website registration is a new requirement for any member of the community that publishes or maintains an official UNT website.  A website registration system was developed and is available at www.unt.edu/webinfo for required site registration. For the purpose of registration, a website is defined as any key entry point or destination on the unt.edu domain (or that is hosted on UNT Web servers) that has its own home page (index page), unique Web address, distinct business function, or a navigational structure that differs from its parent site (such as an academic departments website that is a part of a college or school parent site).  

An official website is any website that is created by a department, college, school or organizational unit to provide services or information necessary in the course of doing business (more explanation later in the article).   

website registration requirement is part of an updated UNT Web Publishing Policy 3.9. The policy is still under review but is expected to pass soon. Existing official UNT websites as well as forms that capture user data need to be registered by December 22, 2006. Any new forms or new or updated sites need to be registered in the system before going live. A single website registration takes about 5 minutes.

Why is registration now being required?

Security compliance

First and foremost, security is a priority across the internet. As you might know, UNT had a security breech last summer related to personally identifiable information being accessed through the web. Though UNT handled the issue immediately and has made numerous changes to address the cause of the issue, situations could arise again if UNT does not address the need for oversight and education. Not all UNT web developers are aware of best practices relating to data security. Additional resources must be committed to help those who do not have the experience or training. In fact, multiple colleges and universities have had to address the same problems with the security of confidential information being breeched. 

Any web page or form on a UNT website that collects personally identifiable information of any type must be registered separately before it is made available to the public. Though it is the primary responsibility of the web developer, information manager and information owner to make sure that the information collection and storage procedures meet UNT, state and federal requirements, the registration of each form can assist the university in performing audits and programmatic checks. Computing and Information Technology Center (CITC) personnel can use the system to alert developers as new attacks or vulnerabilities are discovered.  

Alternative navigation

The UNT website including all sites and pages has had amazing growth over the years. The entire website includes hundreds of sites with millions of visits. Unfortunately, not all sites have the same level of findability in search engines or from site navigation. There are many factors that lead to a visitor having success in locating a site. These factors range from page design decisions made by developers to information architecture and navigational structures.

UNT needs to provide multiple methods for our visitors to locate sites. Having a comprehensive site registry for websites will allow the Office of Online Communications in the Division of University Relations, Communications and Marketing to build and maintain an alphabetical directory of websites that is available from the UNT home page (www.unt.edu). This allows our visitors multiple navigation methods to achieve success locating websites. A website visitor can utilize navigation, the UNT search or the alphabetical directory depending on their individual needs or experience level.  

Accessibility compliance

Web accessibility and universal design are well-known in the professional web design community. There are multiple guidelines such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines versions 1.0 and 2.0 published by the World Wide Web Consortium and the Section 508 guidelines posted by the U.S. federal government. While the WCAG 1.0 was published in 1999, many of the reasons and methods for creating universally accessible websites are still misunderstood across campus. The good news is that most of the techniques utilized to provide access to websites are simple to implement and not very time consuming if they are addressed during the design process.

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with websites or web applications. Disabilities that affect access to the web can include visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive and neurological impairments. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 established fundamental civil rights protections for peoples with disabilities. Federal funding would be revoked for those entities that violated the act and discriminated based on disability in regard to physical access and services. In 1990, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act and extended civil rights protection to the private sector, meaning that public places and physical locations must be accessible to people with disabilities.

Currently a case is pending against Target.com that is testing whether non-physical (virtual) spaces such as websites fall under the ADA in the United States. On September 7, 2006, a federal district court judge ruled that a retailer may be sued if its website is inaccessible to the blind. Other countries have similar laws and guidelines that consider access to virtual spaces on par with providing access to physical locations.

The web registration system will allow the URCM Office of Online Communication to audit new and existing websites to target issues that impact persons with disabilities. In some cases, just a number of small fixes will greatly increase the usability of the site for those with impairments and will bring the site into compliance with the UNT Web Accessibility Policy 5.1 that was published in July 2003.  

Increased communication

In a university that is roughly the size of a small city, there will be communication challenges. The fact that there is no single list of contact information for web developers across UNT makes the challenge even more difficult.  UNT currently has several listservs that target small groups of interested developers, but not all developers are even aware that these lists exist. In order to improve training and education, especially for part-time students hired to do a one-off web job for a department, the university must become more proactive in communicating policy changes, training opportunities, vulnerabilities and web address changes across the entire campus.

The web registration system allows for e-mail to be sent to all developers across campus to better inform the community.  The system also allows for targeted e-mails to be sent to specific groups of developers that are using a particular technology or have a specific compliance issue.

