URBAN GRIOT PLAYGROUND (UGP) WORKSHOP Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 31, 2023 Thank you for visiting the UGP Game App published via the Urban Griot Playground (UGP) Workshop Hub Site (from which you have linked to this Privacy Policy). “Site” refers to the UrbanGriot.org Internet website and “App” refers to the UGP Game browser-based Unity WebGL game application for use on mobile communication devices such as smartphones and tablets. “Platforms” refers to Sites and the App collectively. Through the Platforms, UGC aims to extend our mission to use educational media to help children reach their highest potential. “UGC”/ “UGP Workshop” also is referred to as “we,” “us” or “our” in this Privacy Policy.

Privacy Principles

UGP understands that the protection of individuals regarding the processing of personal data is a fundamental right, especially in the digital environment. UGP is committed not only to protecting the privacy of those who use our sites and applications (collectively, our “Services,” explained in more detail below), but also to contribute to the establishment of an area of embodied/multimodal learning and research environment, cultural preservation and social connection, the revitalization of cultural practices across the contemporary African diaspora communities, and the representation of diverse political and cultural variations through music. With this in mind, we have adopted this Privacy Policy for our Platforms. On our Platforms, we collect personal information in two forms. One form is information that we expressly request you to provide in connection with certain activities related to your participation in the research study. The second form is anonymous information that we automatically collect from your computer, phone or other device, through the game profile(s) you may have created for yourself/your child. . This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) governs the relationship between you and UGP and describes the ways we, under and respecting the COPPA/GDPR regulations, collect, store, use, and manage your “Information” which includes but is not limited to your name, profile photo, gender, age or birthday, user names, e-mail and mail addresses, Internet Protocol (IP) address, number of accesses, browser type and language, referring web addresses and session activity. Our Privacy Policy is based on the following principles: You are free to choose whether or not to request a Hub account (“Account”) and create one (or more) child profile(s) (“Profile”), that involves the submission of Parent Personal Data and Child Personal Data which includes but is not limited to your name, profile photo, gender, age or birthday, user names, e-mail and mail addresses, Internet Protocol (IP) address, number of accesses, browser type and language, referring website addresses and session activity. Before we collect your personal data, we will ask you for permission expressly. When we ask you to submit personal information, we will ask you in a way that is clearly understood, explaining exactly what it will do (such as requesting for an email address when you sign up for a newsletter, or a phone number when you sign up for mobile hub notifications). We will use the information only as we have stated, other than in Special Circumstances which are described below. We use the anonymous child gameplay data that is automatically collected so that we can understand and monitor the usage of our platforms, the adequacy of our content and the efficacy of our game design and mechanics etc. We also provide parents with learning analytics to monitor their child’s progress and areas of learning through the Urban Griot Playground workshop. We do not allow any third parties to collect your Information for their own use, nor is there any advertising on our platforms. Partners, designers and developers who assist us with the research are required to follow this Privacy Policy.

Our collection of personal information on Platforms that are directed to children under 13 (“Children’s Platforms”) is intended to follow the principles of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), a U.S. law designed to protect the online privacy of children under the age of 13. Children under 13 are unable to find, access, enter and play the game without express consent from a parent who has read and accepted this privacy policy. We will obtain parental consent before allowing the creation of a child profile. We do not collect personal contact information (eg. full name, e-mail address, home address, or phone number) or any geolocation information from children under the age of 13. Parents may create an anonymous child profile with non-personal information that is reasonably necessary to support game functions and report individual usage and learning metrics. Collected child data is completely de-identified, only containing the avatar icon, profile pseudonym name selected by the child, and age or date of birth We do not make personal information from you or your child publicly available. We may share your telemetric data only for the sharing uses that you have allowed us to collect your Information from our Platforms as indicated in the Media Release form. If you have any doubt, please contact us via email. The ways in which your media records might be used may include any or none of the following (according to your prior permission):

1. The records can be studied by the research team for use in the project.
2. The records can be used for scientific publications.
3. The records can be shown at meetings of scientists interested in Education
4. The records can be shown in classrooms to students.
5. The records can be shown in public presentations to non-scientific groups.
6. The records can be used on television and radio (e.g. in a news story).

Parents may contact us (at info@urbangriot.org) to review, update or delete any of their children’s personal information that we may have collected and to elect for us not to collect any additional personal information from their children. We will update this Privacy Policy from time to time by posting the updated Privacy Policy online. We will not change how we handle previously collected information without providing notice and obtaining parental consent where necessary.

