1. Do not change the club Gmail or blog password without notifying your club leader. Gmail and blog address will be the same. Create blog url and Gmail using the recommended format taught by the state 4-H office.
For consistency, please follow the suggested url (web address): http://clubname4h.blogspot. USE LOWERCASE. No dash between 4 and h. This is very similar to the system schools use. If your club name is long, use abbreviations as you prefer...instead of Lord Baltimore Helping Hands4h.blogspot - try lbhh4h - or lordbalt4h. You can title your blog with the full name but you don't need it in the blog url!!!!!
2. Comments on all blogs by the public will be disabled. If someone on the outside has something to say, let them email the club using the free Gmail.
3. Blog password will be shared with the county agent at all times!
4. Mention and thank supporters and sponsors! Hyperlink their names to their official websites when possible. Hyperlinks help to drive visitors to their site and ours. However…
5. Do not hyperlink commercial products or businesses unless they are sponsors or supporters.
6. A Gmail account will be created with this blog. Only adult leaders are authorized to correspond with the public using club's Gmail. Club officer position blogmaster will only work specifically with blog. Add blog link to club Gmail signature.
We are asking that all Gmail accounts be created in a similar pattern that public schools use. Configure your email to read: clubname.4h.de@gmail.com
7. Do not enter or initiate Google Ad Sense, if prompted.
8. Notify your leader of any changes or updates to the blog. Save As Draft until you get leader approval.
9. Comply with the guidelines for using the 4-H Emblem. The official 4-H Emblem should be used liberally.
NEW: Under the title of your blog the following statement must be included : Welcome! This blog is managed by 4-H youth members and leaders as an on going teaching project. Optional: Club name serves the greater region name area.
Civil Rights
1. Be aware of University of Delaware Cooperative Extensions policies on civil rights.
• Pictures should fully focus on the diversity of club membership
• Extension and 4-H's clauses should appear prominently on a separate page (this text will be supplied and can easily be copied and pasted to your blog). How to contact, how to join must link to this page.
• All images will be respectful of everyone and the group or ethnicity of that person and will not promote or suggest stereotypes.
• Link to Cooperative Extension’s Civil Rights Statements where appropriate.
Use of Photographs
1. Although Delaware 4-H obtains photo releases with each registration it is advisable to have parents or families sign off that club pictures will be posted on a blog.
2. Always remove a picture if a club member or parent finds the picture disagreeable. We do not want to use the blog to embarrass anyone!
3. Create Google Picassa photo album for slide shows. Images stored on Picassa should conform to the same identity/privacy guidelines. You will be shown how to do this in your training.
4. With the exception of award pictures (that would normally appear in a paper) captions under photographs should not fully identify minors in the photos. For example:
• CORRECT: Lauren S. is having fun working on her pumpkin for the Pumpkin Contest WRONG: Lauren Stevens is having fun working on her pumpkin for the Pumpkin Contest
• WRONG: Ms. Anderson shows her daughter Colleen how to thread a needle. CORRECT: Ms. Anderson shows Colleen how to thread a needle or ...works with club member Colleen how to thread a needle.
• Do not put specific ages after names. WRONG: First Place winner: J. Wilson, 16 CORRECT: First Place J. Wilson, (13+) Use 4-H age categories 5-8, 12 and under, 9-10, 10-11, 13+ or use generic..."Cloverbud", "Younger Member", "Older Member."
5. Adult Leaders may be named.
6. Guard against over use of a particular member's photo or singling out one member over another. 4-H is inclusive and everyone is a star! Favoritism will not be tolerated. Make sure that all members are treated fairly and have the opportunity to be positively showcased.
7. Non-4-H adults and leaders may not appear in photographs unless they have signed a photo release form. Pictures of crowds, where everyone is generally the same and who are at public events and no particular person is featured are okay to use but double check with the 4-H agent or technology leader to be certain. But if your cousin, or best friend joins a 4-H event with you as a guest, and appears in a picture, you must get a photo release! Photo releases are available on the 4-H page on the blank Health Forms that are made available.