Increased awareness, education and training

UNT has web developers with varying experience levels. Some web developers are paid to work full-time in technology or the web. These developers usually have a background in technology and have had the opportunity, resources, and experience to keep up with professional standards dealing with website creation, compliance and security. They are often comfortable with the daily changes related to the web, technology and security and realize that web standards change often.

Some departments cannot afford these resources and employ part-time students or delegate the web to workers that already have other full-time duties. Neither of which has had the opportunity to work on professional websites before. These part-time developers have a need for information and training.

The web has changed drastically since the web was first introduced at UNT. It started as a novelty where the technically inclined could find additional information and has become UNT’s center of gravity for providing information and services. Future students are visiting the website and making decisions about applying to UNT before they ever contact a person. Class registration and payment are available 24/7 through the web. We are providing information, experiences and services to a generation of students that have always had the web and their expectations are high.  They know what a professional and usable website is. They have little tolerance for useless forms, difficult applications or ill-conceived websites. Increased opportunities for training and education can fill the gap when it comes to web designers with little professional experience.

What needs to be registered?

Any official website at UNT and any forms that capture user information will need to be registered in the website registration system. Official websites are defined as websites on the UNT domain that contain information that is published as part of the normal course of doing business. Web pages containing official information generally are authored by or for departments, colleges, schools, and administrative offices at the university.

Examples of personal information being captured that require form registration include student’s name, address, grades, e-mail and phone numbers.

What doesn’t have to be registered?

Sites or pages containing personal information, that is, information published by individuals unrelated to the official work role at UNT do not have to be registered.  Examples of personal information include are student pages, faculty members’ vitas that are published independently of their department’s pages information about their faculties, and staff members’ pages that represent personal interests such as hobbies. Personal publishers are responsible for the content of the pages they create, and the views and opinions expressed on a personal page are strictly those of the page author and do not represent the University. However, personal publishers must comply with all University rules and policies as well as state and federal laws concerning appropriate use of computers.

Sites or pages created for research and teaching may be published on UNT websites by faculty members and/or students in the course of conducting research or fulfilling class assignments requiring the development of web content. The content and structure of those sites are outside the scope of this policy, except that forms collecting personally-identifiable information must meet the form registration requirements. Faculty members who publish research on UNT websites or assign web development projects to students are responsible for complying with all University rules and policies as well as state and federal laws concerning appropriate use of computers.

Who registers a site in the system?

We are requesting that multiple contacts be identified for each website that is registered. The main contacts to be entered are the: 

• Primary web developer- responsible for the creation and updating of web pages or the development of forms or applications on a website;  
   
• Information manager (referred to as the data custodian in security contexts) - department heads, deans, or directors, as appointed by their vice president (or president in the case that the area does not report to a vice president), responsible for the supervision of developer(s) and the management of information and resources for a website 
   
• Information owner (referred to as data owners in security contexts) - UNT vice president (or president in the case that an area does not report to a vice president) ultimately responsible for the sites information, purpose or data collected in support of business functions in their area. 

Any of the people with the above roles can register a website. Once someone registers the site and designates the additional contacts, the additional contacts for the other roles will be given access to the site registration records and can log into the system to view or update information.

Multiple contacts allow the site registration system administrators to maintain contact with a site’s personnel, even if the main developer is away from campus or has left UNT (such as a student who has graduated).

Contact for more questions

If you have any questions about using the registration site, please contact Darren Petersen at dpetersen@unt.edu or (940) 369-8360.  For security and web form questions contact Richard Anderson at randerson@cc.admin.unt.edu or (940) 369-7800. For questions about branding, web accessibility and web guidelines contact Kenn Moffitt at moffitt@unt.edu or (940) 565-3476. For questions about UNT web hosting and server resources contact Charity Beck at cbeck@cc.admin.unt.edu or (940) 369-7440.

We're counting on the cooperation of everyone who develops websites at UNT to improve both our security as well as our compliance with state and federal regulations by registering their sites. Please pass this message along to anyone you know in your area who maintains websites and who should register.

* Website registration was discussed in a recent InHouse article "Registration now required for all UNT-related web sites." 

 

Please note that information published in Benchmarks Online is likely to degrade over time, especially links to various Websites. To make sure you have the most current information on a specific topic, it may be best to search the UNT Website - http://www.unt.edu . You can also search Benchmarks Online - http://www.unt.edu/benchmarks/archives/back.htm as well as consult the UNT Helpdesk - http://www.unt.edu/helpdesk/ Questions and comments should be directed to benchmarks@unt.edu

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