Re: computer use policy

[Gary Flynn <flynngn () JMU EDU>]

John Isenhour wrote:

> I've always found that policy documents need to stay a bit nebulous
> rather than specific in order to remain effective, so using
> "disruptive" or
> "illegal" is better than "KaZaa".

One model that we've explored is to have a policy remain in
its natural nebulous state <grin> but reference a "standard"
that spells out specifics.

Ergo, policy may mention a responsibility to follow university
software standards while the standard itself is the proverbial
living document that specifically lists approved or banned software
packages according to issues and technologies of the day.

> Academic policy is fundamentally different from some business or
> military type policy in that ours is "you can do anything but this"
> where as the other is "you can only do this and nothing else".

With the "you can do anything but this" strategy, one can still
accomplish quite a bit if the "this" is defined in general
terms rather than in specifics.

--
Gary Flynn
Security Engineer - Technical Services
James Madison University

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