Acceptable Use Agreement

Also see the Streaming Media Guidelines

Who is eligible to obtain a directory on media.umd.edu?

Any University of Maryland, College Park (UM) college, department, administrative unit, registered student group, or faculty/staff member can obtain a directory on media.umd.edu for appropriate multimedia streaming use. This includes self-support units on campus such as the University Book Center and Residence Halls. In addition, special projects with non-campus personnel/organizations will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

There are three classes of users for streamingmedia.umd.edu: " academic use" for support of a UM university course, "general use " for all other UM activities, and "USM use" for all USM campus activities. This service is for storage of media files only and not for Web site production. Sample letters/forms for faculty or staff to use when they need to seek permission to post are provided.

Streamingmedia.umd.edu users must read and agree to the University's Guidelines for the Acceptable Use of Computing Resources. (www.umd.edu/aug). Use of media.umd.edu resources is subject to the terms and conditions of these Guidelines. For table of content/index pages, directory owners should be familiar and comply with UM styleguides.

Users must provide source (ownership) information on each file in their directories which includes the name and email address of the department or unit, an abstract of the information, including the origin, authority, and date of the material, and any known inaccuracies in the data.

Directory owners must specify that the materials are either:

in the public domain,
licensed for use, or
qualify for a copyright exemption such as "fair use" for instructional purposes.
Many materials may require permission and/or payment of a royalty for a license to use. Public domain will include works of the federal government or OLD materials (life of author plus 70 years or 95 years for institutional authors) and will be apparent based upon the date of the copyright notice. Additional license information may be provided in the copyright notice.

The "fair use" exemption is difficult to prove and may require review by the OIT Policy and Planning office. Anything digitized under a "fair use" argument should not be used beyond the current semester. NOTE: The general consensus for "fair use" guidelines (from the "photocopy" and "multimedia material" experience) is that the concept of "spontaneity" suggests that uses in subsequent semesters permits enough time to secure copyright permission. While copyright permissions should request use for the "life of the course", we are also prepared to respond to the level of permission given which may be restricted to one time use.

Directory owners must maintain their files in a timely and accurate manner. Out-of-date files must be removed or updated unless of an archival nature.

Electronic mail generated by users should be read regularly and responded to in a timely manner.

NOTE: Any material which purports to speak for the University by units beyond the President's Cabinet level must either originate with, or be reviewed by, the Office of University Advancement.