Terms & Conditions

The ReaderBank is a large, open-source, longitudinal project which aims to better understand the reading experience, what it is to imagine, and how these things may link in with our mental health and wellbeing. Using interactive and survey-based measures, we want to reach out to different reading communities, share current knowledge of reading and the imagination, and collect a large bank of data to better shape our collective understanding of these phenomena, similar in principle to the UK Bio-Bank.

Funded by the Wellcome Trust, and in collaboration with Edinburgh International Book Festival, the ReaderBank will release new ‘modules’, each addressing a new aspect of reading, imagination, and/or wellbeing. For example, the Imagination Quiz, and VoiceMatch.

The ReaderBank project has received ethical approval from the Psychology Ethics Committee of Durham University.

Anyone can participate in the ReaderBank, regardless of age or how often you read. Anyone under the age of 18 will be required to have the consent of a parent or guardian.

ReaderBank consists of a number of different ‘modules’, all elements looking at different components of reading, imagination, and wellbeing. Some of these modules are interactive, and involve engaging in activities online. Others are survey based and involve answering questions about yourself. There will be information both on our website, and at the start of each module detailing the purpose and nature of the content, which you can use to decide whether you want to engage in that particular topic.

If you choose to participate in any of the ReaderBank modules, you can do so as a ‘Casual’ or ‘Community’ participant.

• As a Casual participant, you can complete all of the modules, however you data will not be linked across modules, and will therefore not be used for any research purposes.
• A Community participant includes people who have consented to their data being linked and used in future research. Using this safely and securely linked data allows the ReaderBank to grow, allowing us to learn more about people’s experiences.

You do not have to take part in any of the ReaderBank modules if you do not want too. Should you wish to take part casually, you are welcome to participate in modules, and not agree to link your data. If you are happy for your data to be used in future research, and want to join the ReaderBank community, you can agree to link your data either before completing modules, or after the fact.

Prior to any data being stored, you have access and are instructed to review these Terms and Conditions, and must explicitly opt-in by ticking the consent statement on our website. Participation is entirely voluntary; you may refuse to answer any question or withdraw altogether without penalty. 

If you do choose to take part initially, you can withdraw at anytime without needing to give a reason. If you are mid-way through a module, and you wish to withdraw, you can simply close the browser, and your data will not be logged. If you wish to withdraw after completion of a module, you can you can request that your data be withdrawn from the ReaderBank for up to five years following the initial completion time by emailing festival.site@durham.ac.uk. This will be erased within 5 business days of the request.

As part of ReaderBank, we collect the following information for our academic research should you chose to provide it:

• Basic demographic information, including age, gender, occupation, ethnicity, language, education, and neurotype.
• Survey responses pertaining to the imagination, reading habits, wellbeing, and psychology.
• Interactive task data (e.g., VoiceMatch responses, reaction times).
• Email address (Community accounts only) for login, longitudinal linkage and study updates. This will never be linked to your data or responses, and is only used for access within the site.

A random, anonymous, and confidential user ID is generated automatically for each participant’s data in order to match this across the different ReaderBank module. This is the only way for data to be identified.

How we protect your information and data

All active data are stored in GDPR‑compliant systems (Firebase, Durham OneDrive). Sensitive information is encrypted in transit and at rest using AES‑256. Personally identifiable data live in a separate, encrypted collection accessible only to authorised researchers via role‑based rules; our developers cannot view it.

Accounts and authentication

You may create an account via email/password or Google OAuth. Google credentials remain with Google; we store only a secure authentication token. If you later delete your account, all associated identifiers and responses are purged or anonymised according to Section 5.

Cookies and local storage

We use your browser’s IndexedDB/localStorage to hold interim responses if you are not signed in. These data help you resume a module mid‑way and are synced to Firebase once a module is completed, however if you are not logged in, this will be unspecified data (no user ID) and will be removed from the database manually upon inspection. If you do not complete a module, the responses remain on your device and can be cleared via your browser settings.

Types of participant

For Casual participants who do not provide consent for their data to be used in research or linked with other modules, any completed module data will still be logged, however, it will not be assigned a user ID, meaning it will be removed from the database and will not be available for use in any future research. Community participants who sign up to an account provide consent for their data to be used. Every account is assigned a unique Firebase user ID unrelated to your identity, ensuring pseudonymisation even inside the secure environment. No names or email addresses will be stored with the data in any way, and all information will be stored on a secure server at Durham University.

Access

Your personal data will only be accessible to members of the ReaderBank research team, which includes Durham University researchers. We will store your email address for five years, and only use it to invite you to take part in future ReaderBank activities. All information obtained during the study will be kept confidential and if the data is published it will not be identifiable as yours.

Please read the University’s Generic Privacy Notice for additional information about how your data will be used.

We do not anticipate the content from any of the modules posing any significant risk to people taking part.

There will be no physical discomfort when taking part in any ReaderBank modules.

Some of our online surveys may involve questions around mental health, such as intrusive thoughts, mood, and unusual sensory experiences. Answering questions about such topics can be difficult for some people to think about, and so we will always include a disclaimer prior to any use of said questions. Within the surveys, you are free to skip any question you do not wish to answer. If you become distressed while completing these modules, we suggest closing the browser.

None of the questions that we ask are diagnostic in any way, and we cannot provide individual feedback.

ReaderBank content is provided for research and educational purposes. We make no warranties about fitness for a particular purpose and will not be liable for indirect or consequential damages arising from site use. Nothing in these terms limits liability where such limitation is prohibited by law.

We may revise these Terms to reflect legal, ethical or technical changes. Material updates will be highlighted on this page and, where appropriate, communicated by email to registered members at least 14 days before they take effect.

If you wish to reach out to the research team with any queries, please email the ReaderBank team at festival.site@durham.ac.uk.

ReaderBank is led by Dr Ben Alderson‑Day and Dr Georgia Punton at Durham University. For privacy queries, withdrawal requests or complaints, email festival.site@durham.ac.uk or write to Institute for Medical Humanities, Durham University, UK.

Alternatively, you may contact the current Department Ethics Chair, currently Ruth Jowett at ruth.jowett@durham.ac.uk, for any further information, or if you wish to make a formal complaint.