Guide

In addition to the contributions you make towards the scientific goals of the Global Pollen Project, we collect additional data about you to support and improve the operation of the project. This Privacy Policy describes what data we collect, how we use it and how we protect it.

We respect the privacy of every individual who contributes digitised data, or provides identifications, to the Global Pollen Project. We operate in accordance with the United Kingdom Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Data we collect

Identifying information. If you register with the Global Pollen Project, we ask you to supply your e-mail address to be used as your login name, as well as your full name. Your e-mail address is not visible to other users, but others will see your full name in various contexts. Any identifications you provide are anonymous. Notably, however, your full name is associated with any information that you provide and publish using our digitisation tools. If you do not wish your full name to appear on the Global Pollen Project, do not use our digitisation tools.

Usage information. We also monitor how people use our website, and aggregate general statistics about users and traffic patterns as well as data about how users respond to various site features. This includes, among other things, recording: when you log in, the pages that you request, and any identifications that you contribute.

Information automatically collected when visiting the website. We may also collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, and information about your visit (such as clickstream to and from our site and pages viewed) for system administration and to report aggregate information to our webmasters. This is statistical data about our users' browsing actions and patterns which does not identify any individual and allows us to ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.

What we do with the information we gather

Usage information is collected to help us improve our website in particular for the following reasons:

• Internal record keeping.

• We may periodically send email promoting new material or functions available within the Global Pollen Project, or other information relating to our research. Information about these contacts is given below. We will not use your contact information for commercial purposes.

• We may use the information to customise the website.

What is shared with third parties

We will never release e-mail addresses to third parties without your express permission. We will also never share data we collect about you unless (a) it cannot be associated with you or your username, and (b) it is necessary to accomplish our research goals. Specifically, we may share your anonymized data with users of the Global Pollen Project, other researchers, or in scholarly work describing our research. For example, we might create aggregate statistics using your identifications with others, or publish your identification in an academic paper.

On identification pages, you can optionally use our discussion forums, provided through a third party service Disqus. We do not hold any data on your usage of the Disqus service.

How we use cookies

In some areas of our site, a cookie may be placed on your computer. A cookie is a small file that resides on your computer's hard drive that allows us to improve the quality of your visit to our websites by responding to you as an individual.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used and improve our website. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes, they are not shared with other sites and are not used for advertisements.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. However, if you choose to decline cookies then functionality, including your ability to log-in and participate, will be impaired.

Acceptance of cookies is implied if you continue to access our website without adjusting your browser settings.

Where we store your data

We use Microsoft Azure so that our web service is performant and has high availability. All data is only stored in UK data centres.

We use SendGrid, a cloud-based service, as our email-sending service. SendGrid is Privacy Shield certified, allowing lawful processing of data from the EU and Switzerland.

Security Measures

Members of the administrative team are made aware of our privacy policy and practices by reviewing this statement upon joining the team. We follow industry best practices to secure user data, and access to the database and logs are limited to members of the administrative team.

Removing your data

Due to the way in which we archive data, it is generally not possible to completely remove your personal data from our systems. However, if you have specific concerns, please contact us and we will see what we can do.

When we will contact you

If you do not register, we will never contact you. If you do register, we will contact you by e-mail in the following circumstances:

• Occasionally, we will send e-mail messages to you highlighting a particular aspect of our research, announcing new features, explaining changes to the system, or inviting you to special events.

• We may also use your information to contact you for the purpose of research into our site's operation. We may contact you by email. We may ask for additional information at that time. Providing additional information is entirely optional and will in no way affect your service in the site.

• We may contact you with a newsletter about the progress of the project.

You are unlikely to receive more than one message per month.

You can 'opt out' of communications from us in your account settings.

Further information and requests

The Data Controller is the Global Pollen Project Research Team. For a copy of the information we hold on you please contact us at the address below:

Andrew Martin School of Geography and Environment South Parks Road Oxford, OX1 3QY United Kingdom