Network utilization policy

NOTE: The lease for the satellite system will expire June 30, 2006. IHETS will not support the system after that time and is offering a new service, IHETS Interactive, to replace it. This information is provided for historical purposes only.

Institutional sponsorship

Each activity distributed via IHETS Television must be sponsored by an IHETS member institution. The primary sponsoring institution or campus will assume responsibility for origination and reception coordination for scheduling network time with the IHETS staff, and for assuring that appropriate copyright clearances have been obtained.

Network user autonomy

Any network user has the right to decline to be an originator, reception location, or primary sponsor based on its own policies and criteria. Any user has the right to establish fees for its participation (as originator, sponsor, or receiver) and may waive those fees at its discretion.

Rights to use program material

Each sponsoring institution is responsible for program material it transmits or causes to be transmitted via IHETS Television and for the uses made of this material at receive locations. Rights to use program materials are controlled by the sponsoring institution and may be acquired only by arrangement with that institution, except as noted below.

Intra-institutional participation

When two or more campuses of a single member institution are the sponsoring, producing, and receiving locations, the activity and its associated costs will be administered consistent with the internal regulations of that institution and consistent with IHETS policies.

Appropriate use policy

Uses consistent with network purposes

The following guidelines are intended to make clear categories of use consistent with the purposes of IHETS Television. In general, Indiana colleges and universities defined by statute to be members of IHETS may use the network for any purposes consistent with their instructional, public service, and research missions. Other participants may use the network to send or receive programming for educational purposes.

Examples of appropriate use include instruction, independent study, research, administration, and the official work of the offices, departments, and recognized student or campus organizations or agencies of the member institutions. Examples of inappropriate use include, but are not limited to, any program that violates state and/or federal laws, any program that is unethical in nature, the distribution of advertising or of commercial programming, attempts to make unauthorized connection to the network, unauthorized use of programming transmitted via the network, and use of the network for political purposes and personal use.

Ethical use

IHETS Television resources are shared by many users, and all users are urged to exercise common sense and decency with regard to these shared resources. IHETS endorses the following guidelines for ethical use.

• Respect IHETS Television as a shared resource. Do not deliberately attempt to degrade or disrupt system performance or to interfere with network use by others.
  
• Respect appropriate laws and copyrights. The transmission of live and videotaped programming and other electronic information resources is controlled by the laws of copyright and by licensing agreements. These should be observed. A receiving location may only use incoming program material for which it has been granted permission by the program sponsor. Users must also take reasonable precautions to prevent unauthorized access to and use of all programs delivered via IHETS Television.
  
• Respect the spirit of academia. The theft or abuse of educational resources violates the nature and spirit of the academic community.

Responsibility for compliance

All use of network facilities must be consistent with the purposes of the network and within the spirit of the appropriate use policy. The intent of this statement is to describe certain uses or guidelines that are consistent or inconsistent with the purposes of the network, not to enumerate all such possible uses. In cases where video communications are carried across other networks or distribution vehicles, users are advised that acceptable use policies of those networks apply and may limit use. Any originating or receiving location connected in order to use programming transmitted via IHETS Television must comply with this policy and the stated purposes and acceptable use policies of any other networks used.

All participating locations assume responsibility for providing reasonable notification about the appropriate use policy to users at their sites and for communicating this policy to appropriate administrative authorities at all sites connected to them via connections beyond the IHETS network. It is the responsibility of connected sites to provide adequate training for users to ensure appropriate network use. The program originator bears ultimate responsibility for programming that does not conform to this policy. It is the responsibility of participating sites to rectify the behavior of their users who disregard this policy. Each site may maintain and enforce its own use policy provided it does not conflict with the Appropriate Use Policy.

IHETS accepts no responsibility for programming that it transmits and that violates the appropriate use policy of any directly or indirectly connected networks beyond informing the originator that it is in violation if the connected network so informs IHETS.

Enforcement and sanctions

By signing the Letter of Understanding, all participating sites accept these guidelines and acknowledge that network programs originating from or scheduled to be received at their locations are to be consistent with the appropriate use policy, as well as the usage policies of other networks their programs may use. IHETS will not police the network, but may request action from a user regarding abuse of this policy.

The Television Network Committee may make determinations that particular uses are not consistent with the purposes of IHETS Television. Such determinations will be reported to the IHETS Integrated Technologies Committee, as appropriate, for approval and possible imposition of sanctions. Persistent and/or serious violation of this policy may result in withdrawal of approval to participate in the shared network.

Administrative policies

Administering interinstitutional participation

The following policies relate to activities sponsored by one member institution for reception at campuses of other member institutions. Policies regarding interinstitutionally produced television activities are included in this document.

• Even though co-sponsorship is encouraged, for logistical reasons only an IHETS member institution may serve as the primary sponsoring institution.
• The rigination coordinator is the campus contact for the primary sponsoring institution, and is the individual through whom receiving locations and IHETS staff communicate. If the primary sponsoring institution is not the producing institution, the sponsor may designate the origination coordinator of the producing institution as the contact for scheduling and/or coordination.
• The reception coordinator at each receiving campus is responsible for assuring that certain basic functions are performed: (1) scheduling room(s) for television reception, (2) assigning staff to be available to help in emergencies and assuring that students know where that person may be contacted during the activity, and (3) assigning staff to be responsible for ensuring that all necessary equipment is in the room on time in good operating condition, for instructing participants in the use of the talkback system when required, and for securing the equipment after use. TV origination coordinators may request other services beyond this minimum level, such as conference planning consultation, providing campus maps and parking information for participants, preparing appropriate signs, collecting fees, etc.
• A separate document, operating guidelines for IHETS-delivered television activities, specifies the forms to be initiated and procedures to be followed by sponsoring and receiving campuses. It is included as Appendix B of this handbook.

