Our Mission
Our mission is to help you become an influential player in how stories are created, shaped and shared.We enable our contributors to build wikizines - interactive magazines that anyone can create or edit - with coverage of current events, cultural reference points, and niche areas of interest. We make it simple for people to compile the web's most relevant and dynamic content into easily-searched topics, so readers can find and react to the full story from multiple perspectives.
Our Vision
Our always-on, user-empowered digital culture is fundamentally changing the media industry. There is an ever-growing demand for people to become influential players in how stories are created, shaped and shared. Amateur and professional writers seek more active roles in how their stories develop. Readers want to dive deep into any topic, and find relevant and specific information from trusted and diverse sources. At the end of the day, everyone wants to add their voice and opinion to the conversation.Zimbio allows anyone to become involved in any story, so entertainment, current events and news are delivered with context, opinion and multi-media. Our enabling technology and community culture allow stories to evolve and expand quickly by tapping into people's desire to leave their mark on a story.
Our Service - Where Stories Take Shape
Zimbio seamlessly blends the best of traditional media, participatory journalism, and proprietary technology. Stories and rich media from traditional news sources live along side blogs, commentary and opinion articles written or posted by readers' peers in a new media platform, the wikizine -- an interactive magazine that anyone can create or edit.Zimbio contributors actively compile personal posts and the most salient and up-to-date content from across the web into a network of wikizines. Contributors can create new wikizines in minutes, shedding light on ideas and stories not well covered by traditional outlets. We satisfy a growing demand for readers to leave their mark on the story - by voting on the quality, adding comments, writing articles, adding opinions and interacting with others.
Zimbio's proprietary technology gives wikizines influence and impact. Our content matching technology automatically filters, classifies, and prioritizes contributions to help the story take shape and help users find relevant content. Active bloggers can syndicate their articles to Zimbio's global readership with only one-click; Zimbio grabs, classifies, and publishes fresh updates as they're written. Click here to learn more about submitting your blog.
For the Latest, Check Out Our Company Wikizine
For more info about Zimbio, check out our Company Wikizine, where we make company announcements and the community discusses the future direction of Zimbio.
1. The Basics
What is Zimbio all about? And what's a wikizine?
What are some of the things I can do on a wikizine?
Do you have any membership guidelines?
How do I join Zimbio? Is it free?
What browser should I use?
2. Creating a Wikizine
How do I create a new wikizine?
What if someone else has already created a wikizine about the topic I'm interested in?
Can I change the title of a wikizine I just created?
What is a "Draft?"
What does it take for a Draft to qualify as a wikizine?
3. Adding, Editing, and Rating
How do I suggest a link to a web site or article?
Do you have browser buttons ("bookmarklets") so I can quickly add links to a wikizine?
How do I write an article?
How do I post a picture to a wikizine?
Can I post a picture directly to my own account?
What limits do you have on the size or types of pictures I can upload?
What are the 5 star ratings? Why should I rate content?
What are Kudos? Why should I give someone a Kudo?
How can I see what other members are contributing?
Who owns the content submitted on Zimbio?
Can anonymous users contribute as well?
4. The Front Page of a Wikizine
What's on the "Front Page" of a wikizine?
What is a "module"?
I've created a new roll, tracker, video playlist, or picture album, and it doesn't appear on the Front Page? Why?
5. Managing Your Account
I didn't receive a registration email. What can I do?
I lost my password, what can I do?
I lost my username, what can I do?
How can I customize my public profile?
What is my picture storage limit?
How do I delete my account?
6. Problems and Feedback
How do I remove a bad link, feed, or picture? How do I report a problem? How do I make a suggestion to Zimbio?
7. What's in a Name?
1. The Basics
What is Zimbio all about? And what is a wikizine?
Zimbio allows anyone to become involved in any story, so entertainment, current events and news are delivered with context, opinion and multi-media. Here at Zimbio, we encourage stories to evolve and expand quickly, through new enabling technology and people's desire to leave their mark on a story. We do this by offering wikizines - interactive magazines that anyone can create or edit on subjects both grand and granular, such as topics in current events, cultural reference points, and niche areas of interest.
What are some of the things I can do on a wikizine?
Well, lots. To name a few, you can:
- Browse to find great links, news, articles and pictures about topics that you're interested in
- Write an article to share your thoughts or ideas with the community, or post videos and pictures related to the topic
- Connect with like-minded people in the forum
- Grab a widget or badges for your personal website or blog, or an RSS or OPML feed for your reader
Do you have any membership guidelines?
We have created an initial draft of Zimbio's membership guidelines. Ultimately members themselves will help these guidelines to evolve. You can find our current guidelines, and other policies we develop over time, on our company wikizine.
How do I join Zimbio? Is it free?
To join Zimbio, please go to our registration page and create a new account. And yep, it's free.
Our site is optimized for the following browsers: Internet Explorer 6, Firefox 2, Safari 2, and higher. If your browser is a different version, you may have problems viewing the site. For the best experience, Get Firefox.
2. Creating a Wikizine
How do I create a new wikizine?
Any member can create a new wikizine. You'll be asked to give the wikizine a unique name and a description, and then you and other members can begin to add content. To get started, please use our simple tool to create a new wikizine. Note that you can choose to make your new wikizine private, in which case only you and the other members that you invite will be able to see and edit the wikizine.
What if someone else has already created a wikizine about the topic I'm interested in?
