Terms and conditions of use

This blogs.ed.ac.uk platform (the “Blogging Service”) is provided by The University of Edinburgh (“the University”). Use of the Blogging Service is governed by these terms and conditions (together with the documents referred to on it) (“Terms and Conditions”). 

If you require this document in an alternative format, such as large print or a coloured background, please contact the IS Helpline.

By using the Blogging Service you indicate that you accept the Terms and Conditions and that you agree to abide by them as a “contributor” of the service. If you are not willing to accept these Terms and Conditions you may not use the Blogging Service. 

All contributors with access to the Blogging Service are required to agree to abide at all times by the University’s Computing Regulations, Information Security Policy, University Web Accessibility Policy, Policy on Employee Use of Social Media or Social Media Student Handbook, and any other relevant University policy or procedure. 

Access 

Access to the Blogging Service is permitted on a temporary basis, and we reserve the right to withdraw or amend the service we provide without notice where necessary.  

From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the Blogging Service, or the entire Blogging Service, for example where we are conducting maintenance work, or have been asked to consider a takedown request 

By default, blogs are created as private sites and only accessible to the named users associated with them. Access to view blog content is at the discretion of the blog owner(s), and may be limited to named individuals, all EASE users, or available publicly on the open web. Access to edit a blog requires EASE authentication and is therefore always restricted to registered members of the University.  

Use of the Blogging Service and uploading content to the Blogging Service 

The Blogging Service is provided to support the learning, teaching and research activities of the University, and complements, not competes with, our corporate web presence and our institutional Virtual Learning Environments. As such, the Blogging Service must not be used for hosting websites as an alternative to using the main University website, or hosting courses materials that would typically be in the Virtual Learning Environments, and other such content. We reserve the right to remove blogs that do not adhere to this.  

For example, it would be appropriate for a research project in a School to use the Blogging Service to communicate activities, or a student to create a blog as an assignment within their course. It would not be appropriate for a department or School to use the Blogging Service for their official web presence, or for study materials for a course to be on the Blogging Service instead of in Learn or Moodle. 

Staff use of the Blogging Service 

Other than personally identifiable information, which is covered under our Privacy Policy, any material you transmit or post to the Blogging Service and which you make available publicly, shall be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. We shall have the right to cite, use, copy, distribute and disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose, unless the terms of a research grant or contract to which the blog content relates prohibit us from doing so. 

Student use of the Blogging Service 

Other than personally identifiable information, which is covered under our Privacy Policy,  any material you transmit or post to the Blogging Service and which you make available publicly, shall be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. As copyright for student created content remains with individual students, content will only be re-used where specific permission has been sought. 

Blog content expresses the personal views of the contributors of the blog and the University is not responsible for any of the content contained in a blog. 

Contributors are also responsible for the moderation of comments posted on their blog content. Comments should only be approved if they meet the criteria for content detailed below. 

You agree not to use the Blogging Service to: 

• post or knowingly link to any content that is threatening, defamatory, obscene, indecent, seditious, offensive, pornographic, abusive, liable to incite racial hatred, discriminatory, menacing, scandalous, inflammatory, blasphemous, in breach of confidence, in breach of privacy or which may cause annoyance or inconvenience, although we recognise that there might be a limited number of scenarios in which such material is required to be used in a blog for legitimate academic purposes; 

• impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your relationship with any person or entity; 

• post any content that may damage the reputation or goodwill of the University; 

• post any content for which you have, not obtained all necessary licences and/or approvals and not cleared copyright permissions; 

• post any content which constitutes or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise be contrary to the law of or infringe the rights of any third party, in the UK or any other country in the world; 

• post content that would breach the General Data Protection Regulations;  

• post any material which is technically harmful (including, without limitation, computer viruses, logic bombs, Trojan horses, worms, harmful components, corrupted data or other malicious software or harmful data). 

• post content that could be described as harassment or bullying as defined by the University‘s Dignity and Respect Policy.

Advice and support is available to answer any queries in this area if Blogging Service contributors have any concerns, including advice on finding openly licensed resources, and how to use various content privacy controls available within the Blogging Service. Contact the IS Helpline for more information. 

The University does not routinely monitor content on the Blogging Service. We will check content where asked to provide assistance to staff or students, or where we receive notification that content somehow contravenes these terms of use. 

We shall fully co-operate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity or locate anyone posting any material in breach of the provisions set out above. 

Accessibility 

The Blogging Service is designed to have a high degree of web accessibility as standard. Advice and guidance on how to create accessible blog content is also available within the help and support webpages.  

By agreeing to this policy you agree that you will ensure the content you add is as accessible as possible for disabled users. You also agree to provide content in alternative formats upon request free of charge and make any other reasonable adjustments for disabled users as required by law. 

Advice and guidance is available from Information Services to support any requests for alternative formats. 

Take down policy 

We have the right to restrict access to, remove, or edit any material or posting you make on the Blogging Service if, in our opinion, such material does not comply with the provisions set out above. Please read our Takedown Policy for more information. 

Liability 

The University accepts no liability for any claims, penalties, loss or expenses arising from: any reliance placed on the content of the blog; the use or inability to use the Blogging Service; or any unauthorised access to or alteration to the Blogging Service. This clause shall not exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by the negligence of the University.   

Where there is a technical failure when the Blogging Service is used to support teaching and learning, normal academic contingency procedures shall be used e.g. assessment submission extensions. 

Copyright 

The University reserves all copyright in all content (both text and graphics) created by University employees in the course of their employment. Copyright for student created content remains with the individual student(s), except where they are creating content in an employee capacity, for example when employed as tutors or demonstrators, or working as interns. 

The University encourages staff and students to share their content under an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), with suitable modifications and safeguards, including appropriate attribution, and having obtained any permissions required from other participants or third parties whose intellectual property resides within the content.  Guidance on sharing content is contained within the Open Educational Resources Policy and Website Accessibility Policy.  For further advice, colleagues are encouraged to contact the university’s OER Service (open.ed@ed.ac.uk) and Copyright Enquiries Service (copyright@ed.ac.uk). 

On leaving the University, whether or not employee created content has been released under open licence, blog contributors will be allowed to download their content and take a copy with them. The University will retain the right to continue to display existing content created by employees. 

On leaving the University student created blogs will be deleted unless specific permission has been granted by the student for the University to retain a blog, or where a blog is assessed work and a retention schedule applies. 

All other rights which are not specifically granted are reserved. 

Privacy Policy 

Please read our Privacy Policy for details of how we use information about you. Privacy Policy.

Changes 

The University reserves the right to amend or replace the Terms and Conditions at any time. If we make any substantial changes we will notify you by posting a prominent notice on the Blogging Service. 

Jurisdiction 

The Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the Laws of Scotland and any disputes that may arise will be subject to the jurisdiction of the Scottish courts. 

Enquiries 

Please get in touch with IS Helpline if you have any queries.