Mass Digital Communications Policy, Guidelines, and Procedures
(Updated 10.08.2007)
Introduction and Purpose
Many academic and administrative entities
on campus are interested in using email and other digital communication services, such as text messaging, to send important, but unsolicited, messages
to large segments of the University community: for example, to all students,
all faculty, all staff, or to some combination of these large segments.
This policy sets forth guidelines
and procedures for the mass distribution of time-critical, important information
to the University community.
The majority of messages intended for the campus community
are best communicated by using MyUB, the University calendar on
the Web and other official Web pages, regular campus mail, and printed materials, such as flyers.
These methods continue to be preferred means of mass communication, rather than
mass electronic mailings or text alerts.
University at Buffalo has made the Rave Wireless Emergency Text Alerts
service available to instantly reach students, faculty, and staff in cases
of major or catastrophic emergencies. This system is an "opt-in" system and mass text
alerts to the campus community members "opting in" will be sent only in
cases of major or catastrophic emergencies affecting the campus and campus community in whole or in part. Please see the
University at Buffalo All Hazards Emergency Plan for information on the definition of
major and catastrophic emergencies.
Students have indicated in several surveys that they prefer email to text
messaging for the delivery of
official University communications.
Policy
Mass digital communications should be utilized only when a University emergency
or an urgent need-to-know warrants their use and should be used sparingly.
The appropriate University
officer, as outlined in the procedures below and
in the UB All Hazards Emergency
Plan, will be responsible for determining
whether a requested mass digital communication is warranted. It is also important
to use multiple channels, that is alternative means, to broadcast emergency,
urgent, and time-critical important information,
since there is no guarantee that members of the University community will
read their email or text messages in a timely manner.
Mass text messages/alerts will be sent only to those who have opted in to/signed up for the service.
Guidelines for Mass Email
Content: Appropriate Topics
Appropriate broadcast topics include, but are not limited to
- urgent security (physical or computer) matters, such as bomb or terrorist threats, computer system threats
- campus-wide policy changes that are time critical, such as a new immunization requirement or
other legal requirement that must be met for continuing matriculation at the
University
- other time critical financial and administrative deadlines
- natural disaster alerts
- administrative announcements that are time critical
Inappropriate broadcast topics include, but are not limited to
- any message whose content is not relevant to UB's mission of teaching, research,
and public service
- the announcement of events
- club or group information
- any commercial mailing
- any solicitation except as approved by the President for University
purposes
- personal messages
Campus email systems and email
addresses are provided and intended to be used primarily for University
purposes, and UB strives to send only those unsolicited messages
that provide important/useful content to UB community members.
Additional Criteria for Email Messages
- Email Subject: The Subject line must be descriptive.
- Email Body:
- The initial text of the message should indicate that it is a broadcast message and
the office sending the message.
- The message body should indicate why the message is being sent and to whom
the message is being sent.
- The name, email address, and phone number of a person to contact should be contained in
the message.
- The broadcast message must contain plain text only. No graphics,
bolding or other font styles are permitted.
- Attachments, such as Microsoft Word documents, are not allowed.
- Messages should be brief and to the point. Provide instructions on
how additional information can be obtained.
- Any hyperlinks should include the fully qualified (include the http:// part)
protocol to assure that most recipients will see the "active" links in your message.
- The message must be approved by the department head of the individual sending
the request and should be proofread for spelling, grammatical and content errors.
- A notice that the mass emailing has been approved by the appropriate University
officer must be included. (See the Procedures area below for the list of appropriate University
officers.)
In general, people do not like to receive unsolicited
email and may let you know this via heated replies.
Procedures to Request Mass Digital Communications
Mass emailings and text alerts must be approved by the appropriate University officer.
The officer will
consider whether the request is appropriate in light of the criteria and
guidelines noted above.
Requests for mass email should be directed as follows.
- the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs in the case of email
directed solely to students:
- the Office of the Provost in the case of email directed solely to faculty members
- the Office of the Executive Vice President for Finance and Operations in the case of email directed solely to
staff members
- The Office of the President
or the President's designee in the case of email directed to any combination of all students, faculty, and staff.
- The Office of External Affairs in the case of email directed solely
to alumni. Need to add link to EA Policies and Procedures
In an emergency, the approval process outlined above will be suspended.
Public Safety
will have the authority to approve mass email notification and text alert requests in an emergency, as well as to
provide the timely notice of crime risks to the campus community.
For more information on how UB handles mass notifications in emergencies, please see the UB Emergency Preparedness web site.
For non-emergency notifications, lead time of at least one working day is required for any mass emailing,
since several hours may be required to set up a mass emailing and messages
will be sent in
batches over several hours so that normal University email delivery will not be seriously impacted
and degraded.
If the request is approved, the University officer granting approval will send the mass email
message to the CIO office which will have the message distributed to the appropriate recipient group.
For those messages not deemed appropriate for mass distribution, the requester
will receive a message indicating this.
Questions about this policy may be directed to the Office of the CIO.
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