Privacy and cookies

ToGather is a field research archive run by me, Sharon Avraham, an individual researcher based in Portugal. I am the controller of the personal data described here. Contact: st.avraham@gmail.com (write "Privacy request" in the subject line). A postal address is available on request.

This page explains in plain language what the site collects, why, who else handles it, how long it stays and what you can do about it. It covers togatherproject.eu.

You can read the whole archive without an account. The site's host keeps short technical logs (IP address, browser, time of request) to deliver pages and keep the service secure. Legal basis: legitimate interest in running a safe website (GDPR art. 6(1)(f)).

Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity run only if you accept them in the cookie banner. Details are in the cookie table below.

The Research Companion is an AI assistant. Your question is sent to Google's Gemini model together with passages from the archive, and the answer is generated automatically. It can be wrong, so check the linked interviews and field notes.

I store each question and the answer it received, without your name or account, so I can fix wrong answers and see what people want to know. Please leave personal details out of your questions. Legal basis: legitimate interest in running and improving the archive (art. 6(1)(f)). Questions are kept for up to 24 months.

If you type your email into a newsletter form, I store your email address, the date and which form you used, and send you occasional field updates. Legal basis: your consent (art. 6(1)(a)). Every email has a way to unsubscribe, and you can also reply or write to me to be removed. I keep your address until you unsubscribe.

Creating an account does not sign you up for the newsletter. The Substack publication (jointogatherproject.substack.com) is run on Substack, which has its own privacy policy.

You can sign in with Google or with email. I receive your name, email and profile picture. If you apply to contribute, I also store what you write in the application and in your submissions. Legal basis: providing the account and contributor service you asked for (art. 6(1)(b)).

If your application is approved, your name, photo, bio and contributions become public on the site. Your email, drafts, notes and application status stay private. Pending or rejected applications are deleted within 90 days unless you ask me to keep them. Messages in the site inbox stay until you or I delete them, or until your account is closed.

When you write to me through the contact form I receive your name, email and message, and keep them as long as needed to answer and follow up, and at most 24 months. Legal basis: legitimate interest in answering you (art. 6(1)(f)).

The archive publishes interviews, photographs and field notes about people living in intentional communities. I publish identifiable interviews and portraits with the consent of the people in them, for research, documentation and freedom of expression (GDPR art. 85 and Portuguese Law 58/2019 art. 24).

If you appear in the archive and want something corrected, anonymised or removed, write to me. I will answer within one month and, where the request is reasonable, act on it.

Base44 (part of the Wix.com group): hosting, database, sign in and email delivery for the site.

Google: Gemini for the Research Companion, Google sign in, and Google Analytics if you accept it.

Microsoft: Clarity usage recordings, if you accept them.

Some of these providers process data outside the European Union, including the United States. Those transfers rely on the EU US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, and on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses. I do not sell your data and I do not use it for advertising.

You can ask for a copy of your data, ask me to correct or delete it, restrict or object to how I use it, get it in a portable format, and withdraw consent at any time (withdrawing does not affect what happened before). Email st.avraham@gmail.com with "Privacy request" in the subject line. I answer within one month.

You also have the right to complain to the Portuguese data protection authority, the Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (CNPD, www.cnpd.pt), or to the authority in the EU country where you live.

No decisions with legal or similarly significant effects are made about you automatically.

The site is meant for readers aged 16 and over. Accounts are for people aged 16 and over. If you think a child has signed up, email me and I will delete the record.

When this policy changes in a way that matters, I update the date at the top, ask for cookie consent again where needed, and tell contributors through the site inbox.