These terms set out the ground rules for using Concept Cartography. By using the site you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use the service.
Concept Cartography is experimental software in active development. Things will change, and the service is provided without guarantees. We're working towards a stable build by March 2027.
The service
Concept Cartography is a free, open-source tool for building shared concept maps. It's run as a research and community project, not a commercial product. We may add, change or remove features, reset or migrate data during development, or pause the service, sometimes without notice.
Signing in
You sign in by choosing a display name. There's no password, so:
- a display name is not a secure account. Anyone who enters the same name signs in as the same user;
- don't choose a name that impersonates another person or organisation, or that is offensive;
- you're responsible for what you post, including anything posted while signed in on your browser.
Your contributions
Maps, concepts, relations, comments and other content you add ("contributions") remain yours. By contributing, you:
- grant everyone who uses Concept Cartography, and the project team, a free, worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual licence to view, copy, adapt, rearrange and build on your contributions, both within the atlas and when citing or sharing it;
- agree that your contributions are collaborative: other users may edit, reorganise, comment on or remove them;
- agree that your contributions will be attributed to your display name and recorded in each map's activity history;
- confirm that you have the right to share what you post.
When you include material from other sources, such as a definition quoted from a paper, keep it short, cite the original source in the concept's source link, and respect the original author's rights.
Acceptable use
Please use Concept Cartography in the collaborative spirit it's built for. Don't:
- post content that is unlawful, harassing, hateful, sexually explicit or that infringes someone else's rights;
- post other people's personal information;
- spam, vandalise maps, or deliberately delete or corrupt other people's work;
- try to disrupt, overload, probe or gain unauthorised access to the service, including by getting around rate limits;
- use automated tools to scrape or mass-edit the atlas without permission.
We may remove content, or restrict access for anyone who breaks these rules or puts the service or its community at risk.
Citing the atlas
Definitions come from the sources listed on each concept. Please cite those original sources. Relationships between concepts are interpretations made on the map, so cite Concept Cartography itself when you rely on them. See how to cite the atlas.
Open-source software
The code that runs Concept Cartography is open source and available on GitHub. Your use of the code itself is governed by the licence in that repository. These terms cover your use of the hosted service.
The site bundles and serves its own typefaces, Bricolage Grotesque and Inter. Both are used under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. The site doesn't load fonts, scripts or other assets from third-party services.
No warranty
The service and all content on it are provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind. Content is written by contributors and may be incomplete, out of date or wrong. It isn't professional, academic or legal advice. Because the software is experimental, keep your own copy of anything important. Data may be lost.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, the project team isn't liable for any indirect, incidental or consequential loss, or for any loss of data, arising from your use of the service. Nothing in these terms limits liability that can't be limited by law.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms as the project develops. We'll change the date at the top of the page when we do. If you keep using the service after an update, you accept the new terms.
Contact
Questions about these terms? Open an issue on GitHub.