Policies
Access
CYFERnet is committed to providing access to its online resources to members of the public and the CYFAR community regardless of disability, income and other bases. Online resources are generally available at no charge, though registration for some events and opportunities may be restricted by capacity, pre-requisites, or fee. Our annual CYFAR Conference has a registration fee. To the extent feasible, archives of the CYFERnet trainings and proceedings of the annual CYFAR Conference are posted online and available at no charge.
File Format and Access
Many of the documents on the CYFERnet Web site are in HTML format. This format is generally accessible to people who use screen readers. We also have a large number of documents in Adobe Acrobat® Portable Document Format (PDF), Microsoft PowerPoint® (.ppt) and Microsoft Word® (.doc) formats.
PDF format is used to preserve the content and layout of publications designed to be downloaded and printed. Publications in PDF can only be viewed and printed using the Adobe AcrobatReader®, version 3.0 or higher. You can download and get help using the Acrobat Reader at the Adobe Systems, Inc. site. The downloadable Acrobat Reader software is available at NO CHARGE from Adobe.
People using screen-reading devices generally are unable to read documents in PDF format unless they have an accessibility plug-in installed on their system along with the Adobe Acrobat Reader. This plug-in is available at NO CHARGE from Adobe. Adobe also has online tools that will convert PDF files to HTML on request. To get the plug-in and information about Adobe's accessibility tools and services, visit the Access Adobe site.
Online conversion tools for Adobe PDF documents
You can view our online publications that are in Microsoft PowerPoint® (.ppt) format if you have any version of PowerPoint installed on your computer. For those who don't have the software, the Microsoft Corporation offers a FREE PowerPoint file viewer. You can download and get help using the PowerPoint viewer at the Microsoft Download Center.
You can view publications in Microsoft Word® (.doc) format if you have Word, version 6.0 or higher, installed on your computer. Word documents can also be viewed with many other word processing software programs. Additionally, Microsoft offers a FREE Word file viewer that you can download at its Microsoft Download Center.
Privacy
Information Collected and Stored Automatically
If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the website, read pages, or download information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store only the following information about your visit:
- The Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you connect from a university's domain) and IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web) from which you access our website;
- The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
- The date and time you access our site;
- The pages you visit;
- If you linked to the CYFERnet website from another website, the address of that website.
We use this information to help us make our site more useful to visitors - to learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors are using. We do not track or record information about individuals and their visits.
If You Send Us Personal Information
If you choose to provide CYFERnet with personal information, as in an e-mail, phone call or by filling out a form with your personal information and submitting it to us through our website, we use that information to respond to your message and to help us locate for you the information you have requested. We do not collect personal information for any purpose other than to respond to you. We do not create individual profiles with the information you provide or give it to any private organizations. We do not collect information for commercial marketing.
Monitoring
The CYFERnet servers are monitored to ensure proper operation, to verify the functioning of applicable security features, and for other similar purposes. Anyone using CYFERnet implicitly consents to such monitoring and is advised that if such monitoring reveals possible evidence of criminal activity, system personnel may provide the evidence collected by monitoring to law enforcement officials. Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, to defeat or circumvent security features, or to utilize this system for other than its intended purposes are prohibited.
Copyright, Fair Use & Citations
Materials created by CYFERnet or CYFAR and hosted on this website may be linked to without formal permission, unless otherwise stated, as long as such resources are not offered for a fee and the link makes it clear that the material is part of the CYFERnet collection. CYFERnet-created materials may be reproduced for personal or non-profit use, in most cases, as long as CYFERnet is credited. We suggest a credit such as "Courtesy of CYFERnet, the National Children, Youth and Family Education and Research Network, www.cyfernet.org.”
Materials created by CYFERnet or hosted on our servers may not be copied or downloaded and posted on another Web site, or included in another publication regardless of media type without explicit permission from CYFERnet. (Materials hosted on our servers include “cyfernet.org” in their URL.)
Send use and copyright permission inquiries via email to cyf@umn.edu, via Fax to 612-624-7793, and via mail to: CYFERnet, University of Minnesota Extension, 490 Coffey Hall, 1420 Eckles Avenue, Saint Paul MN 55108-6068
Individuals or organizations other than CYFERnet may hold copyright or other proprietary rights to materials linked within CYFERnet. Once you access another site through a link, you are subject to the copyright and licensing restrictions of the new site. It is the sole responsibility of you, as the user of this site, to carefully examine the content of the site and all linked pages for copyright and licensing restrictions, and to secure all necessary permissions.