Information we request on our platforms

There are two primary types of data that we request: hub account data and game profile data. We will obtain parental consent before asking for personal information on the UGP Game Platforms. We will explain how we will use the information and use it only for that purpose.

Parent Personal Data

The hub account data refers to your (the parent) data stored in the Hub account created at the time of registration. This data consists of personal parent information (user id, name, email, username, photoURL). The Parent Personal Data is stored separately from the anonymous child data automatically collected through the UGP game application, and is used primarily for communication purposes with Hub account users. Note: for the duration of the pilot testing period (Fall 2023-Spring 2024), only parents who are Hub account users will have access to the game (via a link on the Hub) and be able to create one or more child profiles.

Child Personal Data

There are 3 categories of child data: personal data, gameplay data and user-generated content. Personal child data is completely de-identified, only containing the avatar icon, profile pseudonym name (created by the child) and age (in years, months or birthday) collected on the Child Editor screen.

We process any Personal Information that you choose to provide to us in content when you create or interact with the UGP Game App (typically referred to as user-generated content). For example, quest data, including child-generated content (photo/audio) information from your device’s mic and photo library that you may choose to record/upload to open new levels of play. Quest data consists of any audio/photo file uploads performed by You (the parent) in the process of the post-level reflections and offline rhythm quests. We will not condition a child’s participation in any activity or service on the disclosure of more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in an activity. Use of these record/upload functions are only accessible from the Parent profile and we ask for your permission before accessing the microphone or camera on your device. The following provisions are taken to minimize the risks posed by this category of child data by: 1) limiting the length of audio recordings to 2 mins or under, 2) providing online/email Guided Conversation video tutorials, in-play tips and written card prompts safely guiding parents through the recording/photographing process and 3) allowing parents controls to listen back, re-record and delete any audio recording that they are not satisfied with sharing, ​​The audio is first recorded into Base64 audio and before it is uploaded to/stored in the database In other words, you remain in full control of your account and profile(s) data and may withdraw your consent at any time or request for your data to be deleted by contacting us via email or an online form. You are able to disable the collection of child gameplay data (opt-out), however this may limit your experience of the game and the educational value you get from it, because these metrics are necessary to track and enhance the analytics dashboard of the child’s learning/progress available in the Parent Profile.

Information we collect automatically

While using the UrbanGriot Hub and UGP Game, in order to further improve the Platform and provide analytics features via the Parent dashboard, we may collect, with your prior permission:
Cookies
Gameplay data of your/your child’s experience and trajectory in the game space

Cookies
When you use the UrbanGriot Platform, we use cookies, secret tokens, unique IDs and similar technologies (collectively “Cookies”) to automatically record certain Personal Information from your browser or device and thereby facilitate a better user experience. For example, your IP address, network location, web server logs, what browser you are using, device IDs and characteristics, operating system version, browser language settings, referring URLs, and Personal Information about the usage of the UrbanGriot Website. If you do not want your Personal Information to be collected through the use of Cookies, most browsers allow you to manage your Cookie preferences. You can set your browser to automatically decline Cookies or to request you to accept or decline Cookies for each site.

Gameplay Data
Gameplay data refers to all the clickstream/state/performance metrics of the child’s in-game player. These metrics include: score, levels completed, success/failure ratio, item response on various corpus elements, duration/frequency of play, in-play icon surveys. This media data is encrypted and stored temporarily in the database for the duration of the study (4 weeks), after which it is permanently deleted (unless you opt-in to continue using the game and its analytics dashboard which makes use of this data).

How we use your information

The Information we collect is compatible with the educational and research purposes for which the Urban Griots Playground study has been approved by the IRB, and is used by us only to improve all aspects of the UGP early childhood education study design as well as to provide a better service experience for you and future users of our platform, including but not limited to the following:

• To conduct research
• To validate the feasibility and acceptability of our learning intervention/protocol
• To evaluate our recruitment and consent procedures (include Hub account registration, UGP Game profile(s) setup)
• To investigate and select the most appropriate primary outcome measures for this new and unusual (perhaps first of its kind) rhythm-based and embodied approach to early literacy and STEAM learning.
• To operate, improve, and optimize the Hub Services and your experiences
• To provide technical support and respond to your inquiries
• To protect your safety and well-being
• To notify players of in-game updates, new levels etc
• To administer prizes, surveys, competitions, quests, or other educational activities or events sponsored or managed by us or by our community/university partners
• To comply with our legal obligations, resolve any issues that may arise with your or other users' accounts, and to enforce our agreements with research partners

