Where should you post information and news to reach your target audience? Summary of recommended channels and best practices for work with communications.

Norsk versjon: Kanaler for informasjon og nyheter

What is information and news?

NTNU has many information channels and news channels. Before you decide which channel to use, it is important to find out which target audience you want to reach and the value of the information for the person receiving it.

Information may be a combination of elements such as text, images and video. a news item is information about a current event or a relevant piece of a larger amount of information. A news item may refer to more detailed information somewhere else (the source).

As sender, you are always responsible for thinking about protection of privacy and information security. Before you post information, you must always consider the security classification.

Which channel should I use?

First, choose your target audience – who are you going to communicate with?

Current students?

See which channels to use for communicating with current students.

Employees?

Is the information for:

• all employees?
  • The information must be posted on the channel "All employees" if it is news and on an Innsida web page if it is not news.
• employees in a geographical location?
  • Use the channel to the city or the building.
• employees in a formal unit such as a department, division or faculty?
  • Use unit channels for news and unit bookmarks for content.
• a network or a permanent group of people?
  • Use Innsida message channel. If the channel does not yet exist, you need to create a new channel.
• an ad hoc collection of people?
  • Use email or Teams

External (or several target audiences)

• Is it information that should be available over time (not a news item)?
  • The external web
• Is it news?
  • Read more about online news and which channel you should choose.
• Is it a newsletter / a collection of news items / a summary?
  • Consider whether a newsletter by email could be a relevant channel.

The channels in brief

Innsida message channel

• Classified as: Internal

Innsida has many different message channels for both students and staff. Some of these are predefined, while people can subscribe to other. It is possible to publish a message in several channels at the same time. This is called cross posting.

Innsida web page

• Classified as: Internal or Open

Information pages should be sorted by topic and should be user-oriented. They often consist of guides, information pages and summary pages. By default, all information pages on Innsida are open to the world, making it possible to search for them in Google and share them through email and social media.

Innsida bookmarks

• Classified as: Internal

From "Min side" ("My Page"), there are bookmarks under "Shortcuts" with useful links to frequently used pages and tools. There are common bookmarks for everyone, per unit, and your own private bookmarks.

Blackboard

• Classified as: Internal

All information relevant to ongoing courses must be posted in Blackboard. Examples of things that should be posted on Blackboard include learning activities, communication with students, deadlines and teaching materials. Note that work that will be graded must not be placed in Blackboard.

Email

• Classified as: Internal

Email communication with students | Read more about email

Newsletters by email

• Classified as: Open

Newsletters by email are often a collection/summary of news to a list of recipients.

Teams

• Classified as: Internal

Microsoft Teams offers a range of collaboration services and allows students, staff, groups and partners to work together. This is the arena for informal interaction and communication. Via Teams you can call others, send and receive instant messages, interact and share files. See also the chapter on information security and classification below.

External web (ntnu.no and ntnu.edu)

• Classified as: Open

External web pages contains official information to the target audiences on this page.

Online news

• Classified as: Open

Please check out this guide for online news.

Information security and classification

Remember that you are responsible for all content and data that you produce and share.

All information processed at NTNU must have a security classification. The summary shows the security classification that applies to each system.

Please check out the bulletpoints about information security on this page.

Open

The information is available to anyone without login. Example: A web page or an open document in Office 365.

Internal

The information is available to selected internal and external users, but requires login. Example: exam answer papers.

Confidential

The information requires strict access control. This classification is used if disclosure would harm the public interest, the institution or individuals. Example: Information subject to a pledge of secrecy.

Strictly confidential

The information requires very strict access control. This classification is used if disclosure would cause substantial harm to the public interest, the institution or individuals. For example people who need special protection.

Visual presentation

• Download this information as an pdf

Approval and internal control

• Adopted by the Rector in the Council of Deans on 17 April 2018
• Last updated: 2022.10.04

Contact

• Contact Orakel Support Services for any technical questions and help.
• Contact the Communication Division for advice and questions on interpretation.