Protecting Privacy
1. Privacy matters! Use the club's new Gmail for all "contact us" hyperlinks.
2. Be extremely careful posting phone numbers and addresses. Direction information for a particular event should not be listed on the blog - unless it is already publicized. OKAY: Where your club officially meets, 4-H county office events (school, Extension office). NOT OKAY: Giving the directions to someone's home for a special meeting. This should be communicated via email and not on the blog.
3. Do not post private individuals emails, phone numbers or addresses in the blog.
Content
1. Blogmaster will endeavor to use correct spellings of names when used. Generally speaking, youth photographs should either show a full first name or full last name, but rarely both, unless the image is specifically approved by subject, subject's parents or guardians and club leader. OKAY: Laura S. but not Laura Stevens. Use of naming photographs should be standardized throughout the blog.
2. Tabbed pages should offer a minimum of: Club calendar (sharing of this can be restricted), Community Service and About Us or About our club:
• About our club page should briefly state your history, how you got your club name, a focus if you have one (horse club). It must also include the 4-H clause and the Civil Rights Non-Discrimination clause. These will be provided for you.
• It must also provide contact information for the county 4-H office and provide links to the state and county 4-H web pages.
Remember: Your blog is for your 4-H club, but it is also for the public. Families who are interested in joining 4-H in your area might not know as much about 4-H as you do, so your blog is also a teaching tool – and a big Internet commercial for 4-H. Everything on the blog must reflect 4-H’s positive programs and mission.
3. Label all blog posts. (These are keywords).
4. Do not add additional pages without express okay from your club's 4-H leader. Create a preview and let them review before publishing in a public way.
5. Immediately remove any post or page or hyperlink upon the request of any 4-H Extension staff. 4-H staff has the right to go in and edit any information they feel is not appropriate to the image of 4-H.
6. Your club leader and county 4-H agent have final content and editorial authority over the blog.
7. 4-H technology leader Michele Walfred may be contacted with technical questions. 302-856-7303 ext or via e-mail at Walfred [at] udel [dot] edu*
*Notice the above e-mail? All across the web, spybots surf the Internet in search of the @ sign that is found in emails. They collect advertised emails and then sell them to businesses, advertisers, and yes….SPAMMERS! You will learn more Internet security techniques at your blog training. By putting an email the way it is shown, prevents this from happening.
Increasingly, e-mail addresses are changing from: testname@testcollege.edu to testname [at] testcollege[dot]edu Of course, the latter doesn’t hyperlink. It is not a real e-mail format is it? No! But most people can figure out what to put in place of the brackets. Sometimes it’s not practical. 4-H staff and your club e-mail can be put in the traditional way, but if you must put a private individual’s e-mail on the web, using the brackets is far more safe way to share an e-mail address! Remember, 4-H follows the safety first rule!
Yes there are a lot of rules and things to think about, aren't there? But using the Internet can be very useful and safe- but it does take some thought and judgment and pre-planning. You might of heard the Internet being referred to as the "information super highway" and that is a good analogy! Just like driving, you can't just hop in a car without training or a license or obeying laws. Otherwise you might hurt someone. The same common sense applies when using the Internet. Be a safe driver- be a safe blogger! Your passengers are your 4-H members and leaders!
Date:
The position of club blogmaster will require a consistent exercise in good judgment. In this important leadership position, you will be making decisions that affect the look of the blog, the reputation of 4-H, your club and the feelings of your co-members and leaders. There are other venues for personal feelings – this blog is not one of them. The blog must exist for the common good of your 4-H club, Delaware 4-H as a whole, and as a tool to help families connect with 4-H in your area. A public blog is an important ambassador for positive marketing of 4-H.
I have read the following guidelines completely and understand them and will comply with them fully.
Signature of blogmaster*:
Signature of 4-H Club Organizational Leader
*upgraded with each election
