3) "Use Northern's official title bar (shown above) when designing a
home page. This bar designates official pages endorsed by the university.
It occupies approximately 2 inces at the top of a screen; the rest of
the page is open for individual designs."
The aesthetics and practicality of such a requirement make this
an unacceptable requirement. A two inch NIU logo (presumably *required*
on only the first page), followed by title page and other introductory
material, leave little room on the first page for substantive content.
It also assumes that all homepages will include graphics rather than
text-only.
The wording denotes that *all* homepages are to have this logo,
suggesting that only *official* homepages endorsed by the University
will be allowed.
Either this wording is sufficiently sloppy such that it is an
embarrassing bit of policy writing, or we take the meaning at face value.
As it reads, the University has implemented a policy of censorship by
requiring NIU *endorsement* of all homepages. This is no more acceptable
than requiring university endorsement for scholarship or classroom
content.
2) "Place the name, phone number, and e-mail address of a contact person
at the bottom of each page. Include the date the page was last updated.
Consider placing all the information you would have on stationery: name,
address, department, name, etc."
This *requirement* was apparently designed by people who have little
(if any) knowledge of homepage publishing. Generally, such information
comes at the end of a page, and is *NOT* placed on every page. The
"Mission Statement" specifies that a homepage should be "attractive."
Cluttering each page with the required information violates that
expectation. Or, does "page" simply connote a prominent identifier
in the corpus of the work?
Those with a sense of irony will appreciate that the official NIU
homepage is in violation of this requirement.
1) "Obtain approval of information to be placed on the Web wherever you
would normally obtain approval for a publication: department heads,
Graduate School catalog editor, Office of Publications, and/or Public
Affairs (approval is especially necessary if you are publishing any
curricular information about Northern Illinois University)."
If the meaning of the above *requirement* is limited only to official
homepages, then the wording should be more clear. As it reads, it
suggests that *all* homepage content must be approved. But, what does the
clause "wherever you would normally obtain approval" mean?
There seems little ambiguity in these *requirements*: The University
appears to be imposing prior restraint on homepage publishing. Is
this the case?
jt