CodeRefinery privacy policy

Update, 13th March 2023

We may use anonymous web analytics on our webpages and lessons. This is not identifiable, does not have client-side identifiers, and can't re-identify people between visits (or even for single visits) any more than normal web browsing can. Because this is (by design) not identifiable, this should not need to be mentioned here, but we are for completeness. (The technical implementation is plausible.io, self-hosted by a CodeRefinery partner).

Update, 12th October 2021

In short:

• Due to the continuation of the project and to keep it possible to issue certificates, we will keep the workshop/hackathon/training participants' data from 2020 and 2021 until December 2024.

On the 1st October 2021, it was announced that CodeRefinery will receive partial financial support by NeIC for the next 3 years (CodeRefinery Sustainability Phase, CodeRefinery SP, see https://neic.no/news/2021/10/01/2021-open-call-results/). The next phase of the CodeRefinery project is mainly consisting of in-kind contributions by diverse partner organizations. In this new phase, we need to renew our privacy policy, but we need some time before the new privacy policy is set.

We will continue using our online community spaces and the current owners/administrators will remain until new roles are set in the CodeRefinery SP.

Previously we have written that "Stored names and email addresses of users will be removed with the end of this project (2021-10-31)". However, we need to keep participation data from 2020 and 2021 workshops at least until the end of 2022 since we often get asked for participation certificates long after the workshop is concluded. Therefore, we will keep information of the participants who are qualified to certificates (either as learner, helper, expert helper, or team lead) in the currently used platform, Indico, managed by NeIC. The currently participating staff who is also committed to be a part of the CodeRefinery SP have access to the information.

We continue using the newsletter in the new phase but we may switch to other services but in this case we would notify all subscribers about deletion of their contact information and invite them to re-register to the new services that we may migrate to. If a user wants to unsubscribe before that, they are welcome to do so anytime.

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This Privacy Policy covers person identifiable information that may be provided to CodeRefinery. Your data only comes from what you decide to provide to us by understanding privacy policy of the platforms we are using for different purposes as shown below. Changes to this Privacy Policy will be posted on this page. Any changes will only apply to information collected after the posted date of any such change. Additionally, information may be provided to governmental bodies and other entities as required by law.

Definitions

• CodeRefinery team members/ We - people who are working for the CodeRefinery project by either or both being funded or in-kind contribution.
• Users - people who use and/or contribute to our services including workshops, trainings, events, lesson materials, other materials under on our website and other online resources, newsletters, notification form, and those who send inquiries to support@coderefinery.org.
• Online community spaces - cloud services that CodeRefinery as a project uses to provide its services to users and for collaborative working among CodeRefinery team members as well as together with Users. They include, but not limited to, CodeRefinery's account in GitHub, Zulipchat, HackMD, Twitch, YouTube, Mastodon, and Twitter.
• Online video conference systems - onlinve video conference systems that are licensed to any institute that CodeRefinery team members are affiliated by.

What information do we obtain and why?

We obtain user data including person identifiable information in the following manner for each purpose:

• Registration form to sign-up for workshops.
  • To communicate with the user about the workshop.
  • For preparation of the workshop, for example grouping of users for exercises.
  • To compare with attendance information.
  • After anonymization and summarizing, to report statistics on our website and in reports delivered to fiscal sponsors and contributing partners.
• Email inquiry sent to support@coderefinery.org.
  • To answer the inquiry.
• Usage report of Online video conference system showing attendance information (participant name, email address (if any), and time of entry and exit of the online event).
• Attendance sheet we ask for participants in a in-person event to fill out.
  • To compare with the information provided upon sign-up for workshops.
  • To issue a certificate upon user's request.

Information you provide in our Online community spaces are visible and accessible according to each service's privacy policy. Please note that your information may be visible to other users in the Online community spaces than CodeRefinery team members. We use your information within each Online community space for communication purpose in a reasonable and respectful manner. We will not use your person identifiable information provided in our Online community spaces for other purposes than communication with you and within the community. When we archive a note taken in HackMD during a workshop, we will delete all the person identifiable information of users.

We obtain the following data anonymously and voluntarily from users.

• Pre-/Post-workshop survey results.
  • For preparation of the workshop.
  • For improvement of future workshops.
  • For reporting (in a summarized form).
• Poll answers in Online video conference systems during a workshop
  • For sharing overview of workshop cohort's idea or opinions

We use anonymous web analytics on some of our websites and lesson pages. These are done without client-side IDs or storing identifiable information on either the client or server side.

Who has access to the personally identifiable information?

• CodeRefinery team members have access to personally identifiable information provided upon workshop sign-up, subscribing to our newsletter, sending inquiry to support@coderefinery.org, and attendance in online/in-person workshops.

Where we store the data

• We use https://indico.neic.no for storing sign-up information provided by users for any events. Also emails sent from https://indico.neic.no with sender email address of support@coderefinery.org will be stored in the same place. Data controller of https://indico.neic.no is neic. Registering via https://indico.neic.no is not strictly required to take part in an event.
• We use Freshdesk as a platform (data processor) for email communication where we use our contact email address (support@coderefinery.org), except for the cases where we send email from https://indico.neic.no.
• We use https://postit.csc.fi/sympa/ as a platform to send a newsletter.
• Anonymized survey results and workshop/event attendee statistics are or will be published on https://github.com/coderefinery.
• Registration data provided via sign-up form in Indico and attendance information generated by an Online video conference system are temporarily stored in a CodeRefinery team member's affiliated institution's cloud system which is in line with processing non-sensitive person-identifiable information during anonymization process or obtaining information necessary for issuing a certificate.
• Anonymous statistics may be stored on partners local facilities and shared publicly if sufficiently aggregated.
• Our GitLab service stores your account information which you have entered when signing up. This contact information is accessible to the system administrator operating the service and the CodeRefinery project management. You can at any moment delete your account from this service.

How long we store the data

• Anonymized survey results and statistics are meant to be kept without a time limit.
• We always keep affiliations and academic position long term for reporting but they are disconnected from names and email addresses (which we both do not store long term).
• Stored names and email addresses of users will be removed with the end of the project period.

Anonymity and right to be forgotten

• You have the right to register to a workshop anonymously.
• If you want to be removed from announcement lists, please let us know.
• Workshop registration can be canceled before and removed, otherwise we keep it for sending a request to answer pre-/post-workshop survey.
• If you want access to your data or to be removed, email us from the address you have used for registration.

Questions/concerns?

• If you believe something is wrong, please let us know.
• You have the right to lodge complaint with supervisory authority.