Wikizines are wiki-based magazines, which means that members like you can contribute to any of the existing wikizines. If you're interested in contributing to a topic that's already covered, just go for it. Our site's content is user-driven - so the community depends on folks like you submitting great articles, links, feeds, pictures, videos, and comments.
Can I change the title of a wikizine I just created?
Unfortunately, no. So please be extra careful when you create a wikizine!
All newly created wikizines start off as "drafts" that need additional attention from members, and as such are considered a work in progress. Once a draft has enough content and member contribution to help other members get down the learning curve on that topic of interest, a Site Editors will reclassify the draft as a wikizine and it will be added to its selected category and to the Zimbio sitemap and search results.
Drafts have the same functionality as regular wikizines, and members can use them in the same fashion.
What does it take for a Draft to qualify as a wikizine?
Site editors frequently review drafts to remove spam, errors, or duplicates of existing zines, and to promote drafts which are considered informative about the identified topic.
It takes only a few minutes to start a new draft, but usually a bit more attention to contribute enough content (links, pictures, videos, articles etc.) to complete the draft and qualify as a wikizine. These contributions can be given by you or other members of the community.
3. Adding, Editing, and Rating
How do I suggest a link to a web site or article?
Submitting links is easy, and there a couple of ways you can do it:
A. From a wikizine Front Page: Find the Linkroll module, and click on the "+ Add" link. Fill in the link's title and URL, and description, and click "save." Your link should appear in the Linkroll, either immediately within the module on the front page, or on the full page view, which you can see by clicking "more." Where it shows up depends on how the editor configured the zine's front page.
B. You can also add a link directly from the full page view of the specific Linkroll (in the Links and Feeds section of a wikizine).
C. You can also use a browser button. See the next FAQ for details.
Please check the list before submitting a new link in order to avoid duplicate entries.
Do you have browser buttons ("bookmarklets") so I can quickly add links to a wikizine?
Yep. Grab a browser button to help you quickly add links, pictures, and more to your favorite wikizines. Once you have a browser button installed, you can simple click on that button whenever you are visiting another website with content that you'd like to share about a wikizine topic. Go to your account dashboard for information on how to grab the button.
You can write an article from scratch, or import one from your personal blog. To write an article directly on a wikizine, visit that wikizine and click on the "Write an article" link in the top right corner of the Front Page. To import an article from your personal blog, first you'll need to submit your blog and add it to your Zimbio profile. Click Submit Your Blog to learn more or get started.
You can use the text editor to format text or attach a picture to your article.
How do I post a picture to a wikizine?
Members can post pictures in the Pictures section of each wikizine by clicking on a specific album and then clicking "Add Picture."
When you add a picture to any wikizine, we also automatically save it in your Zimbio account, which you can access through My Account.
Can I post a picture directly to my own account?
Yep. On the My Pictures page within My Account, you can upload a picture directly to your own account, without posting it directly to a wikizine. This is helpful if you want to upload a picture now and include it within a zine or article at a later point in time.
What limits do you have on the size or types of pictures I can upload?
The maximum file size allowed for a single picture is 3MB. We support the following picture formats - gif, jpeg, and png.
Also, each member gets a total picture storage limit of 20MB per account.
What are the 5 star ratings? Why should I rate content?
Zimbio is a user-driven site, so it is up to folks like you to suggest great content to other members. We display ratings throughout the site, and try to feature the links, feeds, pictures, and articles that members tell us are the best.
You can rate content anywhere on the site by clicking one of the row of stars near an entry. Be sure to rate things that you didn't find useful or interesting as well as things that you loved.
What are Kudos? Why should give someone a Kudo?
Kudos are an easy way to say "nice job". They're also a part of the Zimbio ratings system, so giving someone a kudo helps them get featured. When you visit a member's profile or read the full version of an article that a member wrote, you'll see a kudo graphic and a link to give someone a kudo.
You can also "Kudo Surf". Kudo surfing is a way to check out other people that either gave someone a kudo, or received a kudo from a specific person.
How can I see what other members are contributing?
We track all member activities on the site, and display them in history logs that are publicly viewable. To see what members are doing on a specific zine, click on the History section in the wikizine's table of contents. To see what a specific member has been doing across the entire network of wikizines, click on the member's username to view the member's public profile, and then click on the member's History tab.
Who owns the content submitted on Zimbio?
When members post their own copyrightable content on the service, they retain ownership of the specific copyright. As part of our terms of service, members grant us a perpetual, non-exclusive license to the content they post. Also, some Zimbio and user submitted works are licensed under a Creative Commons License. For more details, please visit our Terms and Policies page.
Can anonymous users contribute as well?
Anonymous users can view all of the pages in a wikizine. However, only Zimbio members who are registered and logged in can add, edit, or delete content. For example, members must be logged in to comment on articles. We believe accountability is an important ingredient for ensuring quality control across the network.
4. The Front Page of a Wikizine
What's on the "Front Page" of a wikizine?
Each wikizine has a "Front Page" where you'll find a collection of interactive modules that can be used to quickly get up to speed on the topic. This is the best place to start reading the wikizine. Each module shows you a different snapshot of content - sometimes the best stuff, sometimes the most recently added.
If you want more detailed information on the content within a module, click the "more" link at the bottom of a module.
A module is a snapshot of interactive content on the Front Page of a wikizine. Zimbio supports lots of different types of modules:some show pictures, others play videos, others show RSS headlines. Each module is connected to content that lives in other sections of the zine - for example, if you click the "more" link on the Forum module, it will take you to the full view of the message board.
I've created a new roll, tracker, video playlist, or picture album, and it doesn't appear on the Front Page? Why?
Members can add content or create new sections on any wikizine. However, only editors can control the layout of each wikizine's Front Page. Once you create a new section, you'll be able to navigate to that section from the table of contents. The next time an editor visits the wikizine, he or she can decide whether to include your new section on the Front Page.
5. Managing Your Account
I didn't receive a registration email. What can I do?
You may want to check the spam or bulk mail folder of your email account. It is possible that our registration email was directed into one of those folders.
I lost my password, what can I do?
I lost my username, what can I do?
Actually, you can also log in with your email address and password.
How can I customize my public profile?
In My Account, select the tab labeled "My Profile". From here, you can edit your public profile.
What is my photo storage limit?
20 MB.
Just drop us an email at support@zimbio.com, and we'll make it happen.
6. Problems and Feedback
How do I remove a bad link, feed, or picture?
If you find a dead link, duplicate entry, irrelevant content, or commercial spam, please delete it by clicking on the "Edit" icon or link and choosing "delete." Note that you may not be able to delete some entries until your account gains more experience and trust in the system.
If you have found a problem that you would like to report, please contact us at: abuse@zimbio.com.
How do I make a suggestion to Zimbio?
We'd love to hear what you think about the Zimbio service and always appreciate tips and suggestions. Please send us your thoughts at: feedback@zimbio.com. You can also visit our Company Wikizine, where the Zimbio team makes company announcements and the community engages in feedback and discussion regarding the future direction of Zimbio.
7. What's in a Name?
Zimbio (ZIM-bee-oh) is a play on the word "symbiosis," which refers to a relationship of mutual benefit or dependence. Symbiosis is an important part of our mission, in terms of how we view our relationship to our members, and how our members relate to one another. Plus, we like the way "Zimbio" sounds, and the domain name was cheap ;)
Zimbio offers thousands of wikizines about a wide range of topics, covering both popular culture and special interests. Wikizines are interactive magazines that anyone can create or edit. They're a mix of technology, mainstream media, and participatory journalism - so people can either check out the best stuff that other folks posted about a topic, or they can add articles, pictures, or videos themselves.
Why Should I Create a New Wikizine?
If you want to learn more about a topic that isn't yet covered on Zimbio, or if you'd like to share your opinions and perspective about it, you can create a new wikizine focused on that topic. You'll be given a browser button to help you save and organize content from across the web, you can syndicate articles from your personal blog, and you'll also solicit suggestions and help from the Zimbio community. It takes only one simple step to create a wikizine.Syndicate Your Blog
Bloggers are a vital part of our community. You provide the edgy opinions and diverse perspectives that make Zimbio a unique place to get up to speed on any topic. Zimbio helps bloggers reach a wider audience and promote their website. Click here to check out features for bloggers.Enough Already...How Do I Join?
Membership is free. Pick a username, upload a picture for your profile, and you're off to the races.What is a Zimbio Editor?
An editor is a member who has additional administrative rights and privileges for a specific wikizine. The Zimbio community depends on its editors to organize and review content, and to provide general guidance for wikizine communities.Your role as an editor is a collaborative one that can be shared by other trusted members of the wikizine's community. Over time, we expect there to be multiple editors per wikizine.
What Can an Editor Do?
1. Customize Content
Zimbio wikizines support many types of content, including articles, picture albums, video playlists, rolls, trackers, and more (check out our Feature Overview for a complete list). As an editor, you'll be able to create new content types and edit their titles and descriptions. This helps you organize your research about the topic.For example, if you are creating a wikizine about "The Circus", you might want to create separate Linkrolls for "Circus Schools", "Circus Events", and "Circus Arts" in order to help you bookmark and organize helpful links that you find. Or you might want to create multiple Picture Albums in order to collect photos of "Trapeze Acrobats", "Clowns", and "Contortionist."
You can also select a service provider to help power Trackers and Searchrolls on the site. For example, when customizing an Image Tracker, you can choose to have image search results delivered by either Webshots, Flickr, ESPN, or SmugMug. Trackers allow you to save search keywords about the topic and quickly scan current headlines.
2. Maintain Quality Control
A benefit of wikizines is that other members of our community can help you learn about the topic by suggesting content, answering questions, or sharing their opinions. Unfortunately, some people may abuse the features of wikizines by posting spam or offensive content. That's why we gave all members the ability to help with basic editing and deleting. But only editors can edit or delete all types of content, including articles and forum posts. Please review the site on a frequent basis to ensure that nothing stays on the wikizine that shouldn't be there.Eventually, editors will also be able to block repeat abusers from contributing content.
3. Manage The Front Page
Managing the interactive front page is an important responsibility. You can decide what to showcase to the community. You can configure the display settings for each module on the front page (look out for the "#" link at the top of each module, which only you can see). With our "Edit Layout" feature, you can fully customize the frontpage by adding or deleting modules and by changing the layout of modules on the page.
How Can You Become an Editor?
1. Create a New Wikizine
The first Zimbio member who takes the initiative to create a wikizine about a new topic is granted editor status for that wikizine, in order to help foster the community during its infancy. To create a new wikizine, click here.2. Get Invited by a Current Editor
Eventually, editors will be able to invite trusted members of their community to share editing responsibilities. Stay tuned.3. Be a Great Contributor
The Zimbio network is designed to be a meritocracy, so for any given wikizine, passionate members can earn the right to become an editor through consistent, positive contributions. We keep track of member actions as well as the community's opinions about those actions. Eventually we'll use our secret sauce to identify members who have demonstrated genuine interest in cultivating the wikizine, and to promote those members to editors.Keep in mind that a member becomes an editor for an individual wikizine, not for the entire Zimbio network.
The following is a list of the basic features supported for every wikizine, along with a short description of what each feature is, and what you can do with it.
Articles
- What it is: Full length articles with opinions and perspectives about a story
- What you can do: Add an article and rate or comment on other members' articles.
You can also syndicate your blog to automatically post related articles
Picture Albums
- What it is: Picture album for members to bookmark or upload pictures
- What you can do: Upload a new picture or rate submitted pictures
Video Playlists
- What it is: List of videos related to the topic
- What you can do: Submit new videos or watch and rate the existing ones
Forum
- What it is: Meeting place for open discussions on any topic
- What you can do: Create a new thread for discussion and reply to or delete submitted messages
News Trackers
- What it is: Related news headlines based on keywords suggested by members
- What you can do: Add a new keyword and edit or delete submitted keywords
Image Trackers
- What it is: Image thumbnails related to keywords suggested by members
- What you can do: Add a new keyword and edit or delete submitted keywords
Blog Trackers
- What it is: Related blog headlines based on keywords suggested by members
- What you can do: Add a new keyword and edit or delete submitted keywords
Linkrolls
- What it is: List of web links added, edited, rated by members
- What you can do: Add a new link and rate, edit, or delete submitted links
Feedrolls
- What it is: List of RSS Feeds added, edited, rated by members
- What you can do: Add a new feed and rate, edit, or delete submitted feeds
Searchrolls
- What it is: List of search terms suggested by members as additional reference for the topic
- What you can do: Add a new keyword and edit or delete submitted keywords
Notes
- What it is: A collection of shared notes for collaboration. These are text pages anyone can edit.
- What you can do: You can create a new note or edit existing notes
Zimbio Pilot
- What it is: Navigation tool to help you browse all of the links in a module
- What you can do: Quickly scan webpages and navigate to the previous or next set of links
Widgets
- What it is: A way to add content to your blog or website. Visit any wikizine and
click on the "widgets" link to add pictures, videos, and articles to your blog - What you can do: Customize the OPML feed to select which content to include in your widget
As a start-up, we're grateful to our partners who have allowed us to feature their content and services:
AIM
Blogdigger
ESPN
Findory
Flickr
IceRocket
Kodak EasyShare Gallery
Live
Skype
Smugmug
Sphere
Topix.net
Webshots
Yahoo! Messenger
We've also been fortunate enough to leverage the development work of the following open source communities:
Prototype
Script.aculo.us
TinyMCE
Defusion.org.uk
Tango
Use of Creative Commons Content
Zimbio also uses photos and other content licensed under Creative Commons. For details, click here.
Partner with Us:
If you're interested in exploring a partnership with us, please send us an email at: bd@zimbio.com
We have currently published the following terms and policies:
Use of our services constitutes acceptance of the above terms and policies, so we encourage you to read all of them.
Content License Grants: What is Covered by Our Creative Commons License
Some Zimbio and user submitted works are available under a Creative Commons License.
The following is made available under the Creative Commons License:
- All original text and images submitted by Zimbio staff and members
The following is not available under the Creative Commons License:
- All other original forms of multimedia submitted by Zimbio staff and members, including but not limited to logo, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files.
- All content whose copyrights are owned by an independent third-party, including but not limited to content from our various partners
Our RSS feeds are also governed by this Creative Commons License.
To learn more about our policy regarding content license grants, please read our Terms of Service. If you have any questions about what is covered or not covered by our Creative Commons license, please email us at: termsofservice@zimbio.com
Last Updated: February 1, 2006
Welcome to Zimbio! By using the Zimbio.com website and other services ("Service") provided by Zimbio, Inc. ("Zimbio"), you agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions ("Terms of Service").
1. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICE
General Description. Zimbio is a collaborative media company which enables users to get informed, stay informed, and communicate about specific topics of interest. The Service provides users with access to and control over a collection of online resources, including but not limited to:
- Various media and communication tools, such as the start page, group blog and member photos features, provided by Zimbio
- Data, text, links, feeds, graphics, photos, audio and video clips, messages, screen names, profiles, and other information posted by Zimbio or by users of the Service and publicly displayed on the Service ("Content")
Right to Modify Service. Zimbio reserves the right to immediately change, suspend, remove, or discontinue any part of the Service or any Content for any reason, without prior notice or liability.
Adults Only. Our site is intended for adults only. You must be 13 years or older to use this site. In accordance with Federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), Zimbio will never knowingly solicit nor will it accept personally identifiable information from users known to be under thirteen (13) years of age. Please see our Privacy Policy for additional information or how to notify us of any concerns in this regard.
2. USER CONDUCT
Conditions of Use. As a condition of use, you agree to all of the following:
- You acknowledge that the service is for personal use only. You agree that you will not use the Service for any commercial purposes.
- As a condition of registering with the Service, you are required to select a user identification ("User ID") and password. While Zimbio will keep your UserID and password confidential in accordance with its Privacy Policy, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your UserID and password.
- You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your User ID.
- You are solely responsible for your conduct and any Content that you submit, post, and display on the Service, or that you allow others to submit, post and/or display on the Service under your UserID.
- You must not harass, threaten, impersonate, or intimidate other Zimbio users.
- You must not upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable.
- You must not upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," "affiliate links," or any other form of solicitation.
- You must not transmit any worms or viruses or any code of a destructive nature.
- You must not violate any local laws in your jurisdiction (including but not limited to intellectual property laws).
- You must not use the Service for any illegal or unauthorized purpose. If you are an international user, you agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable Content.
- You must not create multiple user accounts with the intention of artificially inflating ratings or exploiting other features in the Service, including but not limited to member photo quota.
3. CONTENT SUBMITTED FOR INCLUSION OR MADE AVAILABLE ON THE SERVICE
License Grants. When you post your own copyrightable Content on or through the Service, you retain ownership of any copyright you claim to your submitted Content. However, by posting your Content through the Service you automatically grant Zimbio a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive worldwide license to (i) use, reproduce, modify, publish, edit, translate, modify, adapt, distribute, perform, and display the Content alone or as part of other works in any form, media, or technology whether now known or later developed, and to (ii) freely and fully sublicense such rights through single or multiple tiers of sublicensees.
You also expressly acknowledge and agree that Zimbio shall have the right to grant a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License ("CC License"), available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/, for all Content posted on or through the Service, including Content you post on or through the service. In cases where Zimbio licenses Content through a CC License, you agree that any attribution required under the CC License shall be to the Service.
Links to Other Sites and Resources. The Service contains links to other websites or resources. Zimbio has no control over such external sites and resources. You agree that (i) Zimbio is not responsible for the availability or accuracy of such external sites and resources, and (ii) Zimbio does not endorse nor is it responsible or liable for any Content, advertising, products, or materials on or available from such external sites and resources.
Inappropriate User Submitted Content. Zimbio prohibits certain user conduct and Content described above and, without obligation, will use reasonable efforts to eliminate such conduct and Content. Nevertheless, you acknowledge and agree that (i) Zimbio is not and cannot be responsible for Content posted by users on the Service, (ii) you may be exposed to any such materials or Content, and (iii) you must bear all risks associated with the exposure to and/or use of any Content, including without limitation any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content.
Mature Content. Please be aware that Zimbio has created certain areas on the Service that contain adult or mature content. You must be at least 18 years of age to access and view such areas. We require you to provide accurate age information in your member profile in order to have access to the mature content areas of the Service. By entering age information, you affirm the accuracy of that information.
4. COPYRIGHT POLICY
We respect the intellectual property rights of others, and we ask that our users do the same. It is our policy to disable access to or remove material that we believe in good faith to be infringing on a copyrighted work. We also disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who we believe in good faith are repeatedly infringing copyrighted works.
Our Copyright Policy has been developed in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable laws, and is available at http://www.zimbio.com/company/copyright. By accepting the Terms of Service, you agree to be bound by our Copyright Policy.
5. PRIVACY POLICY
Zimbio takes the privacy of its users very seriously. Our Privacy Policy is available at http://www.zimbio.com/company/privacy. By accepting the Terms of Service, you agree to be bound by our Privacy Policy.
6. INDEMNITY
By accepting the Terms of Service, you agree to indemnify and hold Zimbio and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, employees, partners and licensors harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of Content you submit, post, transmit or otherwise make available through the Service, your use of the Service, your connection to the Service, your violation of the Terms of Service (including our Copyright Policy and Privacy Policy), or your violation of any rights of another.
7. WARRANTY DISCLAIMERS
YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE PROVIDED BY ZIMBIO SHALL BE AT YOUR SOLE RISK. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ZIMBIO, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITE AND YOUR USE THEREOF. ZIMBIO MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE SERVICE'S CONTENT OR THE CONTENT OF ANY SITES LINKED TO THIS SERVICE, AND ASSUMES NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY (I) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT, (II) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SERVICE, (III) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION AND/OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (IV) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM THE SERVICE, (IV) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH THE SERVICE BY ANY THIRD PARTY, AND/OR (V) ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT, OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF ANY CONTENT POSTED, EMAILED, TRANSMITTED OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THE SERVICE. ZIMBIO DOES NOT WARRANT, ENDORSE, GUARANTEE, OR ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE ADVERTISED OR OFFERED BY A THIRD PARTY THROUGH THE SERVICE OR ANY HYPERLINKED WEBSITE, OR FEATURED IN ANY BANNER OR OTHER ADVERTISING, AND ZIMBIO WILL NOT BE A PARTY TO OR IN ANY WAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING ANY TRANSACTION BETWEEN YOU AND THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES. AS WITH THE PURCHASE OF A PRODUCT OR SERVICE THROUGH ANY MEDIUM OR IN ANY ENVIRONMENT, YOU SHOULD USE YOUR BEST JUDGMENT AND EXERCISE CAUTION WHERE APPROPRIATE.
SOME STATES OR OTHER JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS THAT VARY FROM STATE TO STATE AND JURISDICTION TO JURISDICTION.
8. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
YOU AGREE THAT ZIMBIO AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, PARTNERS AND LICENSORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM: (I) THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE; (II) THE COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS AND SERVICES RESULTING FROM ANY GOODS, DATA, INFORMATION OR SERVICES PURCHASED OR OBTAINED OR MESSAGES RECEIVED OR TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO THROUGH OR FROM THE SERVICE; (III) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA; (IV) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON THE SERVICE; OR (V) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO THE SERVICE
SOME STATES OR OTHER JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
9. TERMINATION
Zimbio reserves the right to terminate your Zimbio member account immediately, without prior notice or liability, for any reason. If Zimbio terminates your account, your right to use the Service will immediately cease.
You can terminate your Zimbio member account at any time and for any reason, and we will make available through the Service reasonable means for you to do so.
All provisions of the Terms of Service will survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.
10. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
Entire Agreement. The Terms of Service, including Zimbio's Copyright Policy and Privacy Policy, which are hereby incorporated by reference, constitute the entire agreement between you and Zimbio and governs your use of the Service, superseding any prior agreements between you and Zimbio.
Governing Laws. The Terms of Service will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.
Dispute Resolution. Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to the Terms of Service, or the breach thereof, shall be settled by arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association in accordance with its Commercial Arbitration Rules, and judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The arbitrators will be selected from a panel of persons having experience with and knowledge of electronic commerce, computers, collaborative media, and the internet. In the event that any party's claim exceeds $1 million, exclusive of interest and attorneys' fees, the dispute shall be heard and determined by three arbitrators. The place of arbitration shall take place in San Mateo or Santa Clara Counties, California, USA. Any judicial proceeding following arbitration shall take place in the State or Federal courts within the judicial district where the arbitration took place.
Waiver and Severability. The failure of Zimbio to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms of Service shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the TOS is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Terms of Service remain in full force and effect.
Notices. Zimbio may provide you with notices, including, without limitation, those regarding changes to the Terms of Service and other service-related announcements, by email or postings on the Service
Future Modifications of Terms of Service. We reserve the right to modify the Terms of Services at any time, and without prior notice, by posting amended terms on this website. Your continued use of the Service indicates your acceptance of the amended Terms of Service
Trademarks. Zimbio, the Zimbio logo, and other Zimbio logos and names are trademarks of Zimbio. You agree not to display or use these trademarks in any manner without Zimbio's prior, written consent.
Contact Information. Please send any questions or comments, or report any Terms of Service violations, to termsofservice@zimbio.com.
SUMMARY
We take the privacy of our users very seriously. Please read this Privacy Policy to learn more about how we treat personally identifiable information. We provide this Privacy Policy because you have a right to know what information we collect, how it is protected and used, and the circumstances under which it may be disclosed. If you have comments, suggestions, questions, or concerns about our Privacy Policy, please contact us via email at privacy@zimbio.com or in writing at: Privacy Director, Zimbio, Inc., 990 Industrial Road, Suite 204, San Carlos, CA 94070.
Online Privacy Standards. While there are no official standards governing privacy practices on the internet, we follow the principles supported by the Federal Trade Commission's Fair Information Practices Principles, currently available at http://www.ftc.gov/reports/privacy3/toc.htm.
What This Policy Covers. This policy covers Zimbio's treatment of personally identifiable information that we obtain when you visit our website or use our services. We regard personally identifiable information as information that someone can use to identify or contact you in person, such as real name, telephone number, birth date, email address, or physical mailing address. Information that we use internally to identify you as a member in our system, such as your selected UserID, is not considered personally identifiable information.
What This Policy Does Not Cover. This policy does not cover the privacy practices of third parties that we do not own or control, such as our partners and advertisers. In addition, we may provide links to other services and on occasion to other sites that may interest you. All of these sites operate independently of Zimbio and they have their own privacy or security practices. For your best on-line experience, we encourage you to review their policies before submitting any personal information to them.
HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION
Information You Provide
Registration Information. During the registration process, we collect your email address. We will send you an email to verify that you are the owner of this address. You will also choose a UserID that we will use to identify you in our system.
Optional Member Profile Information. You can choose to provide us with additional optional information about yourself, to help us deliver a more personalized experience to you. You can also choose to provide us with information you use to access web services of our partners, such as your username or password for certain instant messaging and photo-sharing services. We use this information to enable easy access to your favorite services throughout our website.
Access To Your Personal Information. In general, we make it easy for you to view the personally identifiable information we have collected from you in your member profile page, where you can add, edit, or delete it as you see fit.
Information We Do Not Collect
Children. As explained further in our Terms of Service, currently available at www.zimbio.com/company/policies/tos.html, you must be 13 years of age or older to register to use our website. Therefore, we do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information about children. If you believe that we have information from or about anyone under 13 years of age, please notify us by email at privacy@zimbio.com or write to our Privacy Director at the address noted above.
Social Security Number. We do not ask for or require your social security number to use any of our services or to access any part of our site.
Information We Track
Log Files. Similar to many websites, we gather certain anonymous, non-personal information automatically and store it in web server log files. This information includes internet protocol addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), site entry/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data. We use this information to improve our site, analyze trends, administer the site, track users' movements around the site, and gather aggregate information about our user base as a whole. Aggregate information is data we collect about a group or category of services or members from which individual member identities have been removed, and therefore does not include your personally identifiable information.
Cookies. A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user's computer for record-keeping purposes. It can also help us understand how our site visitors click to our site, and what pages they view during their visit. Similar to many websites, we store an encrypted cookie on your computer so we can remember you when you come back to our website without requiring you to log-in every time. Cookies also allow us to track and understand the interests of our users to enhance the overall experience on our site.
Our partners. Some of our business partners may also use cookies on our site. For example, our advertising partners may use cookies to collect non-personally identifiable information about your visit to our site in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you. We have no access to or control over these cookies, and, as noted above, this privacy policy does not govern the use of cookies by our business partners or advertisers. Two of our larger advertising partners include Google and BlueLithium (a Yahoo! company), and you can learn more about their data collection practices by reading their privacy policies at http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html and http://www.bluelithium.com/privacy_policy.html.
You can set your web browser software to disable cookies. To do so, please refer to the help section of your specific browser for more information on how to manage or disable cookies. If you disable cookies, you may still view our site, but some areas of our site will not work properly.
HOW WE USE INFORMATION
In Company Communications
We use emails and/or prominent notifications on our websites as our primary means to inform our members of important service and promotional announcements.
Service-related Announcements. We use your email address to deliver important service-related announcements. Example service-related announcements include: email verification during registration, requests for password reset, important security or server maintenance updates, software updates, upgrades, and new releases, or policy changes. These service-related announcements are considered a fundamental part of our web service, and members cannot opt-out of these email announcements.
Promotional Announcements. In order to improve the experience for our users, we will offer you the ability to sign up for optional email communications, such as regular updates from our corporate website, or email alerts and newsletters for specific web guides. These communications are enhancements to our service and are entirely optional. We will ask for your consent before sending you promotional communications, and will make it easy for you to unsubscribe from these communications, either through the emails or though your member profile page.
Refer A Friend Program. If you choose to use our referral service to tell a friend about our site, we will ask you for your friend's name and email address. We will automatically send your friend email inviting him or her to visit the site. We store this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email, and to track the success of our referral program. Your friend may contact us at privacy@zimbio.com to request that we remove this information from our database.
On Our Website
Identification Of Authors By UserID. We are a collaborative media company, which means we depend on the contributions and actions of our members to improve the quality of the site experience. When you make a contribution to a wikizine (such as adding a picture or posting an article), you will be identified by your UserID as the author of that contribution. Similarly, when you take other important actions on the website, such as editing or deleting someone else's content or message, you will be identified as the author of that action. In these circumstances, we will only identify you by your UserID. In some cases you can choose to include other personally identifiable information along with your UserID citations, such as your instant messaging username. However, in using our service, you are not required to provide or publicize any personally identifiable information in connection with your contributions and actions on our website.
Public Profile. When you register, we will create a public member profile based on your UserID. You have the option to include your personally identifiable information in your public profile, but you are not required to do so. You can easily add, edit, and delete information in your public profile through the member profile page.
Site Statistics. As noted above, we use information collected from our web log files to calculate and publish anonymous, non-personal, aggregate statistics that we believe our members are interested in viewing. For example, we track and publish the total number of users who have viewed a particular web page. We publish this data in aggregate form only, and do not tie it to any personally identifiable information.
For Internal Reporting and Analysis
As noted above, we use information gathered from log files and cookies to improve our site, analyze trends, administer the site, track users' movements around the site, and to gather aggregate information about our user base as a whole. We do not tie this data to personally identifiable information.
HOW WE SHARE AND DISCLOSE INFORMATION
On Our Website
Public Messages. Some of our features, such as the group blog and forum, allow you to communicate with other members by posting public messages. Please be aware that what you write in these public messages can be viewed, collected or used by anyone who visits our website. We are not responsible for any personally identifiable information that you submit or permit others to submit through public messages.
With Third-Parties
Sharing, Renting, and Selling Information We Collect. We will neither rent nor sell your personally identifiable information to anyone. Occasionally we share anonymous, non-personal, aggregate information about our user base with partners or advertisers, and we may publish these aggregate usage statistics on our website for the interest of our members. We do not tie this shared or published data to personally identifiable information.
Linked Services. In some cases, we allow you to access or link to other web services through our website. For example, we allow users to import photos from a gallery hosted on a partner's site and we allow users to enter an instant messaging chat room hosted by a partner. We make it easy for you to determine when you are accessing or linking to these other web services through or website. In all of these cases, our partners may choose to collect your personal information as they deem appropriate. As noted above, we are not responsible for or in control of how our partners collect, use, or disclose your information obtained through these linked services. We encourage you to be aware when you are using these partner services and, for your best on-line experience, we encourage you to review their policies before submitting any personal information to them.
AS NECESSARY IN CERTAIN LEGAL CIRCUMSTANCES
Legal Requirements. We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our website.
Acquisition. If our company is acquired, all of our assets, including user information, may be transferred to the acquiring company. At that time, your user information may become subject to the acquiring company's privacy policy. Before we transfer your user information, we will notify you either by email or by posting a prominent notice on our site, and we will remind you of your ability to add, edit or delete your personally identifiable information from your member profile page in advance of any such transfer.
HOW WE KEEP INFORMATION SECURE
Security of Account Information. Your account information is password-protected. We will not share your password with anyone. Please do not share your password with anyone, and remember to change your password from time to time, to keep your account information secure.
Network Security. We have implemented a variety of commercially standard security technologies and procedures to protect information, including your personal information, stored in our computer systems from unauthorized access. Please be aware that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, thus we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, but we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
Management Procedures. We also maintain standard physical and electronic procedural safeguards that limit access to your personally identifiable information to our employees (or people working on our behalf and under confidentiality agreements) who, through the course of standard business activities, need to access your personally identifiable information.
YOUR PERSONAL CHOICES
Sharing Information With Other Members. You are able to control what personal information about you is shared with other members in your public profile, and what information you choose to keep private. You can view, add, edit, and delete information in your public profile through your member profile page.
Receiving Communications. If you subscribe to any optional promotional communications, you will be able to unsubscribe from them through your member profile page or through the emails we send you.
Editing / Deleting Member Account Information. You can view the personally identifiable information we have collected from you in your member profile page where you can add, edit, or delete it as you see fit. You may also request deletion of your member account through your member profile page.
UPDATES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY
From time to time, we will review and make changes to our privacy policy. When we do so, we will notify you either by email or by placing a prominent notice on our website. The most recent version of our privacy policy is always available from a link on our homepage, and at http://www.zimbio.com/company/privacy.
We respect the intellectual property rights of others, and we ask that our users do the same. We have adopted the following general policy in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") and other applicable laws.
It is our policy to block access to or remove material that we believe in good faith to be infringing on a copyrighted work. We also disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who we believe in good faith are repeatedly infringing copyrighted works.
NOTICE OF INFRINGING MATERIAL
We respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the DMCA and other applicable laws. In accordance with the DMCA, we have assigned a Designated Agent to handle copyright infringement claims. Our Designated Agent's contact information is at the end of this Policy.
If you believe that your copyrighted work has been used on our website in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please send to the Designated Agent a notice of copyright infringement under the DMCA containing the following information:
- Identification of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed on our website;
- Identification of the material that you claim has infringed on the identified copyrighted work, including (a) a description of how the material in question is using the copyrighted work in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, and (b) a description of where the material in question is located on the Zimbio website, with sufficient detail that we may verify the existence of the material on the web site;
- Your contact information, including your full name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address;
- Statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use of the copyrighted materials is not authorized by the copyright holder, its agents, or the law;
- Statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the information provided in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright holder or are the authorized to act on behalf of the copyright holder; and
- Electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright holder.
In addition to the above items, it would be helpful to include and any information to allow us to verify with certainty the copyright status of the work you claim has been infringed (for example, a copy of the copyright registration for the work).
REVIEW OF NOTICES
Once received, we will review your notice. If your notice contains all of the appropriate information under the DMCA, and if we believe in good faith that the material in question is being used in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, then we will promptly remove or disable access to the infringing material.
COUNTER-NOTIFICATION
If material that you have posted on our site has been removed or disabled due to alleged copyright infringement, you may send our Designated Agent a counter-notification containing the following information:
- Identification of the material that has been removed or disabled, including a description of the where the material in question appeared on the Zimbio website before it was removed or disabled;
- Statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or blocked as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material in question;
- Your contact information, including full name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address;
- Statement by you that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal Court for the judicial district in which your address is located or, if your address is outside of the USA, for the judicial district in which Zimbio is located, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement;
- Your electronic or physical signature.
Once received, Zimbio will review your counter-notification and will take action that we believe in good faith to be appropriate.
ORIGINAL USER-SUBMITTED WORKS
If you are looking for information on how copyrights for original user-submitted works are governed by Zimbio, please see our Terms of Service.
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR DESIGNATED AGENT
The contact information of Zimbio's DMCA Designed Agent is:
DMCA Agent - Zimbio, Inc.
990 Industrial Road, Suite 204
San Carlos, CA 94070
email: copyright@zimbio.com
Please note that submissions by email will generally receive the most prompt review.
We're hiring!
We are a small, hungry team on the lookout for talented, like-minded people. If you have the passion and the skills to tackle all of the challenges associated with building and nurturing a collaborative media service, then come join us for the ride.
If you feel like you might be an excellent addition to our team, please drop us a line and your resume at: jobs@zimbio.com. We'll do our best to respond to all inquiries in a timely manner.
We'd love to hear from you, whatever the reason. Please drop us a line.
Thanks,
The Zimbio Team
Ask a Question:
Have a question? Please check our online FAQ. If you can't find what you need, please send the question by email to: support@zimbio.com. We'll respond as quickly as we can.
Report a Problem:
Did you come across a problem? Suspect spam or abuse? Please report problems to abuse@zimbio.com.
Give us Feedback:
Find a bug? Got an idea for a cool feature? Let us know what you like and what we can do better. Send us your feedback at: feedback@zimbio.com.
Have a Press Inquiry?
Press inquiries can be directed to pr@zimbio.com.
Send Us A Postcard:
If you'd like to get in touch with us via traditional mail, our mailing address is:
990 Industrial Road, Suite 204
San Carlos, CA 94070
Zimbio thanks Flickr and original authors for permission to use the following photos.
- Share your opinions with a wider audience
- Interact with our community of like-minded bloggers
- Generate inbound links to your personal site, helping new readers find your blog
- Get featured on the Home Page!
How can I promote my blog on Zimbio?
Add your blog URL to your profile so you can import your articles and post them to any wikizine. Each post will include a link back to your site. Even better, select "Promote My Blog" and we'll automatically post your articles to related wikizines.
What else does Zimbio offer bloggers?
Well, you can also grab a cool widget for your blog's sidebar. Do any search on Zimbio and click on the "Create a Widget" link to learn more.
