ANST-Announce - Proposed Coporate Policy - Please read immediately

[Pug Bainter]

[   NOTICE     NOTICE    NOTICE    NOTICE    NOTICE    NOTICE    ]
[   This missive contains some of my personal opinions. These    ]
[  should not be seen as part of any office I hold now nor may   ]
[       in the future. (Or some such garbage disclaimer.)        ]
[   NOTICE     NOTICE    NOTICE    NOTICE    NOTICE    NOTICE    ]

Good Morning,

  This is an informative message that will greatly affect the on-line
  community. This means many things will no longer be allowed to have
  connections to from official websites, and I suggest that anyone
  with concerns comment on this to the responsible people.
  
    Rabah az-Zafar - VP of Communication at vp-comm at sca.org
    Kevin of Thornbury - Electronic Publications Manager at epm at sca.org
    Unfortunately there is no BoD member responsible for this arena as
      far as I can tell from the sca.org webpage.

  I will be present at the October BoD meeting and will be more than
  willing to discuss items in this if I am given any chance. (My
  comments will be going in the next day or two.) While I agree with
  what is trying to be accomplished (Reasoning), I do not agree with
  the implementation (Policy). There are other methods to solve this
  concern that will not limit the information resources available to us.

  Btw, I would like to see the people responsible for the Corporate website
  follow their own policy *before* proposing something like this to the
  Board.

  I must apologize that I am so far behind on getting this out. Many
  people had asked about this via second hand communication and I
  mistakenly thought this was a policy that would require us to have the
  warnings when leaving the site such as the sca.org website has today.
  It is bad of me to assume this since it is obviously not what is being
  proposed.

Ciao,

--
Phelim "Pug" Gervase   |  "The problem's plain to see
Bryn Gwlad - Ansteorra |   Too much technology."
Dark Horde Moritu      |   
pug at pug.net            |   --Styx
  Note: The views do not reflect the SCA nor the Kingdom of Ansteorra.
------