For additional resources on copyright and intellectual property rights, please refer to the United States Copyright Office Web site, http://www.copyright.gov/
Citing Electronic Sources
If you want to cite the entire CYFERnet website, the appropriate citation would be:
CYFERnet. Cooperative Extension System. < Month Day Year of access > www.cyfernet.org
[The Cooperative Extension System is a nationwide, non-credit educational network. Each U.S. state and territory has a state office at its land-grant university and a network of local or regional offices. These offices are staffed by one or more experts who provide useful, practical, and research-based information to the public. The National Institute for Food and Agriculture, including National 4-H Headquarters, within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the funding organization for CYFERnet.]
The APA style guide, used by many in the social sciences, has citation formats for different types of online resources (e.g., online journal article, online report, blog entry, online discussion,) similar to its standards for paper publications. It is important to include the full URL for the online resource at all times. It is important to include the date of retrieval (when you accessed the resource) if it is likely to change over time (e.g., blogs, wiki, any collaborative project or site that is likely to be updated).
If you want to cite a specific resource within the CYFERnet collection, the usual format is:
Author’s last name. Author’s Initial(s). (Date first published, if available). Article Title. Periodical or Book title if available, Volume number (issue number). Retrieved < month day year you accessed the resource online> from CYFERnet, <full URL of resource>.
For specific citation information and additional resources on citation format, please refer to:
- The Library of Congress: How to Cite Electronic Sources
- The Owl at Purdue: Documenting Electronic Sources
Information Quality & Disclaimer
Our website has links to many universities, government agencies and nonprofit organizations and associations. In a few cases we link to commercial organizations. These external links add value to CYFERnet by providing visitors with additional information about topics and eliminating duplicate content. Once you access another site through an external link you are subject to the privacy, use and other policies of the new site.
CYFERnet is committed to providing quality information on its Web site. CYFERnet Editors review online resources and requests for links to determine if the criteria for inclusion in the CYFERnet collection are met. These criteria were established to maximize the quality, utility, objectivity, and integrity of the information it disseminates to members of the public and the CYFAR community. Only resources which meet criteria are included in the CYFERnet collection. We reserve the right to make all decisions in regard to what material is added to the CYFERnet Web site, including the right to reject submissions.
CYFERnet does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of information on external links. At the time an external link is made, the resource meets CYFERnet criteria. We recognize that resources can change without notice, and new research findings can alter the knowledge and policy base in our field. Our editors make every effort to ensure that our collection is current. If you find a resource in the CYFERnet collection that you do not think should be included (or a resource that isn’t included but you think should be), please send the resource name, author and URL to mail: cyf@umn.edu.
The information provided on the CYFERnet Web site is for educational purposes only, and is not intended to provide advice on personal medical, financial or legal matters, or to substitute for consultation with a physician, financial advisor or attorney.
Links from CYFERnet to trade, firm or corporation sites and mention of commercial products or services by trade name, trademark or manufacturer are for the information and convenience of users of CYFERnet. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable by institutions and organizations participating in CYFAR.
Social Media
Currently, CYFAR has a profile on Twitter and a group in Facebook; CYFERnet has a profile on Facebook and maintains multiple RSS feeds and blogs. These profiles, feeds and blogs were created and are managed by CYFERnet staff for the express purpose of widening the dissemination of the CYFAR message and facilitating use of CYFERnet resources. They contain only professional information. The profiles are for the overall CYFAR or CYFERnet Project, not for an individual. Anyone can be a follower of or subscribe to CYFAR social media profiles and feeds. CYFAR profiles and feeds do not follow or ‘friend’ individuals, and only rarely would we follow a government agency or organization.
Social media facilitate the posting of content, collaborative work, lively discussions and ‘works in progress.’ CYFERnet is committed to the use of social media in the development of new knowledge and understanding, the management and dissemination of new knowledge, and the design of products and services of use to the CYFAR community. We acknowledge that information and materials posted in the social media online work group sections of CYFERnet do not necessarily meet criteria for inclusion in the CYFERnet collection and have not been reviewed. These works are not regarded as definitive. Rather, they are part of a creative and inclusive knowledge-making process which encourages the consideration of many perspectives and opinions, asking new questions, seeking out new sources of information. At the point in time that materials developed by an online work group are considered to be ‘ready for publishing’, they will be submitted for review.
We reserve the right to limit participation in our collaborative social media to members of the CYFAR community. Expressions posted on CYFERnet should be relevant to the CYFAR community, professional and respectful.