Basecamp – TERMS OF USE
Welcome to Ascend Learning’s employee portal, basecamp. Basecamp is owned and operated by Ascend Learning, LLC, 25 Mall Road, 6th Floor, Burlington, MA 01803, USA (“Ascend,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).
Basecamp is a private intranet site intended for use only by employees of Ascend Learning and its affiliates. Use, including viewing, by any other persons is prohibited.
These Terms expressly incorporate by reference and include Ascend Learning’s employee, security, and corporate policies found in the Employee Handbook and on basecamp and any other specific guidelines, rules or disclaimers that may be posted and updated on specific pages of basecamp or on notices that are sent to you. By accessing or using basecamp, you are indicating your agreement to be bound by the Terms. If you do not agree with these Terms, do not use basecamp.
CONFIDENTIALITY
As a private employee portal provided solely for the use of Ascend Learning, its affiliates and its employees, basecamp contains proprietary and confidential information. All users are required to abide by company’s policies concerning confidentiality, privacy and security, including but not limited to those stated in the Code of Conduct, Employee Handbook, Information Handling Policy and Written Information Security Plan.
Accordingly, information you learn in basecamp should be treated as confidential to Ascend Learning and not shared without first obtaining consent from the author or issuing department.
Information You Post on Basecamp
Except for information which Ascend Learning expressly agrees to treat as confidential, any communication, material or information that you transmit or post to basecamp will be deemed to be Ascend Learning information, and thus cannot be shared outside the company without Ascend Learning’s consent. Ascend Learning, at its sole discretion and without your consent, may choose to use any information posted on basecamp for any purpose. By posting any information or material on basecamp, you represent that you own all proprietary rights over such information or material and grant Ascend a perpetual, exclusive, royalty-free license to use, display, reproduce, distribute, modify, and make publicly available such material or information for any commercial or non-commercial use. Ascend reserves the right to remove, without notice, any unlawful or offensive information posted on basecamp. PLEASE DO NOT POST ANY PRIVATE OR SENSITIVE INFORMATION ABOUT YOURSELF OR ANY OTHER INDIVIDUAL, SUCH AS FINANCIAL ACCOUNT, HEALTH, RELIGIOUS OR POLITICAL INFORMATION ON BASECAMP.
PROFILES AND BIOS
Basecamp requires each user of basecamp to set up a “Profile” before participating in the Ascend open forum Communities (discussed in detail in the next section). Profiles are intended to enhance communications between employees in work related matters. As part of your Profile, you will provide a brief biography that describes the work you do at Ascend Learning, your responsibilities and, optionally, you can provide information about your interests and areas of expertise that may be helpful to others at Ascend Learning. The information you provide in your Profile must be accurate and truthful. Please remember that all information provided on Basecamp is stored in the United States and by posting information you are consenting to the information being stored in the United States.
Please note that any information you provide about yourself is available to be viewed by anyone at Ascend Learning. Accordingly, you should not provide any information that you wish to remain private in your Profile or when participating in any Communities. Employees should have no expectation of privacy with respect to any information or comment provided on or through basecamp. Except for your at-work contact information and your job title, the provision of any other information in your Profile is completely voluntary.
The information available in any employee’s Profile represents the opinion of such employee. Accordingly, statements of expertise or skills proficiency made by an employee in his/her Profile are not an actual or implied endorsement by Ascend Learning of such employee’s expertise or skills proficiency. For each job position at Ascend Learning there is an official job description. Only the official job description, and not the employee-created Profile, is relevant in any employment matters that may arise, including the determination of compensation.
USE OF DATA
In addition to the information provided in your Profile, demographic information about you may be collected tangentially through your use of basecamp, such as what time of day you are most likely to use basecamp or what topics you read more about. Ascend also collects diagnostic, technical and general usage data to facilitate support and development of basecamp and may use cookies, IP addresses, and other passive tracking devices to collect aggregate statistics about the use of basecamp. The information gathered in these ways is de-identified and made anonymous, and then aggregated. The aggregated information is used to determine the type of company and topical information that is most useful to our employees, to monitor the performance of basecamp so we can improve its use and add features, and to develop programs to make basecamp more relevant to our employees’ needs.
PEAK PERFORMERS
Peak Performers is an online peer-to-peer recognition program that allows employees to give values-based badges to one another. The program is designed to make acknowledging the excellence of colleagues easy and fun. Peak Performance badges represent the opinion of the person awarding the badge with respect to a specific example of an individual’s exemplary performance of an Ascend value. Please note that the receipt or lack of receipt of badges is not considered in an employee’s annual performance review. Performance reviews are aligned with SMART goals and reflect performance across a full year.
INFORMATION POSTED ON BASECAMP
From time-to-time, Ascend will offer articles, news stories and forums for informational purposes only. Ascend also may draw upon its resources in fitness and wellness, technology and software, cyber security and other fields in which Ascend provides content in presenting information on basecamp. Before following any fitness, wellness or health information provided on basecamp or participating in a fitness, wellness or health forum offered on basecamp, you should consult a medical professional. Ascend and content contributors to basecamp have made reasonable efforts to provide accurate information. However, neither Ascend nor the contributors are responsible or liable for any damages or harm that results from any errors or omissions or for any injuries or outcomes related to the use of the content of such articles, stories or forums. In providing any information on basecamp, it is important to understand that neither Ascend nor any contributor is engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional service and, if such expert assistance is required, you are advised separately to engage the services of a competent professional in the subject matter.
ASCEND OPEN FORUM COMMUNITIES
Ascend is pleased to offer forum communities on our employee portal as another convenient way for employees to engage in meaningful dialogue, exchange ideas and share information about work related matters. Each “Community” will be organized around a certain work related topic. To help make sure our Communities remain open and useful, we need to have some basic rules and guidelines around use. In order to participate in these Communities, we need to know that you have read and agree to abide by the following rules. Please read them carefully and, if you agree, accept the terms in the click-through below. Of course, we may need to update these terms of use, so from time to time, review them again to refresh you memory and stay current. The rules will remain available via a link at the bottom of each Community page.
Permitted Uses of Communities
Purpose: Ascend Communities are offered to allow employees to share information and thoughts around specific work related matters. To make the best use of these communities, please stay focused on the “theme” of the Community you are in, so that all participants get the most of each other’s postings. If you have an idea for a new community, please contact Ascend Learning HR.
Be respectful of others: This applies to what you post and how you respond to the postings of others. Be considerate and, in all cases, demonstrate Ascend Values in how and what you communicate. If you want to disagree with someone, do so respectfully, acknowledging the good points and varying perspectives of others. Avoided heated debates and know when to “drop” an issue. It’s really important that our Communities remain inviting and welcoming to everyone; please help us with this.
Keep it brief: Ascend Communities are not the place to post papers or write long dissertations about a topic. If it’s too lengthy, others won’t read it, so be concise and to the point.
Identify yourself in each posting: While we want the Communities to be a free exchange of ideas, we should each take ownership of what we post and be responsible for our own communications.
Own your postings: Treat anything you post as though you are verbally saying it to a group of people. Remember that, just like with email and texting, our postings are recorded communications on company resources, so please follow all of the same rules. If you wouldn’t put it in an email, please don’t post it in a Community. Similarly, nothing in our Communities is confidential, so you should have no expectation of privacy with regard to what you post.
Be careful with sarcasm and jokes: When communicating in writing, people can miss our intended “tone” or someone might not understand that we are joking.
Continue Normal Communications: Ascend Communities are not intended to replace other forms of day to day communications with your fellow co-workers, such as email, phone calls, or meetings. Communities are not the place to conduct official Ascend business. Please continue with business as usual, using our Communities to supplement the creative exchange of information and new ideas on general topics.
Prohibited Uses of Communities
Anything unlawful or offensive: You are strictly prohibited from posting anything that is unlawful, harmful, offensive, threatening, abusive, bullying, libelous, hateful, profane, fraudulent, discriminatory, sexually explicit, racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable material of any type. Offensive, harassing, or insulting statements will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
Anything personal: You are not permitted to conduct any personal conversations or personal business via Ascend Communities. Keep it work related.
Anything violating the rights of others: Do not post anything protected by copyright without, first, getting permission from the owner. You may not post, upload or otherwise make available any material that infringes or misappropriates the rights of any person or entity. If you’re not sure, please don’t post it.
Anything confidential: You may not post anything that would violate any confidentiality obligations you may have, whether to Ascend or any other person or entity. Refrain from posting any information that would be considered trade secret or highly confidential to Ascend as this is not the place to disclose Ascend Learning’s proprietary materials, confidential business plans, etc.
Any marketing: Do not use Ascend Communities to market any services or products or to endorse something for your own personal or financial gain.
Anything about a client: Do not discuss confidential client information or any other client matter that should otherwise be protected from disclosure.
Anything attacking: Don’t attack other people, other departments, or the ideas of others. Again, be respectful in how you communicate and express your views.
Anything that could cause legal trouble for Ascend: Avoid posting anything that could result in any legal action against Ascend. As with email and texting, postings become a record and could be used as evidence against Ascend in the event of litigation. If you wouldn’t put it in a memo or email, don’t post it.
Monitoring of Communities
In order to maintain our Communities as useful communication tools, Ascend will monitor Communities and reserves the right to remove any material that violates these Terms of Use or terminate access to any user who doesn’t abide by these rules. It is everyone’s responsibility to make sure that our Communities are welcoming for all participants so, if you see something that you think is offensive or not in line with these rules, please submit a form via the “Report Content” link at the bottom of every basecamp page as soon as possible and we will look into it.
COPYRIGHTS AND LIMITATIONS ON USE
All content in basecamp, including community postings, site layout, design, images, programs, text and other information (collectively, the “Content”) is the property of Ascend Learning and its affiliated companies or licensors and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws.
You may not copy, display, distribute, modify, publish, post, reproduce, store, transmit, “mirror”, create derivative works from, or sell or license all or any part of the Content, products or services obtained from basecamp in any medium to anyone, without the prior express written permission from Ascend Learning.
You may print or download Content from basecamp only for your own personal, non-commercial use, provided that you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices and do not post the Content on any network or broadcast in any media. You are not permitted to modify any Content that you access from your use of basecamp. You may not engage in systematic retrieval of Content from basecamp to create or compile, directly or indirectly, a collection, compilation, database or directory without prior written permission from Ascend. Nothing on basecamp shall be construed to convey any license in or to any of Ascend Learning’s or its third party licensors’ intellectual property rights.
You agree you will not use any robots, spiders, crawlers or other automated downloading programs or devices to: (i) continuously and automatically search or index any Content, unless authorized by us; (ii) harvest personal information from basecamp for purposes of sending unsolicited or unauthorized material; or (iii) cause disruption to the working of basecamp. If basecamp contains robot exclusion files or robot exclusion headers, you agree to honor them. Any questions about whether a particular use is authorized and any requests for permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, display or make derivative works from any Content should be directed to Corporate Communications.
You may not use the services on basecamp to publish or distribute any information (including software or other content) which is illegal, which violates or infringes upon the rights of any other person, which is abusive, hateful, profane, pornographic, threatening or vulgar, which contains errors, viruses or other harmful components, or which is otherwise actionable at law. Ascend Learning may at any time exercise editorial control over the content of any information or material that is submitted or distributed through its facilities and/or services.
You may not, without the approval of Ascend Learning, use basecamp to publish or distribute any advertising, promotional material, or solicitation to other users of basecamp to use any goods or services. For example (but without limitation), you may not use basecamp to conduct any business, to solicit the performance of any activity that is prohibited by law, or to solicit other users to become subscribers of other information services.
The permissions granted to you herein automatically terminate without notice if you fail to comply with these Terms in your use of basecamp. Any unauthorized use of any Content may be a violation of copyright laws, trademark laws, the laws of privacy and publicity, and regulations and statutes. Ascend has zero tolerance for infringement of its intellectual property rights and will zealously take action to protect its rights.
LINKS
Basecamp may contain links to other sites that are not under the control or maintained by Ascend Learning. Ascend Learning is not responsible for the content of those sites, does not endorse those sites or the content and material contained therein, and provides links to you only as a convenience. Websites of other parties, including those of Ascend Learning’s affiliates, may have different terms of use, so please be careful to review those terms on such other websites.
LOCAL LAWS; EXPORT
Ascend controls this intranet employee portal from its headquarters in the United States and makes no representation that the Content is appropriate for use in other locations. You may not use, download, or export Content in violation of any U.S. export laws and regulations. If you use basecamp from outside the U.S, you do so on your own initiative and will do so in compliance with any local laws.
TRADEMARKS
The trademarks, logos, and service marks (“Marks”) on basecamp are the property of Ascend Learning or other third parties and you are not permitted to use these Marks without the prior written consent of Ascend Learning or such third party that owns the Mark.
RESTRICTED RIGHTS
The Content are provided with “Restricted Rights.” Use by the United States Government is subject to the restrictions of FAR 52.227-19 and DFARS 227-7202-3.
NO WARRANTY
CONTENT, INFORMATION, AND MATERIAL ON BASECAMP IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF QUALITY, MERCHANTABILTY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER ASCEND LEARNING NOR ITS AFFILIATES MAKES ANY REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY, OR GUARANTEE (A) THAT BASECAMP WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE OR THAT ANY INFORMATION, CONTENT, OR OTHER MATERIAL ACCESSIBLE FROM BASECAMP IS FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS; (B) REGARDING THE OPERATION OR PERFORMANCE OF BASECAMP; (C) REGARDING THE NATURE, OR ACCURACY OF ANY CONTENT, MATERIAL, OR PROCESS CONTAINED ON, DISTRIBUTED THROUGH, OR LINKED, DOWNLOADED, OR ACCESSED FROM BASECAMP OR ANY THIRD PARTY SITE; (D) ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE PURCHASED ON OR THROUGH BASECAMP OR ANY THIRD PARTY SITE OR OBTAINED AS A RESULT OF ANY INFORMATION ON BASECAMP; OR (E) THE INTERNET GENERALLY. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION GIVEN BY ASCEND LEARNING, ITS AFFILIATES, OR THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYEES THROUGH BASECAMP SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY.
DISCLAIMERS
The Content and materials of basecamp may include inaccuracies or errors and Ascend Learning may make improvements and changes to the products or services described on basecamp at any time, without notice. Ascend Learning periodically changes, but makes no commitment to update, the Content on basecamp.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
EXCEPT AS PROHIBITED BY LAW, (I) ASCEND LEARNING IS NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES SUFFERED AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OF BASECAMP OR ANY INFORMATION POSTED ON BASECAMP. YOU HAVE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR USE OF BASECAMP AND, EXCEPT AS PERMITTED BY LAW, WILL NOT MAKE ANY CLAIM AGAINST ASCEND LEARNING, ANY ASCEND LEARNING AFFILIATE OR ANY EMPLOYEE IN ANY WAY ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF BASECAMP OR THE CONTENT AND MATERIALS CONTAINED HEREIN. EXCEPT AS PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER YOU NOR YOUR SUCCESSORS OR HIERS WILL BRING ANY LEGAL ACTION AGAINST ASCEND LEANING, ITS AFFILIATES OR ANY EMPLOYEE IN CONNECTION WITH, AND WILL HOLD ASCEND LEARNING, ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS EMPLOYEES HARMLESS FROM AND AGAINST, ANY CLAIMS BASED ON YOUR USE OF THIS SITE. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL ASCEND LEARNING, ITS AFFILIATES OR ITS EMPLOYEES BE LIABLE TO YOU, YOUR SUCCESSORS OR HIERS, OR ANY OTHER THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOSS OF BUSINESS, REVENUE, PROFTS, USE, OR DATA) EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
BREACH OF THESE TERMS
If you violate any of these Terms, Ascend reserves the right to terminate or suspend, in whole or in part, without notice, your access to this basecamp and, depending on the nature of the violation, you may be subject to disciplinary action.
GOVERNING LAW; JURISDICTION
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. You and Ascend Learning consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for any legal action connected in any way to these Terms or use of basecamp. You and Ascend Learning waive any rights to a jury trial for any claim or cause of action arising out of these Terms or use of basecamp.
GENERAL
Ascend Learning’s obligations regarding Ascend products and services are governed by the terms of the agreements under which they are sold or licensed.
If any court finds that any provision of this agreement is illegal, invalid, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.
These terms are not assignable by you, in whole or in part, to any third party and any attempt by you do so shall be void and of no force and effect.
The opinions, information and recommendations contained within community comments, articles, columns or any other postings on basecamp are not necessarily those of Ascend or its affiliates. Ascend and its affiliates are not liable for erroneous information provided on basecamp nor are they responsible for any liabilities arising from opinions expressed on basecamp. Readers are urged to consult an independent professional before using or relying upon any material concerning health, legal or employment matters. Basecamp and its contents are provided without warranties or guarantees of any kind, expressed or implied, and Ascend, its affiliates and all contributors disclaim any liability, loss or damage caused by the contents.
Ascend Learning reserves the right to change these Terms, at any time and without notice, by posting the revised Terms on basecamp. You should frequently review these Terms. If you continue to use basecamp after changes to these Terms are made, you are indicating your agreement to the changes.
Ascend Learning, LLC, Basecamp Terms of Use (September 2022)