From: "Rabah" <vp-comm at sca.org>
> Greetings to the Kingdom Chroniclers and Kingdom Web Ministers of the
> Knowne World!
>
> Most of you are by now aware of a new policy that has been formed
> concerning recognized vs non-recognized local branch web sites. Allow me to
> clarify the situation so that you can set your populace's minds at ease.
> Please feel free to share this with your local chroniclers and web
> ministers. (Marieke, you may also want to post this to your kingdom's email
> list to help ease the large amount of questions that are being generated on
> this topic). The policy as it will be presented to the Board of Directors
> at the October 2000 meeting reads as follows:
>
> New EPM Policy: Kingdom web sites may not provide hyperlinks to web sites
> maintained for Society branches (as defined in Corpora V) that have not
> officially been recognized by the Kingdom's recognizing authority.
>
> Due to the speed at which problems can arise in our modern world, it is
> possible for either myself, the Society Chronicler or the Electronic
> Publications Manager to set policy that can be considered to be immediately
> binding prior to it's being reviewed and approved by the Board of
> Directors. For this particular new policy we are not asking you to enforce
> it until the Board has actually had the chance to formally approve it.
> Unfortunately, a discussion about this new policy was started in a very
> public forum prior to our being able to completely formulate the actual
> wording of the policy, which explains why you are all receiving this now.
>
> The rest of this missive will cover the reasoning behind the policy, the
> definition of a recognized site, who the recognizing authorities are, what
> it actually takes to get a local site recognized (it's a lot easier than
> some people think), and how this affects Kingdom Officers that have a web
> site for their office.
>
> -----
>
> The Reasoning Behind the New Policy: The Society reserves the right of
> approval of any internet site that purports to represent a duly established
> branch of the Corporation. The Society needs some means of distancing
> itself from any web sites claiming to represent duly established branches
> of the Corporation that do not portray the Society in a good light, are
> slanderous, pornographic, or by some other means do not conform to the
> goals and objectives of our Society. With the thousands of web sites out
> there claiming to represent us, we needed a simple solution to the problem
> and the idea of recognizing sites was born. My predecessor started the
> practice of site recognition over 3 years ago, so this is not something
> new. All we are doing is taking the concept to the next level and providing
> incentive for local groups to get recognized. If someone wants to represent
> the Corporation on the internet, we simply ask that they abide by some
> simple guidelines which are designed to keep them and their local group
> (and ultimately yourselves) from being sued.
>
> -----
>
> The Definition of a Recognized Site (as it was approved at the April 15,
> 2000 Board Meeting and modified at the July 22, 2000 meeting) - "For an
> Internet site to be recognized by the Society for Creative Anachronism, it
> must represent an established branch of the Society and must have a
> warranted officer responsible for its content.  The Society for Creative
> Anachronism will not recognize Internet sites for households or guilds.
> Group officers with an Internet site for that office are responsible for
> ensuring that the site complies with Society guidelines."
>
> -----
>
> Who are the Recognizing Authorities? For now, this is covered by Section
> I.D.1 of the Society Chronicler's Policies - "The Kingdom Chronicler shall:
> act as the recognizing authority for the Kingdom's internet sites; be
> responsible for overseeing the kingdom-level internet site; maintain a
> roster of recognized group sites for the kingdom; monitor those sites for
> compliance with applicable SCA and Kingdom policies; and report on such to
> the Society Electronic Publications Manager. It is highly recommended that
> the Kingdom Chronicler appoint a deputy to handle these responsibilities.
> If a deputy is appointed, he shall report to both the Kingdom Chronicler,
> and the Society Electronic Publications Manager."
>
> Kingdom Chroniclers - this means it's up to you.  Either you do it yourself
> or you appoint a deputy, which I would prefer you call your Kingdom Web
> Minister, to take care of it for you. If you already have a listing of the
> branch web sites within your Kingdom, check them out. If they meet the
> requirements that are outlined below then let them know that they have met
> the requirements and are considered a recognized site. Add the URL to your
> roster and go ahead and link to them off of the Kingdom's web site. If they
> do not meet the requirements let them know what they need to do to be able
> to meet the requirements and give them a chance to comply. If they do, add
> them to the roster, etc. It's that simple. You should periodically review
> all the recognized sites to ensure that they still meet the requirements.
> If they still do, nothing needs to be done, they are already on the roster.
> If they no longer meet the requirements, let them know so that they have a
> chance to clear up the discrepancy. If they fix the problem, again they are
> already on the roster and nothing more needs to be done. In the event that
> a local group's web site maintainer refuses to be warranted or in any other
> manner does not wish to comply with the Society's guidelines, that is their
> right. Their web site will not be recognizable and may not be linked to
> from the Kingdom's web page.
>
> -----
>
> What Does it Really Take to get a Branch's Web Site Recognized? If the
> branch's web site meets the following four points the site can (and should)
> be recognized:
>
> 1) The site must be maintained by a warranted officer, which I will refer
> to as the web minister. The web minister position can be filled by one of
> the group's other officers or some person specially designated by the
> group's seneschal. This person is responsible for maintaining the group's
> web presence and ensuring that it meets the guidelines set by the Society
> and their Kingdom.
>
> 2) The site must have the following disclaimer at the bottom of the home
> page IAW Section I.D.2.a. of the Society Chronicler's Policies: "This is
> the recognized Web Page for the <group name and status> of the Society for
> Creative Anachronism, Inc. (SCA). The maintainer of this page is <your
> name, with link to your e-mail address>. It is not a corporate publication
> of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.  and does not delineate SCA
> policies. In cases of conflict with printed versions of material presented
> on this page or its links, the dispute will be decided in favor of the
> printed version."
>
> 3) The site must adhere to the Society's copyright policy. Simply put, the
> SCA operates under the ideals of chivalry.  Respect for others' property,
> including intellectual property, is part of those ideals. Web Ministers
> must ensure that copyrighted material is not used on the branch's web site
> except in conformity with applicable copyright laws. Prior authorization
> must be received from the copyright holder, and the copyrighted material
> must be accompanied by the notice "© Copyright [holder's name, copyright
> date]. Used with permission."
>
> 4) The site must meet basic content requirements.  What does this mean?  All
> editorial material, both text and images, must conform to the goals and
> objectives of the Society, and portray the Society and the group in a
> positive light. Don't use the website to promote factionalism within the
> group. Don't publish anyone's personal information without receiving PRIOR
> permission (in writing) to do so. (This last part is easy - send them an
> email and ask them. If they say yes, go for it.) Don't post pictures of
> people on the website without their prior permission - the rule of thumb
> here is also simple: If someone can identify the person in the picture by
> their face, then you need that person's permission. This is not only common
> courtesy but can be a safety issue as well.
>
> -----
>
> Does this also affect Kingdom Officers that have a web site for their
> office? Yes - Web sites being maintained by, or for, a Kingdom Officer (ie
> - the Kingdom Chatelaine's Newcomers page, or an Earl Marshal's page, etc)
> must also meet the four points that were outlined above, although the first
> point is handled a little differently. If the officer in question is the
> one maintaining the site they do not need a secondary warrant for being the
> web minister. If they have someone else maintaining the page for them, that
> person should be considered a deputy of that officer. Such deputies are
> considered to meet the "warranted officer" requirement.
>
> -----
>
> Finally we encourage all local groups to make an attempt at making their
> site accessible to the handicapped. It  sounds complicated but it is
> actually fairly easy to implement. If you have questions on how to do this
> contact the EPM and he will be more than happy to discuss the issue with you.
>
> Thank you for your time and patience,
>
> I remain,
>
> Ross E. Wilkins
> Vice-President for Communications, SCA, Inc.
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