myHamilton.ca | discover, participate, learn and grow

Definition of Visitor:

The term ‘visitor’ applies to anyone who uses the myhamilton.ca community website.

A.  Statement of Commitment

Our intent with this acceptable use policy is to create a space for the community to learn, share, communicate and celebrate the diversity of the Hamilton community while protecting personal information and rights. This will be a safe, trusted public place for the free exchange of ideas and will be the go to' location for information in the Hamilton community.  This policy covers the general content areas of myhamilton.ca with regards to content focus, consent, content, use, unacceptable use and retention.

B.  Guiding Principles

As guiding principles, "myhamilton.ca" supports the community's commitment to: promote the well being of individuals and communities, diversity, inclusiveness, collaboration, communication, privacy and ethical standards, excellence.

These include:

• an emphasis on promoting initiatives working towards Making Hamilton Better
• recognition of all members of the community respecting their the needs and capacities irrespective of ability, gender, income, language, education level, race and ethnicity, age, sexual orientation and geographical location
• promotion of inclusiveness and participation within our community
• protection of individual privacy and rights within the bounds of acceptable ethical standards and legal restraints including copyright and libel
• commitment to excellence through reliable, accurate, informed communication and prompt and courteous responsive delivery of services

C.  Policy Components

• Responsibility:  As visitor, you are responsible for reviewing these terms and conditions and additional terms posted on particular websites. Your continued use of the myhamilton.ca constitutes your agreement to all such terms, conditions, and notices.
• Use:  The material posted will be for the benefit of the community as a whole.  Information on the site is made available free of charge.  Copyright on information posted is held by the information providers.  Unless otherwise posted all information posted on myhamilton is made available under the Creative Commons -Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works.   
• Retention: The content providers are the sole source of information and also are responsible for the retention and removal of content.
• Unacceptable use: Any activity that is contrary to the statement of commitment or guiding principles is considered unacceptable use and may result in action taken to exclude the visitor from the portal.  While myhamilton is a place for different views to be expressed and heard, content that is disrespectful or otherwise violates our guiding principles is unacceptable.

D.  Content Priorities

Attention will be made to ensure the priorities outlined here are effectively addressed, however, myhamilton assumes no guarantees for content provided with regards to accuracy or retention.   

• Meeting User’s Needs (Relevance):  Information will be gathered from users through a variety of mechanisms to identify areas of high interest and demand.  This information will be used on an ongoing basis to help ensure myhamilton delivers content that is relevant to the community.  Content that is not of high demand may be included on myhamilton, however, priority will be given to ensure relevant information and services are effectively highlighted.
• Currency/Accuracy: content will be current, except where historical in nature.  High priority will be given to ensuring information on myhamilton is accurate and the source is identified.  The date items were last updated will be indicated where appropriate.
• Promoting and Celebrating Hamilton:  priority will be given to highlighting positive developments in our community.  Information that helps encourage engagement and participation will be a major focus of the site. Some information regarding challenges our community is facing will also be found on the site, however, the emphasis will be on helping advance solutions and positive developments.
• Reducing Content Duplication:  In order to reduce the unnecessary duplication of information myhamilton will identify and link to other sources of information where appropriate.  Where a source of information already exists myhamilton will ensure excessive duplication is avoided and myhamilton helps direct traffic to those sources.  Examples include:  City of Hamilton, Inform Hamilton, Tourism Hamilton, official sites of educational and other institutions in our community.  Where appropriate myhamilton will provide descriptive information and context and link directly to specific content within other sites. 

E.  Presentation & Access

• Appropriateness of Language:  Efforts will be made to ensure labels used on the site are validated by usability testing to ensure they are relevant and meaningful to users. 
• Clear Language:  myhamilton will create content that is understandable and accessible to as wide a range of people as possible.  Efforts will be made to apply best practices of clear language to reduce barriers to understanding. 
• Consistency of Presentation:  each section of the portal will contain information unique and relevant to that section, in general the site will follow a standard layout and interface throughout. The site will be branded “Powered by the Hamilton Public” and follow a consistent look.  Exceptions to this include: partner sites hosted by myhamilton and sites for specific audiences. 
• Partner Sites: hosted on myhamilton will be able to emphasize their unique branding while still enabling customers to easily return to myhamilton.  Within the limits of available resources, the Hamilton Public Library will work towards providing hosting to external organizations that are working towards Making Hamilton Better.   Priority will be given to initiatives that are collaborative in nature and are working towards making a broad impact on our community

F.  Policy Concerns

If you have any concerns regarding this website, please contact the Hamilton Public Library and you will receive a response in two working days. To report a concern, you must provide full contact information. When content is being considered for review as a result of a posted concern, myhamilton reserves the right to temporarily remove the content until the review is complete. Reporting a concern does not specifically mean that the content will be removed. Individuals reporting concerns will be kept up-to-date as to the status of the process by the myhamilton Team.

G.  Other applicable policies

Other policies in effect with the use of this web site are:

Human Rights, Privacy Act,

H.  Review of Acceptable Use Policy

This policy will be reviewed annually by the myhamilton Community Leadership Team and the Hamilton Public Library Board.

Policy Level: Hamilton Public Library Board

Approval Date: September 23, 2009.