Agriculture Information Technology

Advisory Group (AITAG)

Ag IT Advisory Group – 1:00 p.m. Central, Monday, Dec. 3, 2007

Langdon: Randy Mehlhoff
Carrington: Vern Anderson
Grand Forks: Margaret Tweten
Valley City: Randy Grueneich
Fargo: Les Backer, Rosi Kloberdanz, Jim Hammond, Cindy Selstedt, Dave Rice, Becky Koch

Web Guidelines and Policies

Randy said he’d done some research about personal thoughts on the Web. Evie Myers, NDSU equity and diversity officer, said, “NDSU web pages are for business purposes and not for personal use… Extension staff should be reminded that personal statements (religious or otherwise) are not appropriate for NDSU web pages.”

Randy also checked about a product advertisement on an NDSU Web page. Drs. Grafton and Rasmussen negotiated with Bayer CropScience for the ad with a disclaimer. The disclaimer wasn’t there when we looked at the page in October.

Policies and Guidelines Draft

The committee worked on the Web policies and guidelines draft, which is a separate document that will be shared with Ag Administration.

Rationale
Vern pointed out that many Web pages are multidisciplinary. Dave agreed, saying more pages are categorized by subject matter (including multidisciplinary topics) rather than department. Vern asked who the Web page police is or would be to follow through with problems. Becky follows through when she sees or is made aware of major problems.

Jim asked how we help new faculty and staff become informed of their predecessors’ Web page since many pages that don’t meet guidelines or are really out of date were created by faculty or staff no longer at NDSU.

Jeff said NDSU is still discussing if “all” Web pages will convert to CMS. Including credits and contact information on every page isn’t a CMS issue, but proper Netiquette.

Policies

Les pointed out that Evie Myers’ note on personal statements on Web pages doesn’t have an NDSU policy number. Jeff said it would probably need to be specifically added to the NDSU Policy Manual. It may be implied in Policy1901. Several people said links to pages that express personal opinions are implied support.

Jim asked where the line is drawn. Shouldn’t an advertising policy be consistent? Randy said he can usually tell the difference between a company sponsorship vs. advertising of a specific product. Becky defines advertising as “paid communication through a non-personal medium in which the sponsor is identified and the message is controlled.” Recognizing sponsors – whether on a Web page, in a news release or on a brochure – is not advertising since NDSU controls the message, and that message is simply recognition of the sponsor, not promoting a specific product.

Cindy said other departments that are strapped for cash may want to start selling ads for their Web pages. Cindy said, for example, Farm Credit Services is sponsoring the Annie’s Project program rather than having a contract specifically for a mention on the Web or on a brochure.

Randy pointed out that we probably shouldn’t use the Public Broadcasting analogy in case they change policies.

Jim said partnerships need to benefit both NDSU and the company. Randy said the Oilseed Center of Excellence is another example of private partnership.

Vern said we need to be unbiased in our research to keep the respect of our producers. Randy pointed out that as an agent, he provided educational information to let producers make the best decisions for their situations.

Randy said if a sponsor supports NDSU, should their logo be allowed to be on any or all Web pages?

Rosi will check with Dick Jacobson to see if there are any policies regarding .com or .biz extensions.

Debb said national CSREES program leaders can’t have anything to do with .com domains. They’re also not allowed to do instant messaging.

Next meeting: 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 18

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