We expect to receive a wide range of video submissions from students, staff, and supporters to each School's page. Although we anticipate that the vast majority of these will be celebratory messages of support, we ask that every video is moderated by a member of staff, in order to ensure the pages are a safe and welcoming environment to celebrate the achievements of finalists.
To aid this moderation, we have provided a set of common-sense guidelines below that all videos must meet in order to be approved. We ask that all moderators adhere to these guidelines using their own judgement. If moderators feel that there is any uncertainty in submitted content or something that falls outside of these guidelines, please escalate to a member of the Graduation Operations Team onvirtualcelebrations@reading.ac.uk. Any issues that cannot be resolved at a local level will be referred to Legal for advice.
These guidelines are designed to be used in conjunction with the Regulations for Student Conduct (Appendix A of the Student Disciplinary Procedure).
1. No profanity
It is likely that student supporters from all age groups will view the virtual celebration pages and watch the video submissions, including young children. To maintain a celebratory, inclusive and supportive atmosphere for all users, we ask that videos do not contain any profanity.
2. Child safety
We are require to obtain parental consent for any minors under the age of 13 wanting to submit content. Under 13’s who contribute to supporter messages must do so under the supervision of a parent/guardian. Students will be made aware of this. Videos should not be approved if they contain content from under 13’s without a parent/guardian. If there is any ambiguity, please refer to a member of the Graduation Operations Team on virtualcelebrations@reading.ac.uk.
3. No hateful content
In line with University of Reading policies on harassment, equality and diversity, we will not approve content that contains or incites hatred against individuals or groups based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identification, marital status, race, colour, ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, disability or any other difference.
4. No nudity or sexually explicit content
Videos containing nudity or sexually explicit content will not be approved.
5. No violent or graphic content
We will not approve videos that contain violent or gory content that is intended to be shocking, sensational, or gratuitous.
6. No harmful or dangerous content
Videos that contain content encouraging others to do things that might cause them or others to be harmed in any way will not be approved.
Users are asked to drink responsibly. Any content submitted involving alcohol that crosses the line into harmful or dangerous content, for both the original poster and other users, will not be approved.
The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 places an obligation on the University to “in the exercise of its functions, have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. This is known as the Prevent duty. Approval of videos should comply with the University’s Prevent Policy Statement.
7. No content including personal harassment or cyberbullying
Any content that is considered to have crossed the line into a personal malicious attack against an individual will not be approved.
8. No threats
Video submissions containing content that threatens predatory behaviours, stalking, harassment, intimidation, invading privacy, revealing other people's personal information, and inciting others to commit violent acts will not be approved.
9. No spam or scams
Videos that are obviously spam, i.e. irrelevant, unwanted, or repetitive content or a scam, i.e. an attempt to mislead or deceive users, will not be approved.
10. Privacy
If we are notified that someone has posted the personal information of someone else or uploaded a video without their consent, we will ensure this content is removed from the relevant grid.
It should be noted that all those who will be uploading or including personal data in their submissions will be made aware that any content they submit will be able to be viewed by other staff, students and supporters who have the relevant code and password.
We will be deleting all pages and their content at the end of the 2-week window in order to be compliant with EU data laws. We will action any requests from users to remove a video submission prior to this 2-week deadline.
11. Copyright
Any videos that do not respect copyright through use of content that belongs to others, e.g. music tracks, snippets of copyrighted programs or videos made by others, may not be approved.
12. Impersonation
Videos submitted to impersonate other individuals will not be approved.
13. Other
We reserve the right to refuse to approve any submitted content that falls outside of the above guidelines and does not meet the standards for appropriate content based on a common-sense approach. Our overall aim is to create a supportive, celebratory, and inclusive atmosphere to mark the achievements of the class of 2021. Any content that does not comply with this may not be approved based on the discretion of the moderators.