HUD's Web Publication Procedures and Style Guide

Section 10: Rules About Mailing Lists, Discussions, Real-Time Chats, Calendars, And Webcasts.

C. Real-time chats (Person-to-Person):Real-time chats technology allows HUD to offer one-on-one interaction through the web, in "real" time. They permit offices to do such things as provide one-on-one housing counseling. At HUD, we call our real-time chat technology, "Person-to-Person."

1. Requesting a Real-Time Chat: Web Managers can request a real-time chat by emailing the Departmental Web Team. The request must include the following:
   • Name of the office hosting the chat (e.g., Office of Housing)
   • Title of the chat (e.g. "FHA Lenders")
   • Purpose of the chat (e.g., answer first-time homebuyer questions online)
   • Introductory paragraph that will appear on the chat page, describing the purpose and rules (if any) of the chat
   • Name and email address of the chat room moderator (must be a HUD employee)
   • Start and end dates of the chat
   • Hours that the chat will be available (e.g., 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday)
   • Name and number of the program manager responsible for the chat
2. Staffing a Real-Time Chat:
   • Web Managers should confirm with the program manager that adequate staffing resources are available to provide services we advertise through real-time chats, before making the request to the Departmental Web Team.
   • If the chat could entertain questions or comments that require interpretation of HUD or federal laws or policies, then a HUD employee must be available to respond to those questions. Only HUD employees can do policy interpretation.

D. Calendars: HUD offers an online calendar that can be used to notify people about training, meetings, deadlines, and other important events. Calendars can be established for specific groups or for the general audience, both inside and outside of HUD. Calendar owners can update the calendar him/herself.

1. We have one Departmental calendar on hud.gov that is maintained by the Departmental Web Team. If you have important events that are nationwide in interest, send the details to the Web Team.
2. While calendars can be very useful tools, they must be maintained regularly or the audience will stop checking them. Calendars must be reviewed as part of the quarterly certification process, to ensure that they are current. Calendars that are not being maintained should be pulled down.
3. To create a calendar, the Web Manager must send a request to the Departmental Web Team with the following information:
   • Name, organization, and HID of the calendar owner
   • Duration of the calendar (in other words, is this calendar to be up permanently or for a specified period)
   • Placement of the calendar (Internet or intranet)
     Once the calendar has been created, the owner will receive instructions on how to access it.
4. Calendar owners must be careful to ensure that calendar entries do not violate laws, regulations, or policies related to using federal public websites for advertising. Web Managers must advise calendar owners of those policies before the request is submitted and must review calendars during the certification process to ensure they comply.
5. See Appendix G for additional guidance on managing the content of calendars.

E. Webcasts - live or taped video offered through the website - offer an excellent means for providing training and consumer information and for conducting online meetings.

1. Webcasts may be used only for official mission-related purposes.
2. Webcasts must include captioning for the hearing-impaired. In most cases, your organization will have to pay for the captioning. If you are doing your own taping – or hiring a contractor to tape for you – and you intend to provide the tape to the Web Team for webcasting, you must be sure to include the captioning in the taping process.
3. The Broadcasting Branch in the Office of Administration creates webcasts. To schedule a webcast, contact the Broadcasting Branch to arrange the video taping or broadcast of your program. Coordinate funding with your administrative officers.
4. If you just have a videotape of an event that has already occurred, the Broadcasting Branch can webcast it. Videos produced in Beta SP or SVHS produce the best quality webcast.
5. The Departmental Web Team will only post webcasts on the website in coordination with the Broadcasting Branch and/or a program office Web Manager.
6. When your webcast is ready to be aired, notify the Departmental Web Team. Provide a 2-3 line description of the program, let us know who the audience is for the program: HUD employees only or the public/business partners, and give us recommendations about where you would like links to appear.
7. Webcasts that are only for HUD employees appear on the hud@work webcast page. Notices about upcoming webcasts are normally posted there the Friday before the week they are to occur. The link to the webcast becomes active 1/2 hour before the broadcast starts. Programs are placed in the hud@work webcast archives by the next morning for viewing at a later date
8. Webcasts for the public can appear on the hud.gov webcast schedule as soon as date, time, and description for the program are provided to the Departmental Web Team. On the day of the program a "live" announcement for the program is placed on the main webcast page. The webcast is placed in the hud.gov webcast archives by the next morning for viewing at a later date
9. Instructions for archiving webcasts on archives.hud.gov are being developed.
10. Employees who have technical trouble viewing a webcast should be directed to call in a STARS ticket.
11. Video for an external audience must be streamed at 100K and 28K.