PRIVACY POLICY

The following privacy policy ("Privacy Policy") describes how SeasonWatch.in ("SeasonWatch", "we," "us" or "our") handles PII (as defined below) from Users ("you," "your" or "User") through our website (www.seasonwatch.in) or Android app. We use this information to provide support and improve our website or app experience. Whenever you submit PII to us, you agree to the collection, use and storage of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully before submitting information to us using the website or mobile application (app).

PII Collected

We collect Personal Identifiable Information(PII) you provide directly to us when you register with our website. PII refers to information that can help identify you - such as your name or email ID. While using our website, we ask you to provide us with certain PII that can be used to contact or identify you. You may register with SeasonWatch as an Individual or School/College. SeasonWatch collects the following information on schools/colleges - email ID, school/college name and address, postal code, city, district, and state. Schools/colleges may optionally provide a phone number if they wish for us to contact them when needed. PII collected by SeasonWatch for individuals is as follows - email ID, name, and state. When you add an observation on a tree for the first time, we collect information on the latitude and longitude of the observation, the city, district and state in which the observation is based, and the date and time of observation.

We also collect Usage Data from every visitor of the website to monitor traffic and fix bugs. All hosting companies do this as a part of the websites’ analytics. For example, Usage Data may include information such as your device’s Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser version, the pages of our website that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data. We may also collect information like web requests, the data sent in response to such requests, and a timestamp for the request.

We constantly try keeping your information secure and testing for vulnerabilities. We continue to work on features to keep your information safe in addition to things like two-factor authentication and encryption.

Use of PII

We only use this information for the following:

• To provide service and maintain our website, including to monitor the usage of our website.
• To manage your Account:to manage your registration as a User of the website. The PII you provide can give you access to different functionalities of the website that are available to you as a registered User.
• To contact you: To contact you by email, or other modes of electronic communication, regarding updates, informative communications, or for verifying the observation data you have contributed to SeasonWatch.
• To provide you: with news or other general information about events and updates, unless you have opted not to receive such information.
• To manage your requests: To attend and manage your requests to us.
• For other purposes : We may use your information for other purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our campaigns and to evaluate and improve our website and your experience.

  Disclosure of PII

  PII such as email, contact address, or phone number are never disclosed on any public page on the website. PII associated with individual observations on trees such as User name, School or University name, town/district/State, date of observation may be publicly shared on the website pages with the consent of the User (e.g. https://www.seasonwatch.in/sw-user/patterns.php ) irrespective of whether Users are signed in to the website or not.

  Sharing of PII

  We do not share your PII with third parties. We may allow third parties to provide analytics statistics. These third parties may use cookies, web beacons and other technologies to collect information about your use of the website, including your IP address, web browser, pages viewed, time spent on pages, links clicked and conversion information. We also provide links to sites that are not operated by us. Your use of these third party websites is entirely optional. Please note that we will not be able to accept any responsibility for the practices and policies of these third parties.

  We may share observations with researchers, policy makers, data-aggregators, students and other end-users who wish to analyse patterns for scientific or social research and application specifically in the context of ecology, conservation or climate change. This information includes date and time of observation, species of observation, and location of observation, and other fields related to the observation. However, this information will not include any of the User’s PII such as Name, email, or Address.

  SeasonWatch observations will be made available on global biodiversity data aggregation platforms like GBIF. User name will not be shared without explicit consent, but a numeric ID associated with Users may be shared if observations need to be distinguishable at that level. Users may also choose to display their names along with their observations on SeasonWatch and other websites by consenting to sharing this information upon registering with the project. Some species may be deemed sensitive (e.g. species at risk of logging or illegal harvest) and only broad-level location information (such as state name and district) for such species will be shared on data aggregation platforms. Please note that we will not be able to accept any responsibility for the practices and policies of these third parties.

