SMTD Web Governance

Last Updated: 10/30/2024

The online hub for the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance is smtd.umich.edu, where information about SMTD, its people and programs is made available to users worldwide.

Our website provides accurate and timely resources for a wide range of expected audiences – especially prospective students and program participants, including their families/ advisors, and prospective attendees of events and performances. Other key audiences include the U-M community, donors and prospective supporters, and SMTD alumni.

A subsection of the website called BACKSTAGE (smtd.umich.edu/backstage/) serves as our community’s Intranet, which is designated and intended for internal-facing information and resources especially for SMTD students, faculty and staff.

On This Page

Objective

Why do we need Web Governance?

Our digital channels are the public face of SMTD. Employees from across the school hold responsibility for ensuring that our website presents accurate information and effective messaging, including department-specific web content managers who may routinely publish website updates. This document contains policies, standards and conventions to help ensure an accessible and cohesive user experience across the SMTD website. These policies also align SMTD with university requirements and standard practice guides (SPGs).

University of Michigan Policy on Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility:
https://spg.umich.edu/policy/601.20

Web Content Standards

All SMTD users who edit the website are expected to follow the SMTD Website Best Practices & Conventions resource, which highlights standard approaches to ensure our content is accessible to all, including:

SMTD Editing Style Guide

This resource is used by the SMTD Marketing team to help ensure that a consistent voice and style is used across our digital and print materials. Those editing the website or preparing content for the web are asked to learn and follow the SMTD Editing Style Guide as well. Categories include:

Responsive Design

On average, recent visitors to the SMTD website are using a mobile device or tablet at roughly the same rate of those using a desktop computer to visit the website. Our expectation and goal is that 100% of SMTD’s web pages are designed to be responsive to screen sizes, providing an equivalent quality of the user’s experience on desktop, tablet, or mobile browsers.

PDFs

PDF documents serve a variety of short and longer-term purposes on the SMTD website. Please note that only documents uploaded directly to the Media Library will be indexed/ searchable in full via the main website search.

Common PDF categories and how they are typically handled include:

  • Performance Programs – Students, faculty and staff should follow the process outlined on SMTD BACKSTAGE for Concert Programs for Student, Faculty & Guest Recitals to submit their concert and recital programs. Via this process, most programs are published to the Event Calendar as a Google Drive link set to allow viewing access by anyone with the link.
  • Long-term Resources – Some PDFs are published directly to the Media Library of the SMTD website. This is best for documents that are not expected to change or need updates on a regular basis.
  • Iterative Resources – Some PDFs are published to the SMTD website through a Links & Documents post type. This is best for documents that may exist in a new version from year to year, such as degree Silent Advisors, or where regular updates are made and only one current version should be available online.The Links & Documents feature enables one “permanent” link to be selected for a document, and offers a field to indicate the current external link for the document (usually a Google Drive file set to allow viewing access by anyone with the link.) The “permanent” link can be updated in one of two ways:
    1. Within WordPress (Admins only), by updating the Links & Documents post with the new external link.
    2. Inside the Google folder with the current document, go to File Information > Manage Versions to upload a new version. The file link will stay the same.

Video / Audio Media

Video and audio content posted to the SMTD website must always be made accessible through captions or a transcript, to align with accessibility best practices and comply with U-M’s Policy on Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility (SPG 601.20). Most media players and hosting services such as YouTube offer a tool to machine-generate captions for your content.

Podcast recordings that lack captions or a transcript will not be posted to the SMTD website. The transcript or captions provided to accompany any podcasts should be of a high quality of readability and accuracy.

Creators of podcasts in service to the SMTD mission are encouraged to plan early for making their work accessible. Upon request, SMTD Marketing can support the loading of SMTD-affiliated podcast recordings to MiVideo with machine-generated captions. Creators will be expected to provide the labor of reviewing and editing the media captions before they are accepted for publishing. Please email [email protected] to discuss your project.

Documentation/Recording Consent

All SMTD performance venues have the following notice posted:

This event may be photographed, livestreamed, or recorded for later broadcast. Voices or faces of individuals may be included in recordings.

In addition, the policy on Recordings and Photographs for Marketing is included in the Code of Conduct & Academic Policies applicable to all students.

Security Standards

U-M’s Information Security policy (SPG 601.27) establishes the expectation that units share in the responsibility to protect the information assets controlled by the university. At SMTD, Director of Technology Greg Laman is designated as a Security Unit Liaison, serving as our unit’s primary IT security contact. Please promptly report any IT security incidents or suspicious activity to Greg Laman at [email protected].

