A draft of the proposed OpenETC code of conduct, posted for community feedback. If you have any feedback or questions on this code, please leave a comment using Hypothesis.

The OpenETC is a community-driven endeavour. When you sign-up to use the services of the OpenETC, you become a member of our community.

We believe in the principles of academic freedom and start from a position of trust in our community.

Here are the standards of our community that we expect all members to adhere to.

  1. Be respectful.  
  2. Be considerate.
  3. Be collaborative. 
  4. Be inclusive. 
  5. Ask for help when unsure.
  6. Provide help to others.
  7. Contribute to the community. 
  8. Lead by example. 
  9. Appreciate and accommodate our similarities and differences. 

Guidelines

Additionally, when you use the services of the OpenETC we ask that you agree to the following guidelines.

You agree that you will not:

  • 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, although we recognize 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 for which you have not obtained all necessary licenses and/or approvals and not cleared copyright permissions;
  • post any content which constitutes or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise be contrary to the law of or infringe the rights of any third party, in Canada;
  • post content that would violate British Columbia FIPPA legislation;
  • 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, as defined by the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Ownership of content

The OpenETC claims no ownership or right to any user generated content on the service and accepts no liability or responsibility for user generated content. User generated content expresses the personal views of users. If you are a member of a BC post-secondary institution using the OpenETC, you are first and foremost bound by your own institutions policies on copyright and ownership. It is your responsibility to be familiar with these prior to using the OpenETC services.

The information you post should not be confidential or proprietary

Other than personally identifiable information, which is covered under our Privacy Policy, any material you transmit or post using the OpenETC services and which you make available publicly shall be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. You are responsible for the moderation of any content such as comments posted on a blog.

Accessibility

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.

Temporary access

Access to OpenETC services 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 OpenETC services, or the entire service, for example where we are conducting maintenance work, or have been asked to consider a takedown request.

OpenETC liability

The OpenETC accepts no liability for any claims, penalties, loss or expenses arising from: any reliance placed on the content of the service; the use or inability to use the service; or any unauthorized access to or alteration to the service. Where there is a technical failure when the service is used to support teaching and learning, the academic contingency procedures of your home institution will be used e.g. assessment submission extensions.

Rights of the OpenETC

The OpenETC has the right to restrict access to, remove, or edit any material or posting you make on OpenETC services if, in our opinion, such material does not comply with the provisions set out above.