  Data Retention and Deletion

  Personally identifiable information as defined in the privacy policy will be stored on our databases, but will not be shared with third parties. The data will be retained on the database indefinitely as long as users have consented to sharing this information. If any user want his/her account to be deleted from seasonwatch site/app, he can mail his request to sw@seasonwatch.in for account deletion.

  Select retention of information about individuals may not contain an opt-out option if they are considered to be a critical for safety, research, administrative or regulatory compliance needs.

  SEASONWATCH DATA USE GUIDELINES

  The following section provides guidelines on how SeasonWatch data can be accessed, used and cited for scientific purposes

  • What is SeasonWatch data and how can it be accessed?

  Citizen scientists from across India contribute observations on the timing and quantity of leafing, flowering and fruiting in common tree species with the aim of understanding how tree seasonality is affected by climate change. Participants register with SeasonWatch and add observations voluntarily for however long they choose to. All SeasonWatch data will be made available under the open-access creative commons lisence CC BY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. SeasonWatch data will be shared upon request in a .csv format, and will include - a tree ID, tree location, tree species information, date of observation, and phenophase quantity. SeasonWatch data may have missing information on location - which sometimes occurs when observations are made in poor network conditions.

  • Who can use SeasonWatch data?

  SeasonWatch Users (i.e. registered observers with one or more observations) can download their own data at any time by logging into their accounts on the SeasonWatch website (www.seasonwatch.in) and clicking on the ‘download’ button against their registered trees. Anyone can request for SeasonWatch data from all Users, for all species or select species, and for all dates or select dates of observation by sending an email to sw@seasonwatch.in with the subject line “SeasonWatch data request” or at this request link: https://www.seasonwatch.in/contact/ along with a description of how the data will be used, to receive a .csv file containing the requested data. Alternately, data can also be accessed directly from Global Biodiversity Information Facility by querying SeasonWatch Dataset

  • What can SeasonWatch data be used for?

  SW data can be used for:

  1. Education - SeasonWatch data may be used to create resources and materials for educational purposes including - pedagogy tools and supplements; materials for outreach and awareness about botany, ecology and climate change; creating visualisations for classroom-teaching; and data-analyses training. If you use SesonWatch data for educational purposes, we encourage making these resources accessible to SeasonWatch Users at all times. Any data used for educational purposes should be attributed/cited as stated below.
  2. Research - SeasonWatch data may be used by researchers and policy makers for analyses and publication in scientific journals or reports. In the spirit of keeping citizen science as open as possible, we encourage users of the data to ensure the resultant publications be freely available without charge (eg, published in open access journals or as open-access articles in paywalled journals). Any data used for scientific purposes should be attributed/cited as stated below.
  3. General publications, websites and blogs- Data from SeasonWatch may be analysed and reported in mass media (print and electronic), on websites and blogs, with proper attribution to the source as described below.
  4. If data are to be put to any commercial use, you must write to sw@seasonwatch.in to seek permission for this type of use. We will assess and evaluate the request and approve only those use cases that fall under fair-use.
  • How should SeasonWatch data be cited?

  If you use SeasonWatch data in one or more of the use-cases mentioned above, you must cite the data as a footnote or reference as follows:
  SeasonWatch Citizen Scientist Network (Year of access) - Data on tree phenology. Data type - [date][region][species], SeasonWatch, India. Date of access in .csv format [date] E.g. : SeasonWatch Citizen Scientist Network (2022) - Data on tree phenology. Data type - 01/01/2014 - 31/12/2021, All-India, All species, SeasonWatch, India. Data accessed on 22/04/2022

  • What is the SeasonWatch Citizen Scientist Network?

  We are a network of thousands of individuals - educators, school students, and nature enthusiasts - from across India who have contributed seasonality data on one or more trees to SeasonWatch (see project homepage for the latest count of participants and observations). The Network also includes individuals who have contributed in facilitating the SeasonWatch programme through outreach and training, or helped build the technical infrastructure required to gather data.