3.10 - Content Relevancy and Currency

Policy

Content shall:
  • At all times, be exigent, current and correct. Static content, or content that rarely changes, must be updated once prior to each long semester and once prior to the first summer sessions. Dynamic content, or that which is event-driven or date-related, must be updated immediately as the date or event expires.
  • Follow the visual standards included in the University’s Visual Standards Manual. Use only images which accurately represent Lamar University. These may be drawn from images in Level I sites, or they may be images taken on the Lamar University campus or of Lamar University students who have given consent.
  • Include date of last revision and contact information for the individual responsible for the content and maintenance of the page, including a name, physical location and phone number or email.
  • Comply with all LU policies and laws, including those governing copyright and accessibility.
  • Be reasonably attractive and quick to load.
  • Adhere to WC3 standards and validators.
  • Contain display names and file names that are the same for optimal search engine performance.
  • Be reviewed by each department to ensure content clarity, correctness, grammar, spelling, usage, accessibility, style and conformity with university naming conventions and branding. 

Procedure

Web Communications editors and departmental web liaisons, publishers and contributors shall perform routine stale content checks. Performing these checks every January 1, May 1, and September 1 will ensure that content does not go stale.

Departmental web liaisons, publishers and contributors shall set review workflows for every page in a site. For pages containing static content, the review date should be set as January 1, May 1, or September 1, whichever comes next. For pages containing dynamic content, the review date should be set for the day that the event expires. For more explicit detail, see the procedure for review workflows.

Content that is no longer relevant or current must be updated or deleted from lamar.edu. Pages and site content found to be out of date will be referred to the Office of Web Communication for review, and a plan and timeframe for action will be developed.

If pages are still found to be out of date or not reviewed after the established deadline, the page(s) will be removed.  If you include a Twitter or Facebook feed on your page, you must comply with the Social Media Policy.

An annual content audit will be performed on all sites to ensure content is up to date, accurate and relevant. It is the expectation that Department Liaisons will meet with Web Communication staff in reviewing the site audit and take an active role in addressing issues concerning content on a given department site.