Wednesday, May 20, 2009 - 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Present:
Allen Bell, Michelle Douglas-Mills, Don Duff-McCracken, Sarah Forgrave, Guillermo Fuentes, Eva Grabinski, Jaymis Goertz, Marlon Griffith, Bob Hicks, Karen Jack, Jim Johnston, John Kemp, Pat Lafranier, Tammy Marcinko, Geoff McBoyle, Paul Miskovsky, Issac Morland, Kris Olafson, Rose Padacz (Guest), Kevin Paxman, Terry Stewart (Chair) and Kelly Teahen
Regrets:
David Bean, Mary Lynn Benninger, Toby Day-Hamilton, Lauren Harrison, Megan McDermott, Andrew Smith, and Sean van Koughnett
1. Chair's remarks
a) Welcome to John Kemp from Institutional Analysis and Planning (IAP), John is replacing Mary Jane Jennings.
Eva Grabinski is now representing Engineering and the Office of Research will be represented by Brenda MacDonald. Lynn Judge will appoint a member from the Graduate Student Office (GSO) to replace Penny Pudifin.
b) University of Regina is undergoing a re-branding exercise. Thanks to Mary Lynn for passing this along to the committee. The committee can view more at the following link: [[WebFav][https://strobe.uwaterloo.ca/~twiki/bin/view/WebAdvisory/WebFav]]
c) Kelly and Pat hosted a Webinar on May 5 and 6 - "Writing for the Web". This event was sponsored by both Information Systems and Technology (IST) and Organizational and Human Development (OHD).
d) Upcoming Events: * May 21 - 1:00-2:00 pm - O'Reilly Media Webinar "Twitter Power Tips". Math and Computer building (MC) 2009 - no registration required. * May 22 - 9:00 am - Alan Kirker from Instructional Technology and Multimedia Services (ITMS) will give an overview on "Making Audio and Video Accessible". Alan will discuss what is currently available and review issues relating to cost, time and accuracy in accordance with upcoming Accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities Act (AODA) legislation and standards. MC 2009 - no registration required. * June 11 - 2:00-3:00 pm - "Revolutionize Content Distribution with Dynamic Content: Case Study at HarperCollins Publishing" - Using OpenText web solutions - MC 2009. * June 16 - 1:00-2:00 pm - "Facebook and Twitter Recruitment Tools to Engage Prospective Students. This is an audio seminar with a registration fee of $199. http://www.higheredhero.com/DW/0/2/p2FM32c/p2FKLMUHi/p0e Marketing and Recruitment to investigate.
e) The public announcement regarding the Web Content Management System (CMS) agreement will be in the next couple of weeks as per an email from Meg Beckel.
2. Approval of minutes
Minutes of March 12, 2009 and April 15, 2009 Approved
3. Web accessibility and standards - Rose Padacz and Eva Grabinski
AODA is aiming to create an inclusive, accessible province by 2025. The AODA was implemented to elevate awareness regarding barriers faced by persons with disabilities in Ontario. Legislation will become law and compliance is expected under 5 accessibility standards: built environment, customer service, employment, information and communication, and transportation. Implementation for Information and Communication is to begin by January 2011 with a report on compliance by December 31, 2011. Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD) asks that WAC consider partnerships and/or collaborations to ensure this standard is met, including promoting awareness and taking action (e.g., including accessibility in templates). Such examples of Information and Communication include the websites and print, educational materials (audio and video) and transcription. Technical requirements to comply with this legislation include W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0-level AA as well as W3C Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0. Information is available on the web at http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/quickref/. Rose and Eva's presentations are uploaded to the WAC website.
4. Report from DNS Resolution policy sub-committee (Jim Johnston)
No progress to date. Jim, Terry Stewart and Bruce Campbell will be meeting shortly. If any WAC member wishes to be included and would like to volunteer to sit on this committee, let Jim know.
5. Google security
The Chair reported that a graduate students association had set up a website on Google Apps. The login page had a confusing look in that it appeared to be requesting WatIAM passwords. Jason Testart (Manager, IT Security) is pursuing this. Jason has also assumed administrator rights for the uwaterloo.ca domain on Google Apps and can shut down any site that tries to represent (or misrepresent) University of Waterloo. The Secretariat offers the following statement with regards to Waterloo crests and the use and endorsement on web pages: The authority over Waterloo's crest is vested with the Secretary of the University. Only those units which are part of the university or organizations which have formal partnerships with Waterloo are entitled to use Waterloo's crest and then only with Waterloo's prior written consent. Karen will be meeting with Lois Claxton to clarify this statement with a view to sending a message to the University of Waterloo community. *
6. E-Commerce changes coming (Terry Stewart)
New standards for e-commerce procedures are being developed and will be implemented / enforced soon. Jason Testart will be attending the next WAC meeting to give the committee an overview. Finance is currently contacting those departments that are part of the e-commerce community to discuss the new standards and practices. The penalties are significant and could potentially affect the University of Waterloo community as a whole. As a future action when Jason attends the next meeting; he will be asked to provide a piece to be included in the Daily Bulletin. See: http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infofin/ecommerce/ecommain.html
7. Advertisements on University of Waterloo web pages (Terry Stewart)
Alan George has made a request that WAC investigate the issue of advertisements on University of Waterloo web pages. Clear definitions need to be written with regards to a sponsorship as opposed to advertisement links. A Sub-Committee was struck including Kelly Teahen, Karen Jack and Kevin Paxman. The Sub-committee will investigate existing policies and consider writing a policy on advertising on University of Waterloo pages if necessary. *Action: Karen Jack to speak with Lois Claxton regarding current policies and practices* *Kelly Teahen will speak with members of the ODAA / Fundraisers and Bud Walker.
8. University of Waterloo social networking (Terry Stewart)
Megan McDermott is currently working on a list of users and uses of Social Networking sites within the University. Members are asked to survey their departments and units and compile a list of who is using the social networking tools and which tools are being used (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube) and send to Megan.
University of Waterloo is looking into the possibility of an official YouTube channel and may potentially solicit videos to populate the site. Discussion included inquiry regarding possible legislation and training, potential workshops and webinars and social networking as a tool for instruction. *Action:* *Kelly will compose an e-mail for UWweb mailing list.* Megan will follow up with this report at the next meeting.
9. Meeting times
Some members are unable to attend the WAC meetings when scheduled at 3:00. The Chair requested that members keep their Bookit calendars up to date and an effort will be made to change the start time. Possibly the room as well.