PIC was developed with the goal to make information and data sharing as easy, effortless and time saving as possible, and encourage scientists, researchers, scholars, authors and other individuals and organisations to share their knowledge with both their colleagues and public. Each time new information is added to the already existing database, PIC users get a deeper insight and understanding of a wide range of polar-related subjects. At the same time, the format of our data sharing programme encourages interaction, collaboration and cooperation between the members of the scientific community as well as between scientists and the public on a wealth of issues concerning the polar regions.
In order for PIC to remain a valuable resource of polar data and information, continue to bring scientists together and promote public interest and understanding of the challenges the polar regions are facing, we have developed a set of ethics and norms for PIC users to follow when both contributing and retrieving data. The goal is to maintain the highest level of credibility, reliability and quality, and at the same time, provide PIC users with quality and up-to-date information. When signing up to PIC, users agree that they will:
- follow the guidelines for responsible use and treat other users with respect and courtesy
- share relevant, up-to-date and reliable data and materials
- follow the guidelines for sharing and publishing work by other authors
- share exclusively materials which are in public domains or explicitly permitted to be shared through PIC by the author/copyrights holder
- do their best to provide more information about shared materials if asked to do so
- notify PIC administrator if noticing any inaccuracies, errors, obsolete or inappropriate content
PIC users are not the only ones who are required to follow a clear set of rules when using our data exchange programme and interacting with other users. There is a clear set of rules we pledged to follow as well to provide our users, members and affiliates with the highest quality service, protect their private information and secure any data stored or/and shared through PIC.
