inStem website policy version 1.1, updated on 12032024

Website Policy

Institutional Policy on the Official Website and Web Pages

Our website serves as a window into the current status of research and activities at InStem. This policy outlines the terms for content organization and visual inputs for the InStem website. The guidelines within this document have been agreed upon by the website committee and are approved by the Dean and Director. Administrative and editorial privileges for page content are defined by InStem management.

(A) Faculty Member Webpages

(i) Each faculty member at InStem is expected to contribute to and maintain an official webpage in a set format. These pages will have officially accepted content monitored and approved by the Dean’s office. A minimum set of official webpages for faculty members should include:

• Home

• Research

• Publications

• Lab Members

• Contact

(ii) Additional pages and content may be added to the official faculty member page and updated as required, as long as they conform to institutional policies.

(iii) Personally owned and run lab websites may be linked to the official InStem faculty member webpages. However, InStem does not take responsibility for content on such personal websites, nor does it monitor such content.

(iv) Text and visual content on the official pages can be edited by designated personnel in each lab group. Fonts and styles must adhere to agreed templates (e.g., for font details, font size, and font weight) and cannot be edited by individual users.

(v) Each Principal Investigator (PI) will designate a maximum of two laboratory members to edit faculty member webpages. It is the PI’s responsibility to ensure that the names and contact details of these two designated laboratory members are current and accurate. If members leave the laboratory, the PI should inform the IT department so that a new member may be given editorial privileges as recommended by the PI.

(vi) PIs are responsible for keeping their lab webpages up to date.

(vii) For new faculty member webpages and email addresses, requests must be routed to it@helpdesk.instem.res.in via the Dean’s office, not directly from the new faculty member or any other faculty members.

(B) Creating New Microsites on the InStem Page

Requests for the creation of new microsites for the InStem website should be sent to it@helpdesk.instem.res.in, which internally projects to the Web Committee. These requests will be considered by the web committee before the project is commissioned, ensuring that any new microsites added to the website conform to the technical and aesthetic norms for the InStem website. If required, the user would be called for a discussion with the Web Committee.

(C) External Links

Users of the InStem external website should not add links to content on the intranet, as this will result in broken links and affect the overall website's functionality.

(D) Publications Content on the Homepage

The InStem homepage includes a section on recent publications, showcasing campus research. This is not a comprehensive list of all new publications but rather a set of recent significant publications. The committee will periodically review the latest publications and decide on the list to be included in this section. A comprehensive list of campus publications will be available at https://www.inStem.res.in/publications.

(E) Responsibility for Content

Each individual member of InStem is solely responsible for the content of web pages they create and own. InStem reserves the right to revoke privileges in case of violations of the policies stated below.

(i) Harassment and Discrimination Policy: InStem does not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on religion, race, caste, gender, and sexual orientation. Campus Harassment Policy. Web page content violating this policy, including hate speech, inflammatory statements, and offensive language, is strictly forbidden.

(ii) Copyrighted and Licensed Material: a) You may not place any material on your webpage that is owned by others, such as copyrighted or licensed work, without the express permission of the owner, unless the license or copyright claim explicitly allows re-use or re-distribution. Examples of potentially copyrighted/licensed material include cartoons, articles, photographs, songs, software, graphics, journal PDFs, or text from a published work or other webpages. Assume that all material on the web is copyrighted unless specified clearly. b) Fair use of copyrighted material is permitted, provided you clearly cite the original source. Fair use will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Briefly, use resulting in personal or commercial gain, or use of a large percentage of the original work argues against fair use, while use of small portions of the original work for educational purposes, parody, commentary, etc., argues in favor of fair use.

(iii) Privacy of Others: Web page content that violates the privacy of others is strictly forbidden. For example, you may not place any pictures or videos of people on your webpage or reveal private conversations without their explicit permission.

(iv) Personal and Commercial Gain: Use of web pages on the InStem server for personal or commercial gain, such as running a private business, political or electoral campaigns, etc., is strictly forbidden.

(v) Use of InStem Name and Logo: a) It is forbidden to use the InStem name or logo in any way that suggests or implies its endorsement of the author's or anyone else's opinions or its endorsement of any other organization, their products, or services. b) All external lab websites should have a disclaimer, displayed at the top of the page,  which states: "While this website uses logos of InStem, it is an externally owned and run website for which InStem does not take any responsibility."

(vi) Further Suggestions: a) InStem is a publicly funded academic institution. Consider using your web pages to make your academic and institutional work, along with its scientific, educational, philosophical, social, and political implications, accessible to the public. b) Add to your web pages an explicit statement of copyright that accurately reflects how you wish the material to be used or distributed. Explore licenses such as Creative Commons or the GNU General Public License, for example. c) Exercise caution when uploading large videos or images to your web pages. Instead, consider embedding them (if they are your own) or providing a link to the relevant external web pages (if they are not your own). d) Refer to the InStem Computing Handbook for further suggestions and guidelines. e) Experiment with style and content in your web pages while staying within the above policy guidelines. The InStem IT department and Communications Office will be happy to assist you in creating interesting web pages.

(F) Social Media Content

InStem has several social media channels, including the News Facebook page, Twitter handle, and the InStem YouTube channel. Content for these channels is moderated by the InStem Communications Office and needs to adhere to all current guidelines for online content. Additionally, there are social media channels created for external user groups, such as the Alumni Facebook group, Chemical Ecology Facebook page, and others. Requests for the creation of new official social media channels for InStem should be sent to comms@instem.res.in.

Know the Team

The InStem website and social media channels are moderated and maintained by the web committee, comprising faculty member representatives, members of the IT web development team, and members of the InStem Communications Office. Queries related to the website (both technical and content-based) will be evaluated by the committee before any required action is taken.

For requests pertaining to:

• Creation of new faculty member webpages: dean at instem res dot in

• Other queries on technical matters: it at helpdesk dot instem dot res dot in

• Creation of new official social media channels: comms dot instem dot res dot in

• Other queries on content matters: comms dot instem dot res dot in