House Rules

The aim of Connecting Science is to provide support and information for scientists wanting to share their research with the public. Its success depends on its users supplying information about their organisations and projects and linking up with others to form a network.

So please do share information and create groups to link up with people. Groups can be for people who share a common interest--such as a particular kind of outreach; they can be for finding other science communicators within a particular geographical area; they can be an umbrella for members of a particular organisation, and much more.

I’ve set up the network so that you can customise your own pages, add applications, post videos, blog, send messages to each other and engage in forum debates. So get those creative juices going! The interface is very user-friendly, but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

Anyone can see the network online, and anyone can apply to join. There will be a short delay between signing up and being able to access your account,  because I will be approving new members before they can join. This is just a precaution to keep spammers and other nuisances out of the network.

Having said that, no method is foolproof. Although I will be monitoring Connecting Science, I can’t guarantee that I will be able to spot or prevent abuse of the network. So please do contact me and report any abuse as soon as possible. Members who violate the terms and conditions of service of Ning, the platform that hosts this network, risk being banned from the network and I reserve the right to ban members and remove any posts at my discretion. Please read the aforementioned terms and conditions before signing up.

Most of these are plain old common sense. Do not, for example, post any material that is unlawful, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, homophobic or racially offensive. You are responsible for any content you post. Please post in English.

It is prudent to avoid posting personal information such as your home address, phone number, credit card number...or anything else you don’t want the whole world to know. Please read the Ning privacy policy and information when you sign up. You can choose who gets to view certain parts of your page--such as your blog posts, videos and photos-- by going in to the Privacy section of your Settings.

No impersonating. Users need to be confident that the information on Connecting Science is reliable, so impersonators will be banned.

No unauthorised advertising or promotion of products or services. If you have any products or services that you hope will be of interest to members, please contact me.

That’s it (for now). If anything else crops up as the network develops, I’ll modify the house rules and let users know by posting on my blog.
All the best,

Claire