Davidson Domains is a project at Davidson College that provides users with a domain name (URL) and allows them to tie that URL to Davidson-provided Web hosting. All costs associated with domain registration and Web hosting are covered by Davidson College. The system is maintained by the Davidson College ITS, in partnership with the Center for Teaching and Learning and Digital Studies. Davidson College students and faculty are eligible to sign up on the system.
Users of the system are expected to abide by all federal and state law (including copyright and intellectual property law) as well as by the Davidson College Acceptable Use Agreement, the Honor Code, and the Code of Responsibility (Student Handbook (PDF). Domains and web applications hosted through this service cannot be used for commercial purposes. Davidson Domain users are encouraged to use Davidson Domains to explore the boundaries of Web hosting services in support of building their own digital identity, with the understanding that Davidson College may remove any content that is found to be in violation of any of these laws, policies, or standards.
Users understand that the work they publish and make publicly available on their Davidson Domains site may be browsed or viewed by anyone on the Web. Users who are interested in creating spaces that have restricted availability may do so, but content and behavior in these spaces must abide by the same laws, policies, and standards as publicly available content.
Users understand that Davidson Domains staff has full access to all user accounts and content for the purpose of troubleshooting and managing the system. In instances where content is found to be in violation of the laws, policies, and standards mentioned above, this access may also be used to remove user content. Users who repeatedly violate these laws, policies, and standards will have their accounts suspended permanently.
Users understand that as part of the project, their public content may be aggregated and shared through the project’s Web site as a means of building community and exploring the activity of the larger project. Users will find tools for managing their syndicated content when logged into the project Web site.
Student users who receive a domain and hosting space may continue to use it for as long as they are a student at Davidson College. Upon graduation, suspension, or withdrawal, a student will no longer have access to hosting space, and Davidson College will no longer support or renew the student’s domain. But, it is possible to export content from Davidson Domains to another Web hosting service, thus preserving content and its public availability after leaving Davidson. Documentation is available for how to make this transition.
Faculty who receive a domain and hosting space may continue to use it for as long as they are employed by Davidson College. Upon severing their employment with the college, access to hosting space will become unavailable and domains will no longer be renewed. Documentation is available about how to take over ownership of domains and export content from the Web hosting space. Exceptions may be granted for retiring faculty upon request.
Davidson College reserves the right to terminate this project at any time in the future. Users will be given the opportunity to take over ownership of their domains and export all of their content should the project not continue.