Information about you that we share

We may share your media records only for the sharing uses that you have allowed us as indicated on the Media Release form. For the purposes described herein, a user is, nevertheless, entitled to object to the publishing of any personal data relating to his or her child’s gameplay and quest data:

Only by your previous consent, we may share your Information in the ways which are described below, for their own activities purposes and subject to their separate privacy.If you have any doubt, please contact us via email. The first time you access the Hub you have an option to choose whether or not to accept it and after your choice, you can change it through game settings at any time. The ways in which your records might be used (according to your media records release permissions) include:

1. The records can be studied by the research team for use in the research project.
2. The records can be used for scientific publications.
3. The records can be shown at meetings of scientists interested in Educational Research.
4. The records can be shown in classrooms to students.
5. The records can be shown in public presentations to non-scientific groups.
6. The records can be used on television and radio (e.g. in a news story) or social media.

Special Circumstances

Law Enforcement and Safety
We may disclose your Information as required by law, such as to (i) comply with a subpoena, search warrant or court order or when we believe that release is appropriate to comply with the law); (ii) detect, prevent and address fraud and other illegal activity; (iii) respond to your requests for customer service or a government request,; or (iv) limit our legal liability or to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of ourselves, any user of our Platforms, a third party or the general public including as part of investigations.
Security Notice
In the unlikely event that we believe that the security of your personal information in our possession or control may have been compromised, we may seek to notify you of that development. If a notification is appropriate, we would endeavor to do so as promptly as possible under the circumstances, and, to the extent you have given us your e-mail address, we may notify you by e-mail. You consent to our use of e-mail as a means of such notification.

Local notifications
With your consent, and in accordance with your notification preferences settings, we may send local notifications in order to inform you about our study and activities, to communicate Workshop updates and to guide you in facilitating the weekly home practice/quest activities. Local notifications are local to your device, contextual and sent in-app only and not from a server or in conjunction with other User information. By clicking on the “Allow” button, you accept local notifications, but you may disable these messages at any time by turning off the notifications from the “Options” or “Settings” page within the Application.

Research Partners

​​UGP may engage Research Partners (such as Northeastern University) to perform analysis on our behalf, like generating reports, analyzing data, optimizing game play, delivering e-mails, hosting services and helping us in our evaluation efforts, including scheduling and conducting interviews. Such Research Partners may have access to your Information in connection with the performance of these services.

Where do we store your information

Your information, including Personal Data, Child Profile, Child Gameplay and Child Quest Data, is processed at the UGP’s research lab and in any other places where the research partners involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may be different than those from Your jurisdiction.
Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.
UGP will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your Personal Data will take place unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information. When necessary, secure data encryption will be used to: (1) store data on a networked computer or device, either on campus or off-campus; (2) transmit data over a network via a secure sockets layer connect (SSL); and/or (3) store data on a removable medium (e.g., laptop computer or a USB flash drive).

Security of your information

We implement appropriate security measures to protect the security of your Information both online and offline. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Although we make good faith efforts to store the Information collected on the Services in a secure operating environment that is not available to the public, we cannot guarantee the absolute security of that Information during its transmission or its storage on our systems.
Furthermore, while we attempt to ensure the integrity and security of our network and systems, we cannot guarantee that our security measures will prevent third-party “hackers" from illegally obtaining access to this Information.
No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. We do not warrant or represent that your Information will be protected against loss, misuse, or alteration by third parties, and as such UGP will not be liable for any harm or damage suffered by you due to any loss, misuse or alteration of your Information by third parties

Data retention

We may retain your Information for as long as your Account is active (the duration of the study) or as needed to provide you services (if you choose to extend your use of our Service beyond the 4-week pilot study). If you wish to cancel your Account or request that we no longer use your Information to provide you services, contact us via email or the online/in-game form. We will retain and use your Information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, provide services and further our research goals. Telemetric, audio and photo data collected via the game application will be backed up and stored offline for up to 5 years, after which they will be destroyed.

Urban Griot Playground Information

The Platforms are operated by the Urban Griot Collaborative, located at 11 Leon Street, Boston, MA, 02115. For questions or concerns about the Platforms, please contact info@urbangriot.org Effective September 1, 2023.