OHSU

Blog Guidelines

Purpose

OHSU provides blogs to OHSU departments, divisions and business units to advance the missions (healing, teaching and research) of OHSU. (Note: At present, a limited number of external blogs are being made available as a pilot project.)

Scope

These guidelines apply to OHSU blogs; specifically to blogs that:

  • are hosted on the supported OHSU blog platform (Tiers 1 and 2)
  • are owned or primarily supported by any OHSU department, division or business unit

Blog Administration

OHSU’s Web Strategies group will provide and maintain the exclusive platform for all OHSU blogs.
Technical questions and problems can be directed to the

Blog Assignments

To conserve bandwidth and ensure a smooth initial migration to this service, at this time one internal blogmay be assigned on request to each department, division or business unit at OHSU. A limited number of external blogs, currently available as a pilot project, have been assigned to units or areas of high strategic value for OHSU. Additional opportunities for external blogs may be available at the end of the pilot project evaluation period. External blogs have, and will continue to, follow the same approval process as internal blogs.

Read more about requesting a new blog.

Hosting, Platform and Storage

Internal blogs are hosted at ozone.ohsu.edu/blogs; external blogs are at www.ohsu.edu/blogs. OHSU blogs currently run on Wordpress MU. Blog data is stored up to a maximum of 100MB, at which point the blog owner is notified of capacity constraints and required to determine whether to archive or delete old blog content to provide sufficient storage for new content. Guidance about retention of information can be reviewed in OHSU’s Record Retention and Destruction Policy (07-90-010).

Visual Identity and Customization

OHSU blogs must use one of the templates provided, either for internal or external blogs, each of which conforms to OHSU visual identity and branding guidelines. The default blog template includes “about page” information and links to other OHSU resources. The “about page” may be customized, and other pages may be added; however, the standard text on the “about page” or default link sets may not be removed or altered. Any additional functionality and/or plug-ins will be installed at the discretion of Web Strategies. Requests for new functionality and/or plug-ins should be submitted empcomm@ohsu.edu, where they will be initially reviewed prior to final submission to Web Strategies for additional review and approval. Such requests will be evaluated on the basis of their relevance to the entire enterprise blog community.

Notice: Terms of Use and Disclaimer (external blogs)

External blogs incorporate a notice linking to a brief “Terms of Use” document that describes in plain language some of the most salient points about blog use, and an “OHSU Disclaimer” that describes in detail the applicable legal constraints for individuals who post, read or comment on the blogs. Both of these documents are hosted in a central location in OHSU’s web environment, and are subject to change; the Terms of Use is also supplied as required text for the “About” section of each blog.

Posts & Comments

Posts. Blog postings should be professional, conform to the OHSU Code of Conduct and reflect well on the OHSU community. Bloggers should check facts, cite sources (where possible), present balanced views, acknowledge and correct errors, and check spelling and grammar before making a post live. Links to related posts are encouraged, but bloggers should post original content rather than reposting entire items from other blogs or lists.

Comments. Commentary, opinion, and reaction to posts are welcome and consistent with OHSU’s commitment to academic freedom. Comments should be relevant to the specific post they are attached to. Spam, flaming, personal attacks, and off-topic comments are not permitted. Content owners should default to moderating comments. Comments on internal blogs may be unmoderated as long as they are not anonymous; i.e., if users of the blog can be identified with their network ID. Comments on external blogs may not be unmoderated. Under no circumstances on any blogs may comments be both unmoderated and anonymous.

Disclaimer. Strategic Communications and Web Strategies will have full administrative rights to all blogs hosted at OHSU. These units, on behalf of OHSU, reserve the right to review all posts and comments, to not publish any blog post or comment or to retroactively remove any blog post or comment after publication.

Related Policies and Practices

OHSU is a healthcare institution, governed by special regulations about patient privacy as well asconventional policies regarding confidentiality. OHSU blogs may not:

  • Offer medical advice. If an individual commenting on a blog is seeking medical advice, the individual should be referred to OHSU’s website or OHSU’s operators to schedule an appointment here, or to their own doctor to schedule an appointment elsewhere, or to 911 for immediate medical assistance.
  • Post protected health information (PHI) or other confidential information (e.g., information that OHSU is contractually obligated to keep confidential). If you have questions about what information should be kept private or confidential, contact OHSU’s Legal Department.
  • Be hosted outside of the OHSU Tier 1 or Tier 2 environment.

In addition, blogs are subject to OHSU policies and guidelines including, but not limited to:

Violations of these or any other official OHSU policy will be documented by Web Strategies and presented to the business owner of the blog. If resolution with the business owner cannot be achieved, Web Strategies reserves the right to inactivate the blog until the situation is resolved.