Find resources on the ITS Safe Computing website, including how to:

  • Protect yourself and your digital identity and information
  • Protect the U with procedures that ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the university’s digital assets
  • Protect privacy by being an informed and responsible digital citizen

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Policies & Procedures for Web Support

Please see the Marketing & Communications page on BACKSTAGE for categories of support our office can offer, with helpful details and procedures. Includes the following:

General Support:

Publicity & Promotion:

Tools & Templates:

News Stories

  • SMTD-related news and updates are posted to the website at smtd.umich.edu/news-stories – These news posts also feed out to appear on relevant individual department pages across the website. Please contact [email protected] to propose a news story for the website.
  • All website news stories are required to have at least one accompanying image to serve as the post featured image.
  • Link-out stories: In addition to custom-authored news posts, some SMTD news headlines may link users directly to an external website or media not hosted on the SMTD website. Examples include:
    • [Campus News] Headline
      >> Links out to University Record or another U-M link
    • [In the News] Headline
      >> External Links about the work of current faculty/students that is of broad note/interest. The destination link MUST mention the connection to U-M or SMTD and ideally our person’s news should be a focus of the story.
    • [Video] Headline
      >> Direct link out to an SMTD video
    • [Media Coverage] Headline
      >> Signifies that the post contains a round-up of related external media links

Conference/ Meeting Websites

The SMTD faculty/department hosting a conference is responsible for managing their own conference website and participant registration process. Various services are available to the U-M community for the hosting and development of group, lab, or personal websites: compare website options or consider other commercially available hosting services such as WordPress.

Here’s an example of a recent conference website created by SMTD faculty. Some past gatherings have used Google Forms or U-M Conference & Event Services to manage their registration/ payment process. 

The SMTD marketing team is able to support:

  • posting any public events to the SMTD/U-M calendars – first please schedule any public events via [email protected], then email details to [email protected]
  • highlighting the conference on the department webpage / SMTD home page
  • potentially a website news story / post about the conference, if that is of interest

Major Web Projects

To discuss a new page or functionality on the website, please complete this form: Major Website Change Request.

New requests are evaluated on a weekly basis by the Marketing team, to assess our team’s capacity against the expected timeline/scope of your request. We also consider and prioritize efforts with school-wide benefits. We may ask for more detail or schedule a meeting to explore further before your request can be pursued.

Web development work can not begin on a new web project, until roughly 90% of the expected content is finalized, available, and ready to provide to the web team.

Events Calendar

Please see the Marketing & Communications page on SMTD BACKSTAGE for complete policies and procedures around posting events to the online SMTD & U-M Calendars.

  • Important: All public events in SMTD-managed spaces must first be reserved in the ASIMUT scheduling system as a Performance (or the appropriate event category) before it’s possible to add them to our calendar. Reserved Access only or Class time in the space is not sufficient.

Employee Profiles

SMTD Faculty and Staff profiles appear in our website Directory. Employees should provide their own profile content including preferred names and pronouns, bio, CV, headshot, etc. Please see the SMTD Profiles Guide for options available and email any updates to [email protected].

New Faculty & Staff Appointments

  • When a new appointment is official, HR will commence a series of automated emails to support onboarding – including a notice to the web team to create a profile for new employees.
  • Profiles will be published or titles updated in alignment with the appointment date provided by HR. (We can publish profiles early if desired, by special request to [email protected]; the appointment effective date will be noted.)

When a faculty member changes to Emeritus

  • The profile is updated to: New Emeritus title
    • Deselect Faculty, and select Emeritus Faculty checkboxes
    • This change means the Emeritus Faculty will no longer appear among the active faculty on the degree/department pages, but they WILL continue to appear in the full SMTD Directory.

Lecturer Appointments

  • LEO / Lecturer appointments must last at least one full year to qualify for a faculty profile on the SMTD website.

Graduate Students

  • We are able to offer website profiles and grids for graduate students by request of individual departments. Please email [email protected] to make a request; the department will be responsible for asking the grad students to provide profile content to the web team. (The profile system will not be used for undergraduate profiles due to capacity and technical limitations.)

Teaching Focuses

Faculty profiles appear on relevant Department and Degree pages, including the profile image, name, and title, which links users to the full faculty profile. This “grid” view can also include one or multiple teaching focuses – the teaching focus appears as a short subfield below the profile to help our users more easily discover faculty specialties or roles.

Each profile can select appropriate teaching focuses from the existing categories available (listed below). Please email [email protected] to request the addition of teaching focus to any profiles.

