The University of Washington (UW) Web Governance Model establishes a framework for managing UW’s digital presence. It ensures a unified, accessible, and brand-consistent experience while empowering decentralized units to manage their own web properties. This model balances central oversight with distributed responsibility across campus.
This procedure applies to all UW faculty and staff who build and/or maintain websites on behalf of the university.
Roles and responsibilities
- UMAC’s Web Strategy Team
- UWIT’s Information Security (and Privacy) Office
- UWIT’s Accessible Technology Services
- UW’s Compliance and Risk Services
Procedure steps
This governance model reflects UWs centralized/decentralized approach, balancing institutional consistency with unit-level autonomy. It emphasizes shared responsibility for accessibility, security, privacy, infrastructure, and brand integrity while fostering collaboration through community engagement.
Guiding principles
- Consistency: Maintain a cohesive UW brand across all web properties.
- Accessibility: Ensure compliance with accessibility standards and ADA requirements.
- Collaboration: Foster shared governance between central and unit-level stakeholders.
- Transparency: Provide clear policies, documentation, and community engagement.
Central governance
The University Marketing & Communications (UMAC) Web Strategy team serves as the central authority for web governance at UW. Responsibilities include:
Governance leadership
- Define and maintain UW’s web governance framework.
- Establish guiding principles for web marketing and digital strategy.
Hosting and infrastructure
- Provide official hosting at www.washington.edu and related platforms.
- Govern hosting through the Web Hosting Guidelines standard operating procedure.
Brand standards
- Translate UW brand guidelines for the web.
- Develop and maintain official UW themes, templates, and design standards.
Community engagement
- Host the Web Council community of practice (edu/webcouncil) to share best practices and foster collaboration.
- Promote technical and marketing focused communities of practice that foster skill building, raise awareness, and build community.
- Maintain the Web Strategy documentation website (edu/docs) which includes publishing updates, guidance, and resources.
Shared governance responsibilities
- UW-IT’s Information Security and Privacy Office: UW-IT leads, security protocols, privacy protocols, hosting infrastructure (for interested parties) and disaster recovery (for those using their hosting infrastructure). UMAC collaborates to ensure alignment with institutional policies.
- UWIT’s Accessible Technology Services: UW-IT’s Accessible Technology Services leads publishing of accessibility standards, teaching and validating accessible coding, and accessibility consultation. UMAC collaborates to ensure alignment with best practices and validate the accessibility of their products and services.
- UW’s Compliance and Risk Services: UW’s ADA Coordinator is responsible for setting and maintaining accessibility policies and compliance oversight. UMAC provides support, documentation, and resources, to ensure compliance. UMAC serves as a member of committees and boards that provide guidance and oversight to the policies and procedures created by the ADA Coordinator.
Decentralized unit responsibilities
Each top-level organization is responsible for:
- Managing its own web properties and governance policies.
- Selecting and maintaining content management systems.
- Applying UW-branded themes and templates.
- Ensuring content meets accessibility, usability, and institutional standards.
Community support
UMAC provides:
- Consulting on web projects, user experience, and content strategy.
- Access to official themes, documentation, and training resources.
- Additional support for strategic projects, including hosting or development assistance.
- Procedure ID: WS-PROC-1001
- Version: 2.1
- Effective Date: 2026-02-01