Administering participation by other users

• Statutory authority: Section 1 (c) of the IHETS enabling legislation (IC20-12-12) provides that “The transmission system shall be for the exclusive use of the universities. However, the universities may permit the use of the transmission system, or any portion of the transmission system, by others under Section 4 of this chapter.”
• Section 4 (a) further provides that “. . . the universities, or any committee or body established under Section 3 of this chapter, (if the power is so delegated to them) may permit any of the following entities to use the telecommunications system or the videotape program for educational purposes: (1) institutions of higher education, (2) governmental or public corporations or bodies, (3) other corporations, (4) partnerships, (5) associations, (6) trusts, and (7) other persons.”
• Section 4 (b) states that “Any use permitted under this section is subject to the rules, regulations, fees, and charges as the universities, committee, or other body may prescribe.” Recognizing that part of the philosophy supporting IHETS’ services is to provide access to educational resources, the IHETS member institutions have encouraged the addition of nonmember locations for IHETS Television reception. (And, in a few special circumstances, for TV origination.) Moreover, the institutions have chosen not to assess fees or charges for use of the IHETS TV transmission facilities by other users within Indiana for educational activities.

Application of administrative policies

Nonmember reception of institutional programming (i.e., direct industry reception of continuing engineering education programming) as well as nonmember origination for reception at related nonmember users (i.e., from one public television station to several others) resemble intra-institutional activities and thus fall outside the purview of the institutions’ cooperative administrative procedures. Nonmember origination for reception at member campuses, however, resembles interinstitutional participation and should follow those procedures.

Institutional sponsorship

In every case, the general principle requiring institutional sponsorship and responsibility for coordination shall apply. A list of suggested guidelines for institutional consideration is included as Appendix H to this document.

Costs for use of IHETS facilities

Although the IHETS Television transmission facilities are financed through the IHETS budget and may be used for signal distribution purposes without direct cost to institutional members, there are costs for origination and reception locations in using the network. Such costs are identified below and should be considered in planning an activity for distribution via IHETS Television.

Origination costs

A television unit incurs costs in producing and/or originating IHETS distributed television activities, whether or not that unit is part of a member institution. Sometimes the costs (i.e., rentals or fees) include the license to use prerecorded materials or satellite-delivered activities available from external sources. Administrative costs may include the time of support staff in providing origination coordination for a project. An academic unit will incur other costs in planning and presenting an instructional project, including such items as the appropriate portion of instructional salaries, clerical services, and support staff.

Reception costs

Reception sites incur costs for providing the local technical support necessary to prepare for reception of a television signal, checking and monitoring the signal reception, reporting trouble, and supervising the use of Digital TeleResponse. Theremay also be costs related to instructional materials and personnel, including library acquisitions, staffing costs for on-site instructors or viewing proctors, discussion leaders, testing and test scoring, and appropriate clerical support. Arrangements for recovering these costs are negotiated between the originating and receiving sites according to the operating guidelines for IHETS-delivered television activities.

Costs for interinstitutional participation

The primary sponsoring institution has fiscal responsibility for all originating costs, as well as for income collected, and will retain all financial rights to any course materials developed.

• A receiving location may be reimbursed for its costs in providing reception coordination and technical support for a television activity. The primary sponsoring institution will inform the reception coordinator of the receiving campus concerning services desired and costs that will be reimbursed. Each reception site that opens its facilities to others is encouraged to establish a rate structure for various costs and to make those costs known to the TV originators so that they can budget appropriately when planning an activity.
• In the event of inadequate support service at the reception location, as defined or requested by the originating or primary sponsoring institution, the primary sponsoring institution may withhold full or partial payment of the coordination and/or technical support charges at that location.
• If participant fees are collected, the primary sponsoring institution will be responsible for setting the fee amount and providing for its collection, transfer, and audit.

Costs for participation by other users

As with administrative policies, costs for nonmember reception of institutional programming and nonmember origination for reception at nonmember locations will be considered as intra-institutional participation for purposes of applying IHETS policy. Nonmember origination for reception at member campuses is similar to interinstitutional participation.

Nonmember receiving locations have the right to establish reception coordination fees, consistent with their own policies, in order to recover their out-of-pocket expenses for reception of IHETS-delivered television activities, but these shall be subject to negotiation with originators of television activities and fall beyond the purview of IHETS policy.

The primary sponsoring institution for any nonmember origination has the right to establish fees to help recover its out-of-pocket costs for TV origination coordination, according to its own fiscal policies. The sponsoring institution may not, however, assess a charge for use of the IHETS transmission facility.

In the case of nonmember origination, the originator, rather than the primary sponsoring institution, shall retain financial and other rights to the materials it originates unless such rights are otherwise limited or assigned. Several universities, for instance, have policies in place to the effect that they must hold copyright for any materials that they produce.