Teaching Focus Options

  • Administration
  • Campanology
  • Chamber Music
  • Community Engagement
  • Composition
  • Conducting
    • Bands
    • Choirs
    • Orchestras
  • Dance
  • Department Administrator
  • Department Chair
  • Early Music
  • Entrepreneurship & Leadership
    • EXCEL
  • Hip-hop in the Americas
  • Improvisation
  • Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation
  • Jazz Piano
  • Marching & Athletic Bands
  • Movement
  • Music Studies
  • Music Theory
  • Musical Theatre
  • Musicology
    • Latin American Music
  • Organ
    • Carillon
    • Harpsichord
  • Performance
  • Performing Arts Management
  • Performing Arts Technology
  • Piano
    • Collaborative Piano
    • Fortepiano
    • Piano Pedagogy
  • Sacred Music
  • Saxophone
  • Strings
    • Cello
    • Double Bass
    • Guitar
    • Harp
    • Viola
    • Violin
  • Theatre & Drama
    • Acting
    • Acting for the Camera
    • African-American Drama
    • Backstage Operations
    • Costume Design
    • Costume Shop
    • Design & Production
    • Directing
    • Dramatic Literature
    • Dramaturg
    • Front of House Management
    • Lighting Design
    • Performing & Devising
    • Playwriting
    • Power Scene Shop
    • Prison Creative Arts Project
    • Production Management
    • Scenic Design
    • Scenic Painting
    • Sound Design
    • Stage Combat & Movement
    • Theatre for Social Change
    • Theatre History
    • Theatrical Lighting
    • Theatrical Properties
    • Walgreen Scene Shop
    • Voice & Speech
  • University Productions Administration
  • Voice
    • Opera
  • Winds & Percussion
    • Bassoon
    • Clarinet
    • Euphonium
    • Flute
    • Horn
    • Oboe
    • Percussion
    • Trombone
    • Trumpet
    • Tuba
    • Tuba & Euphonium

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Technology

Content Management System

The SMTD website is managed in WordPress using a Divi Builder theme. Divi Builder is a visual page and theme builder for WordPress that allows users to create websites without coding experience.

Training

If you believe your department could benefit from direct website editing access, please contact [email protected] to request access for any specific employees. We will require the employee to attend a virtual training/ orientation with the SMTD Digital Content Specialist before WordPress editing access is granted.

Databases & Hosting

To consult on a project or need involving a database, please contact [email protected].

Projects and conferences sponsored by individual faculty typically will not be eligible for web hosting on the SMTD website unless previously approved through the major web projects request process (see above).

Various services are available to the U-M community for the hosting and development of group, lab, or personal websites. Compare website options or consider other commercially available hosting services such as WordPress. Learn about U-M’s plans in development to offer a suite of central web hosting services to campus in the future.

Subdomains/ Shortlinks

Subdomain requests may be considered when a specific need is identified for a branded, public-facing, permanent web presence that serves the entire school. One example of a subdomain is tickets.smtd.umich.edu.

The Marketing team can also create shorter versions of links to help meet specific needs, through custom URL redirection or by creating a shortlink at myumi.ch/#####. Please contact us at [email protected] for assistance.

Analytics and Measurement

The SMTD website is connected to Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager to measure website visitors and behavior patterns. Please contact [email protected] to initiate an inquiry about website visitor data, or to request the Property ID or request viewing access.

Roles and Permissions

Who will be assigned a WordPress User Status and their responsibility for different areas of the website:

Director of IT (Greg Laman) – Administrator

IT Security; Server operation and maintenance; Forms using .php

Director of Marketing (Beth Miller) – Administrator

Oversight of SMTD communications, brand, and marketing policies & operations

Digital Content Specialist (Tracy Payovich) – Administrator

Routine website updates and maintenance; Website page creation, re-designs and improvements; Events calendar conventions

UProd Marketing Manager (Sarah Erlewine) – Administrator

Liaison with ticket office; Comp tickets manager; UProd Programs

Marketing & Communications Team – Editor

Staff who need broad access to the WordPress dashboard, to view and work on drafts/private pages, and post/page editing

Department Web Content Managers – Author

SMTD Staff or Student employees who need access to edit specific pages or permission to create pages under an assigned directory

Noncompliance

SMTD WordPress users are expected to follow the web content standards established above to ensure consistency and accessibility across the website. SMTD Marketing & Communications may remove the access of WordPress users at the discretion of the Director of Marketing.

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