Data and privacy notice
Our contact details
E-mail: data@fractals.coop
Last updated: 5th April 2024
We at fractals co-op are committed to privacy and ethical handling of personal information and data. As an organisation researching and designing in social contexts, we prioritise the data rights of individuals.
If you participate in research we lead, we will always ask for consent in clear terms before collecting your data.
Data Controller
fractals co-op is registered with the Information Commissioner as a data controller (registration number ZB566091).
We are a non-profit and a company limited by guarantee without share capital (UK registered company number 13943619). Our registered offices are at 17 Main Street, Ponteland, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom, NE20 9NH.
If you have any questions about this policy, our data processing practices, or your rights, you can contact us on data@fractals.coop
Data Collection and Processing
This is an explanation of the data we collect, how we process it, and the legal basis for this.
If you participate in research with us:
When you consent and participate in research we conduct, we will collect and process the following information:
- Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics (for example, name and contact details)
- When relevant in our research we may collect information on protected characteristics (for example, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability)
- We may collect other personally identifiable information depending on the purpose of the research project.
We use the information that you have given us for research purposes including recruitment, engagement, and participation. We may also use your information to share findings with you from research that you have participated in.
We will only share this information with our clients if it is required contractually as part of a research project, ensuring this is only done via secure means.
With your consent, we may retain your contact details to reach out to you about the results of research you have participated in or future opportunities for participation.
When we collect and process research data that contains personal information this is stored in Google Drive. Research participant contact information will be stored in Notion and Gmail.
The legal basis for this processing is consent based, meaning that you have given us clear consent for us to process your personal data for the purpose of research.
You are able to withdraw your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting data@fractals.coop. Within the context of a research project, it may not be possible to fully remove all your information once data analysis has begun.
Work-related contacts:
Through the course of our work we collect information such as names and contact details (e.g., email, phone number) for individuals and organisations we work with and who contact us, including potential collaborators, clients and funders. We hold onto this information in order to invite you to work with us or participate in relevant work-related activities.
We do not share this data with third parties.
We may occasionally share news and stories about fractals with our professional networks, in the spirit of cooperation and collaboration.
Work related contact data is stored in our contact database in Notion and in our contacts lists in gmail.
The legal basis for this is our legitimate interest in operating, managing and developing fractals co-op.
If you’d like us to remove your details from our contracts, you can do this by contacting data@fractals.coop.
Retention and deletion of your information
We keep your data as long as is necessary in connection with the purpose it is collected for. We do not keep data longer than required in connection with that purpose. We will delete the information we hold about you as soon as we no longer need it or, where actionable, at your request (see “Your data protection rights” section below).
Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
Please contact us at data@fractals.coop if you wish to make a request.
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at data@fractals.coop.
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk
Data Privacy Frequently Asked Questions
Data subprocessors
As part of our everyday operations we use a range of data subprocessors (digital services) for communication, project management, data collection and analysis, contact management, accounting and scheduling. These are: Google Workspace, Miro, Notion, Calendly, Zoom, Eventbrite, and Xero
Cookies
We do not store cookies or track you when you visit our website.
RadHR describes cookies like this: “Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow). These cookies enable the site to recognise your browser and, if you have a registered account, associate it with your registered account.”
Analytics
We use Plausible Analytics to help us understand how people navigate around our site and which pages are being read. Plausible Analytics is a privacy-first analytics tool, meaning that it doesn't use cookies and doesn't collect any personal data whatsoever. It is fully GDPR compliant, and can't track you when you're not on our site. We use it to see overall trends of our how site gets used, not to track individual visitors. It isn't possible to opt out. If you want to read more, you can read Plausible's own data policy.
Third party links
Third party links are included on our website e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter. These third party sites have independent and separate privacy policies from fractals co-op. This means that we hold no responsibility or liability for the activities and content of these linked sites. You can read Twitter’s privacy policy here and LinkedIn’s privacy policy here.
AI tools
We do not use AI tools in any of our data analysis processes or personal information processing. However, some of the platforms we use, like Google and Notion, have AI features built into them. Where possible, we opt out and disable AI features.
Research on behalf of client organisations
When we process personal information stored by data collectors (e.g., our clients), we ensure that personal information stays within the bounds of their services in accordance with their data privacy policies and our collaboration agreements and client contracts.
Inspiration and credit:
We’d like to thank these rad organisations for inspiring our Data Privacy Notice. We’ve reused some of their language and have credited them throughout our policy. Check out their policies here:
