PRIVACY POLICY for the Online Cultural and Historical Research Environment (OCHRE)
Last modified date: October 16, 2016
The Online Cultural and Historical Research Environment (OCHRE, also referred to as the "Software") provides access to an online computer system that is available to anyone who wishes to use it for a legitimate purpose. All OCHRE data is organized according to projects, and each project retains full ownership and control of its own data. Our goal is to make it easy for each project to decide what data to share and with whom, or not to share project data at all. This Privacy Policy is intended to help you understand how the personal information and project data you provide when using the Software is collected, used, and safeguarded.
By using the Software, whether as a guest or as a registered user, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy. By using the Software you consent to the handling of personal information and project data in the manner and for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. This policy makes reference to the OCHRE Software License Agreement, which can be found on the OCHRE website (https://ochre.uchicago.edu), on the Software's "Project Menu, About OCHRE" pane, or provided to you in writing.
IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS PRIVACY POLICY THEN DO NOT USE THE SOFTWARE.
Data collected from you
OCHRE records information when you voluntarily provide it through the Software or in email, including the date and time of your requests and the originating email address of your message.
OCHRE collects the personal information you provide when you are registered with a user account, including, for example, your first and last name and your email address. The OCHRE Software License Agreement requires that you provide a real name and a valid email address with which you may be contacted.
Personally identifiable information is not knowingly collected from children under the age of 13 nor is any part of the Software directed to children under the age of 13.
OCHRE collects and stores data associated with your account, such as your user name and password. Your password can be reset, but is not accessible by anyone else.
OCHRE stores user and project preferences that you specify in order to personalize and enhance your user experience.
OCHRE captures and stores login and logout events initiated by users, as well as open and close events triggered by users entering and leaving projects. This means that the duration of time each user spent online using the Software and within each project is also captured.
Cookies are small data files that can be stored on your computer's hard drive. OCHRE uses cookies to remember some user preferences but does not store any personally identifiable information in any cookie.
An OCHRE project administrator may enter into OCHRE the user credentials for the project's own server, on which are stored external resource files managed by OCHRE for that project. These credentials are encrypted and stored in OCHRE's central database.
The personal information you provide is used to manage your OCHRE user account, and to communicate with you in general.
The information collected may be used to resolve disputes, to detect or prevent potentially prohibited or illegal activities, to enforce the OCHRE Software License Agreement, or as required by law.
Your data is not shared with third parties.
Anonymous and aggregated user information may be used for trouble-shooting, auditing, research and analysis, and to operate and improve the OCHRE-related technologies and services.
Usage events may be aggregated for gathering anonymous usage statistics and reporting these, for example, to OCHRE project administrators or to funding agencies.
The credentials for a project's own external resource file server are used internally by OCHRE to access that server in order to make those external resource files available to OCHRE users.
How your information is protected
Each OCHRE project will have a project administrator (e.g., the project's director or principal investigator, or designee) who can create user accounts and passwords for any number of project members, specifying the level of access each person possesses to view or modify the project's data.
Data that project members enter into OCHRE belongs to that project and remains under that project's control. It will remain private unless the project administrator explicitly elects to share the project's data with other OCHRE users for scholarly collaboration, or if the data is published through OCHRE.
The project administrator can export data from the central OCHRE database at any time in a variety of formats for storage elsewhere or for use with other software.
OCHRE users who do not have a user account assigned by a given project cannot log into that project to view or change its data but can only view whatever data the project has decided to make publicly available to anonymous guest users. Many projects will choose to remain invisible to guest users until they are ready to publish their data, if ever.
Two OCHRE database administrators (DBAs; one primary, one backup) have access to a project's OCHRE data for the purpose of trouble-shooting and technical support. The OCHRE DBAs and the project administrator are the only users who can access server credentials provided by a project to allow access to that own project's external resource file server.
Appropriate administrative and technical procedures are in place to protect the information you provide and the data you upload using the Software. Encryption is used when transmitting information to and from the central OCHRE database and reasonable efforts are made to ensure security on our systems. Nonetheless, no warranty is made concerning the security of the information you transmit using the Software, which you do at your own risk.
Using the Software from outside the United States
If you are using OCHRE from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated.
Notification of changes
This Privacy Policy may be changed from time to time, and the changes will be effective when posted on the OCHRE website, when accessible from the "Project, About OCHRE" pane when using the Software, or when you are notified by other means. Please review the Privacy Policy periodically for changes; the "Last modified date" will be clearly marked.
CONTACT INFORMATION Direct any inquiries to info@scholarlyresearchsystems.com.