including copyrighted materials indicate that the permission has been received.
10. All University web pages should meet the goals of high quality in both style and presentation. All websites must be regularly updated. Correct grammar and spelling are expected.
11. Any website, web services, or REST APIs exposed (internally or externally) must be in line with the Information Security Policy.

4.0       Social Media

Social media provides unique and rich opportunities to converse with the University community and beyond. However, improper use could pose risks to the University’s reputation, confidential and proprietary information, and compliance with laws and regulations. These concerns are relevant even to your personal accounts, as you will be seen as a student, faculty, staff, or affiliate of the University. Therefore, this section of the Policy applies to all forms of University and personal social media sites/presence whether created by the University, departments, staff, or students.

4.1       University Social Media Sites

1. This includes the official social media sites created by the University (including repositories of material such as WiKis and Forums for Staff and Students), as well as University profile pages created on third-party sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
2. University social media sites will convey the UOM brand and reflect the University’s broad values and culture. As it will be clearly identifiable as a part of the University, a consistent and identifiable representation of the University is of utmost priority.
3. The University social media pages are the responsibility of the Director, CITeS (or their nominee).
4. Only the content provider (i.e., respective Head/Director of the department/division) may request the Director, CITeS to set up a UoM organizational unit social media site for the department, division, or project. The request should include the following:
   1. The contact details of the content owner and content developers/moderators.
   2. The reason for having a separate account/presence that is different from the existing University social media sites.
5. Once the request is approved, a separate username and password pair must be issued for each social media site in-line with the User Accounts and Password Policy. “UoM” must be used as part of the account name while creating an account on a social media platform.
6. The establishment and maintenance of such a department, division, or project social media site may be delegated with the permission from the respective Head/Director to named individuals within the department/division.

4.2       Personal Accounts on Social Media Sites

1. While UoM does not limit the private use of social media, it is important to note that the same professional expectations; guidelines for interacting with students, alumni, media, and other university constituents; and national laws apply online as in person. As a student, faculty, and staff of the University, you represent UoM both in and outside of your classroom and office, and are responsible for anything posted on your personal social media sites.
2. Third-party social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn are used at the user’s own risk. As the university has no control over these sites, the university cannot take any responsibility for data stored on these sites.
3. Users should familiarise themselves with the terms and conditions governing each social media site and adhere to these conditions, in addition to the regulations set out in this Policy and AUP.
4. Users should ensure that they protect themselves, read and familiarise themselves with any privacy policy governing the social media site to ensure that they accept the disclosures that may be made of their data. It is highly recommended that users maintain the highest possible privacy settings on those sites (e.g., a private profile on Facebook).
5. Think before you post. Even when social media accounts have been deactivated, copies of user information may still remain online. Therefore, before posting content, users should consider the permanent online footprint they are creating in doing so.

4.3       Social Media Content Access, Creation, and Sharing

1. Accessing, creating, and sharing content related to the University and personal social media sites must comply with the Permitted and Prohibited Activities as specified in the University Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).
2. Any requests for changes or to add a new post to a University’s social media site must be made through the Director, CITeS (or their nominee) and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
3. Users are encouraged at all times to use their department, division, or project social media sites to communicate in a responsible manner having due regard to the rights and reputation of the University and of others as outlined in the AUP.
4. All University social media sites must identify themselves as members of the University administration.
5. Use of the University logo and branding on department, division, or project social media sites is subject to the University branding guidelines.
6. Each social media site must contain contact details of the department, division, or project, as well as an e-mail address that is regularly followed up by the web content creator or web developer. Content owner (or their nominee) is responsible for monitoring and maintaining the site and should check the sites/e-mails for new posts/comments at least once a week.
7. All messages posted by followers must be moderated before appearing on any University social media site. Any posts/comments that are illegal, obscene, defamatory, harassing, discriminatory, threatening, infringing on the intellectual property rights of others, an invasion of privacy, or violation of AUP must not be published.
8. Publications must include a statement of copyright and sharing policy when appropriate. When including copyrighted materials indicate that the permission has been received.
9. All University social media pages should meet the goals of high quality in both style and presentation. All social media sites must be regularly updated with at least one post per month. While the language used can fit the style of the particular social media platform, care must be taken to preserve the semantics of the message, and not to have obvious grammar and spelling errors.
10. Unless authorized to speak on behalf of UoM as part of a user’s job responsibility, users must be clear to the readers that the views expressed are yours alone and that they do not reflect the views of the University, by stating, for instance, “The views expressed in this post are my own. They do not represent the positions, strategies, or opinions of the University of Moratuwa.”
11. University strongly urges that faculty, instructors, supervisors, and managers not ask to be a part of a student’s or subordinate’s social media network. Any student, faculty, or staff may reject, without fear of retaliation, any request from any other student or employee that, if accepted, would permit access to a private social media site or page.