The University provides the following guidelines for disseminating information to members of the University community. These guidelines differ depending on the size and nature of the information being distributed as well as its period of relevance. The categories of information are:
- University Related Information with a Short Period of Relevance
- University Related Information with Large Content and a Short Period of Relevance
- University Related Information with a Longer Period of Relevance
- Notification of Major University Events and Information
- Non-University Information
It should be noted that the use of University Facilities should be done so in the context of the University's Computer Usage Policies.
University Related Information with a Short Period of Relevance
If the message is relatively small in size, contains no large attachments and has content with a relatively short period of relevance, the recommended method is to send the message directly to a targetted group of recipients using an appropriate University Email Alias.
This is the most active method for distributing information as each member of the email alias will receive their own individual copy of the message.
An important consideration in using this method is the correct selection of the email alias/s. The criterion to use here is to select the alias/s with the narrowest possible focus (in terms of the number of recipients) but including all the people you wish to contact. The danger of casting the net too widely may result in sending the message to people who might regard it as unsolicited or spam email.
There are particular University email aliases used for general communication:
- JCU Email Contacts (Heads and Office Contacts)
These aliases target particular contacts within the University based on individual organisational responsibilities and functional organisational groupings. - JCU Heads, Offices and JCU Contacts
These aliases target all designated Heads or all designated Personal Assistants or in the case of JCU Contacts all JCU Heads plus all JCU Personal Assistants and additionally nominated Email Contacts. All these aliases use information gathered using the Organisational Roles. - CLevel Aliases
These aliases target groups based on the University's organisational structure. For example, targeting all members of a particular Faculty/Division, School/Office or a Discipline/Unit. They are generated from data drawn from the Human Resources Database.
Please note that the above aliases are to help you find the best focus group for the information you wish to disseminate. If you require your work related email to be sent to as many staff members as possible it is advisable to address it to JCU.Contacts requesting that it be redistributed to interested staff.
Here are some do's and don'ts that may help when using email.
University Related Information with Large Content and a Short Period of Relevance
If the message is longer in length or contains large attachments, consideration should be given to emailing the information, including any attachment(s), to a University bulletin board, and sending off a shorter email to the target group informing them of the new bulletin's contents.
Once the message appears on the bulletin list (generally within fifteen minutes or so) you can simply refer to the message in an email to your target audience.
For example, the text of an email to JCU.Contacts informing of a new bulletin entry might read:
Please read "Discussion Paper on Draft Federal Tertiary Policy" on the staff bulletin boards at http://www.jcu.edu.au/archives/staff-bulletins/maillist.shtml
This bulletin entry would include an attachment containing the relevant document.
The bulletin boards which can be posted to are:
- Staff-bulletins for Staff
- Postgrad-bulletins for Postgraduate Students
- Undergrad-bulletins for Undergraduate Students or
- JCU-bulletins if you want to target all the groups above
University Related Information with a Longer Period of Relevance
Information which needs to be disseminated to members of the University community that will remain relevant for a longer period of time should be documented as a permanent web page on the University's website. This includes the documentation of any University policy. The web page's location and format will be dependent on the nature of the information concerned. See your Web Manager for assistance.
It may be relevant to post notification of the new or modified web page/s to one the bulletin boards described above.
Notification of Major University Events or Information
It is recommended that you use JCU Events for this purpose.
To include information about upcoming events contact JCU Marketing.
It may also be relevant to post notification of the calendar entry to one the bulletin boards described above.
Non-University Information
Any message which is not work related should only be disseminated using one of the bulletin boards described above.