The University of Bristol blog service (“Bristol Blogs”) is provided by Strategic Communications and Marketing to:
- provide a way for academics and other staff to communicate with public audiences using a channel that is consistent with the University’s brand and visual identity.
- provide a platform for multi-institutional partnerships linked to the University to communicate with public audiences using a visual identity that is independent from the University of Bristol.
- provide a platform for digital projects undertaken by Strategic Communications and Marketing and IT Services.
The Bristol Blogs service uses WordPress as its content management system. It is run on a cloud-hosted system by CampusPress, a company that provides WordPress blogs for educational institutions, on behalf of the University. The service is managed within the University by the Digital Experience team.
Who may apply for a blog
Any member of University of Bristol staff, or any University of Bristol postgraduate research student, can create a blog on the Bristol Blogs network. Blogs may represent University faculties, schools, and other organisational units, as well as groups, projects and other activity related to research and teaching of interest to public audiences.
Undergraduate and postgraduate taught students at the University of Bristol may not create their own blog, although they may be given access to edit an existing blog by the relevant blog owner.
Bristol Blogs is not a blogging service for personal usage. Blogging for individuals can be found at commercial sites such as www.wordpress.com. This activity is not managed nor supported by University staff.
Once a blog is approved, the applicant will take on the role of ‘blog owner’, or may nominate a colleague to this role. Blog owners are responsible for the content published by them and other contributors to the blog as set out below.
Blog owners accept that
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- blogs on the Bristol Blogs service are publicly available and searchable by all Internet users, internal and external;
- blog content must be kept up-to-date: the University reserves the right to remove blogs that sit dormant for six months or more;
- blog content must comply with our legal requirements relating to the web, which includes our accessibility policy;
- blogs on the Bristol Blogs service use the theme ‘University of Bristol theme’, unless non-University-of-Bristol branding is required, eg blog for a multi-institution partnership. In such cases, blog owners may request an alternative from a list of supported themes;
- blog owners are responsible for the moderation of comments posted on their blog content (see Social Media and Blog Guidance document listed in the next section for advice on public interaction online);
- blog owners comply with policies listed under ‘Conduct and interaction with other policies and regulation’ below. The University reserves the right to take down any content that is deemed to have breached University policies and any misuse of this service may be referred to HR under the University’s Disciplinary Procedure;
- content that has been sponsored or otherwise paid for by any party external to the University of Bristol is not permitted on blogs on the Bristol Blogs service;
- serious and / or persistent violation of these Terms and Conditions of Use may result in the University taking appropriate action. This may include sharing information as required by law or permitted under the Data Protection Act;
- a blog posting which is in breach of these Terms and Conditions of Use could lead to legal action being taken against you by an external authority or aggrieved party.
Conduct and interaction with other policies and regulations
Professional responsibilities apply regardless of the medium being used. All content published on Bristol Blogs must comply with the following relevant University policies: