Our Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to the websites located at indianamuseum.org (referred to herein as the “Website”), which is operated by or for the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites (collectively, the “Museum,” “we,” “our” or “us”). The Website allows users to find out more about the Museum and its experiences and programs, and in some cases, to participate in interactive activities on the Website. The Website is only for private, non-commercial, informational and entertainment purposes.

We take your online privacy very seriously. Therefore, the purpose of this Privacy Policy is to disclose to you what information we may collect from you, how we collect it, with whom we share it, and certain other matters related to such information, including the choices you have regarding our collection of information and our use and disclosure to other parties of information we have collected from you. If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at [email protected].

When this Privacy Policy references the term “personally identifiable information” or “personal information,” we mean information that identifies a particular individual, such as your full name, street address, telephone number or email address. When other information, such as a hobby or demographic-identifier, is associated with personal information, it also becomes personally identifiable information for the purposes of this Privacy Policy.

Please read the information below to learn more about our data collection policies and practices.

 

Types of information that may be collected

Information You Provide Us: When you visit certain portions of the Website, we may ask you to provide us with specific information, including:

  • contact information, such as your name, mailing address, email address or phone number;
  • unique identifiers such as your membership ID;
  • demographic information such as your age, education, occupation and gender; and
  • financial information, such as your credit card number or similar information.

Site Usage Information: We may receive and store certain types of internet usage information whenever you visit the Website, such as your landing page, order of pages viewed, and other click stream data. See “IP Addresses and Click Stream Data” section below.

Email Communications: When you open emails from us, we may receive data about if you opened the email and what links you clicked on, if your computer supports such capabilities. We also may keep track of what emails we send you and when. Additionally, we keep a record of what communications you have opted to receive or not to receive.

 

How information is collected

Online Memberships and Donations: When you purchase a membership or make a donation to the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites online, we will ask you to provide us with the information we need to process your membership and/or to acknowledge your contribution. This information includes your name, billing and mailing addresses, telephone number, email address, and credit card information. Your credit card information will be stored temporarily on a secured server and used only as needed to process your transaction. We will retain your personally identifiable information for our records, in order to facilitate better customer service. To process payments for members who have selected automatic renewal, we will also retain payment information, in a secure manner, until such time that either the payment information expires (when we will contact you to update it), or the auto-renewal of the membership is canceled by you. In certain cases, you may be asked for additional information to complete your request, such as the names of your children if obtaining a Family or Family Plus membership.

Transaction Information: If you conduct a financial transaction on our Website, such as buying tickets or merchandise, we will ask you to complete an order form that will request certain information from you, including contact information, demographic information and financial information. We will use this information to complete the transaction that you have requested, i.e., to deliver the information, products or other services that you order, and to send you a confirmation email. For your protection, such information is collected and stored through encrypted means.

Newsletters and Emails: We may offer newsletters and emails to share information with you about the Museum and about our partners and affiliates. You may sign up to receive a newsletter either by registering for a particular topic or in conjunction with a special feature or membership for which you have registered on the Website. You do have to provide us with personal information when you sign up for a newsletter; however, you can choose to opt out of all email messages through the Unsubscribe or Manage Preferences link at the bottom of the newsletters. We use Mailchimp, a third party e-newsletter service. Their Data Privacy Policy applies to your use of this service.

Contests or Sweepstakes: We may periodically operate contests or sweepstakes through the Website that may require registration or the submission of personal information. Participation is voluntary and you will have the opportunity to decide whether or not to disclose information to us. Your personally identifiable information may be used to contact you for winner notification, prize delivery confirmation or other related purposes (see the rules of each contest for details about how your personal information will be used). We may also ask your permission to allow us to publicly post some of your information on the Website, such as on a winner’s page, in the event you win a contest or sweepstakes. Except as required by applicable law, we will not post your information without your permission.

In some instances, a third party advertiser or sponsor may operate or host a contest or sweepstakes on the Website, and collect your information. In those cases, where we are not the operator or host of the contest or sweepstakes, we do not collect your information and we have no control over the information collected from you. Accordingly, we urge you to review the advertiser’s or sponsor’s privacy policy applicable to the contest or sweepstakes before participating and providing your information to that advertiser or sponsor.

Cookies: As with many websites, our Website uses a technology called “cookies.” A cookie is a unique, random number that is stored in the browser on your computer. The cookie doesn’t actually identify you, just the computer that is used to visit the site. Cookies automatically identify your browser to the Website whenever your computer is used to visit the Website. Cookies also let us know how many people visit the Website and where visitors go on the Website. In addition, cookies can let us know non-personally identifiable information, like what web browser is being used to access the Website. For registered users, cookies can make using the Website easier for you by saving information such as your passwords or preferences. By tracking how and when you use the Website, cookies help us determine which areas are popular and which are not. Many improvements and updates to the Website are based on data obtained from cookies. Accepting cookies allows you, among other things, to personalize your experience on the Website. Cookies may also allow the Website to present to you advertising that may be of special interest to you. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, your browser should contain an option that allows you to disable or delete cookie data at any time. Some areas of the Website, however, may not provide you with a personalized experience if you have disabled the use of cookies. The cookies are not tied to personal information.

IP Addresses and Clickstream Data: We may collect IP addresses and/or clickstream data. An IP address is a number associated with the service through which you access the Internet, like your ISP (Internet service provider) or your company. Standing alone, your IP address is not personally identifiable information. At times, we also use IP addresses for purposes of system administration and to report aggregate information to our partners and affiliates (e.g., regarding the frequency with which our guests visit various parts of our Website). We may combine this information with personally identifiable information. Clickstream data is information collected by our computers when you request certain pages from the Website. Clickstream data may include such information as the page served, the time, the source of the request, the type of browser making the request, the preceding page view and other such non-personal information. When analyzed, this data helps us analyze how visitors arrive at the Website, what type of content is most popular, what type of visitors in the aggregate are interested in particular kinds of content and advertising, and the like.

 

How we use the information collected

As applicable, the information you provide to us may also be used to:

  • contact you about the Website;
  • contact you relating to your membership or user status;
  • confirm or fulfill an order you have made;
  • inform you of a prize you have won;
  • monitor or improve the use of the Website;
  • customize the content you see on the Website;
  • maintain website security;
  • enhance navigation;
  • send or offer you a newsletter; and
  • send you promotional material or special offers on behalf of our partners and/or affiliates.

You may choose not to receive these kinds of emails by indicating your desire to leave the mailing list (offered in emails we send you) or contacting us.

 

With whom the information may be shared

At times, we may share your personal information with others for various purposes. The following outlines the ways in which your information may be shared with others and the ways in which you may opt-out of having your information shared:

Our Agents: We may employ other businesses, certain services and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include fulfilling orders, sending email, website analysis, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, processing credit card payments, and providing customer service. They may have access to personally identifiable information needed to perform their specified functions, but may not use it for their own purposes, such as sending you marketing offers about their products or services.

Aggregate Information: We may share aggregate information, such as demographics and Website usage statistics, with our partners, affiliates or other organizations. When this type of information is shared, the other parties do not have access to your personally identifiable information

Opt-In / Opt-Out Offers: When you provide us with personal information, you may be presented with the opportunity to share your personal information with third parties for various purposes, such as receiving information or special offers. An opt-in/opt-out message will ask you if you would like your information to be shared. When you allow us to share your personal information with third parties, we require third parties who have access to that information to agree to abide by our current Website privacy policy. Once the information is transferred, however, we cannot control the privacy practices of these other companies.

Administrative or Legal Process: Your personal information may be transferred to third parties without notice to you in order to comply with applicable law, law enforcement agencies, to protect our rights, or protect the rights of other users of the Website.

 

Links to other websites

You should be aware that when you are on the Website you could be directed to other Websites beyond our control. For example, if you click on a hyperlink, the “click” may take you off the Website onto a different website. This may include links from advertisers, sponsors and marketing partners who may use the Museum’s name as part of a co-branding agreement. These other websites may send their own cookies to you, independently collect data or solicit personal information and may or may not have their own published privacy policies. If you visit a website that is linked to our Website, you should consult that website’s privacy policy before providing any personal information.

 

Security

We use reasonable measures to protect personally identifiable information that is stored within our database, and we restrict access to such information to those employees and agents who need access to perform their job functions, such as our customer service personnel and technical staff. However, please note that we cannot guarantee the security of this information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of member information at any time. For additional information about the security measures we use on the Website, please contact us at [email protected].

 

Your acceptance of the privacy policy and notification of changes to the policy

By using the Website, you signify your agreement to all of the terms of our Privacy Policy. We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make a material change to the way in which we collect, use, and/or share your personal information, we will post a notice on the Website. We will assume that you have given your permission for your information to be used under the terms of the new Privacy Policy, if you continue to use the Website thirty (30) days after a notice is posted.

 

Correcting/updating personal information

If your personally identifiable information changes (such as your email address or zip code), or if you no longer wish for us to have your personally identifiable information on file, we provide a way to correct, update or remove the personal data you have provided to us. This can be done by using an opt-out message in an email, or by emailing us at [email protected].

 

Photo/video policy within the museum

Each person entering the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites property grants us permission to photograph, videotape, record or otherwise reproduce the image and/or voice of that person and all accompanying minors, without compensation, for archival, educational, promotional, marketing, website, commercial, and such other purposes as the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites determines.

 

Questions about this privacy policy

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the privacy practices of the Website in general, please contact [email protected].

Social Media Community Guidelines

The Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites uses various social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, X, et al.) (“Accounts”) to support its mission to serve as a catalyst for informal lifelong learning that connects the stories of real people, places and things.

Accounts are moderated by the marketing and communication staff. The Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites is not responsible for any content or comments generated by other users (“Users”). With its posts, Users acknowledge that the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites is not responsible for any content or comments shared on the Accounts. User acknowledges that the Accounts are public, and not confidential.

 

Representations and Warranties

By posting on an Account, User represents and warrants that it has all the necessary rights to post the content, including intellectual property rights. Further, User represents and warrants that its content complies with the Standards of Conduct set forth in these Guidelines.

 

Standards of Conduct

We respectfully ask our community to engage in discussions that are constructive and inclusive, and to honor the following guidelines when commenting to posts from this Account. Abusive behavior, including the following activities, is in violation of the Standards of Conduct and are prohibited activity in connection with the Accounts:

  • All public contributions to this page should be of a positive, considerate, productive, relevant and informed nature.
  • Users should refrain from posts that are inappropriate, off topic, excessively repetitive and/or disruptive to the online community.

User should not post content that:

  • Is false, deceptive or misleading, whether intentional or incidental.
  • Is unlawful, defamatory, libelous or obscene.
  • Infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property, privacy or publicity rights of others.
  • Is considered political commentary.
  • Is offensive, harassing or has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating or hostile environment.
  • Uses ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity or other offensive language.
  • Is foul, inflammatory or discriminatory language.
  • Constitutes an attack that threatens the safety of individuals or members of any governmental agency, organization or company.
  • Includes third-party advertisements, promotions, solicitations, spam, flaming or flooding.

Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in comments being deleted from the Accounts and Users being banned at the discretion of the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites.

Our Whistleblower Policy

Introduction

The purpose of the Whistleblower Policy is to provide a way for staff, volunteers or the general public who believe inappropriate financial transactions, harassment or discrimination are occurring within the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites (ISMHS) to report such action to those in authority and be protected for doing so.

 

Appropriate Information to Report

Any information regarding suspected theft, fraud, other misuse of ISMHS funds, harassment, discrimination or other such misconduct should be reported. Reporting personnel issues is not appropriate through this means unless the report is regarding harassment or discrimination that can’t be brought to a supervisor’s or human resource’s attention for fear of reprisal. This would include, but not be limited to, hiring, termination, promotion, compensation, or supervisory related issues.

 

How to File a Report

Go to the Indiana Office of the Inspector General’s website at https://www.in.gov/ig/hotline/. Click on “Complete Hotline Report Form”. Complete the form and press the “Submit” button. The form can be submitted anonymously, but no follow up with the reporter can be done if submitted anonymously.

 

What to Expect When You Make a Report

The Office of the Inspector General will review the reported information and will conduct an investigation. Subsequent action will be determined by the results of the investigation.

 

Posting of Whistleblower Reporting Information

The whistleblower contact information shall be posted on the ISMHS intranet used by staff. The policy shall be verbally communicated to all employees upon hiring and shared annually through electronic communication and/or at an all-staff meeting. The policy shall be shared with the ISMHS board of directors annually. The policy will also be posted to the ISMHS website.