Adaption of an AEM website for retirement status
Websites function primarly as living documents, providing dynamic and frequently updated information. Thus, when a unit at ETH becomes inactive, the website should transition, be archived and eventually removed from the AEM system.
All project and conference websites associated with a retiring professor should be decommissioned upon retirement. There are, however, a few choices a professor has with regard to his research website when transitioning towards retirement status at ETH Zurich.
No matter which option a professor chooses, all biographical, research, publication, achievements and other information should be added in MyContact. This guarantees one's legacy and information remains available from AEM websites long after retirement.
Digital presence options for emeritus/emerita
Archive their current website with the library (also already archived in the online Web Archive) and then decommission the website, keeping only the CV information/person search page for legacy information.
Update their site content (requirements listed below) for emeritus/emerita status, keeping the site online for a maximum of three years, after which it is automatically decommissioned and deleted.
Create an own website in another CMS outside of ETH or possibly with the IT Service's Wordpress application and link to the website from the CV/person search page (example: Prof. Shubert's CV page which links to her own external page personal website). This is the suggested solution for those who intend to remain active after retirement.
Required changes for emeritus/emerita websites
As per ETH policy, if a professor retires, he or she has the option to either decommission their website or they can choose to keep it online for a maximum of three years.
In addition to a URL change, the website's content should be changed such that it does not appear to be a current functioning research unit website. An example of how a website should be adapted is as follows:
- Change the tense of content to past tense such as 'Our research focused on...'.
- Remove all pages to do with job postings and courses or any other components referencing database information that is not up-to-date.
- Remove all non-functioning links such as manual links to people CV pages that may no longer exist in the system and instead use static text if wanting to list alumni members.
- Update all legacy pages of the website to the supported page templates in the system.
- Update the Imprint page with the professor's contact info for publisher and editor.
- Deactivate the Contact page of the site.
- Delete all unused assets from your asset folders. Only assets that are still used on live pages should remain in the Asset manager.
- Delete all unused/deactivated pages from your website (with exception of deactivated admin pages under utils and footer sections).
- Check your site for forms and delete all form data in repositories before deleting a form or page with a form. (Don't forget checking contact pages under the utils section. Some websites have forms on these pages that are forgotten and should be removed.).
- The URL should change to emeritus/emerita status (emeritus.xxx.ethz.ch/emerita.xxx.ethz.ch) and content changes should be made to the site to clarify it is no longer an active unit at ETH. This should be requested using the form below.
AEM URL change for emeritus status confirmation
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