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Cookies on jisc.ac.uk

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We're using cookies to improve your experience. This is because you didn't respond to our cookie notification message. You can change this setting at any time. We're using cookies to improve your experience. This is because you said you were happy for us to do so. You can change this setting at any time. Cookies to improve your experience have been disabled. This is because you told us you'd prefer we didn't use them or you haven't let us know yet. You can change this setting at any time.

To help improve this site we place small files, known as cookies, onto your computer. Some are essential for the site to work properly, others are to improve the experience you have.

You can stop this site using non-essential cookies by updating your settings above1.

You can also decide to stop this or any site from using any cookies. To learn more about cookies and how to manage them visit KnowCookies.com.

How we use cookies

We use cookies for several purposes on this website – we’ve listed each of them below with more details about why we use them and how long they’ll last.

Cookies to improve your experience

You can tell us to stop using these at any time by updating your settings above.

Measuring website usage (Google Analytics)

We use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use our site, and rough demographics as to what groups of people arenusing our site. We do this to make sure it’s meeting your needs and to understand how we could improve it. As well as controlling this above - you can opt out of Google Analytics tracking directly.

Google Analytics stores information about:

  • The pages you visit
  • How long you spend on each page
  • How you got to the site
  • What you click on while you're here

The following cookies are set by Google Analytics:

NamePurposeExpires
_gaThis helps us count how many people visit the site by tracking if you've visited before2 years
_utmaLike _ga, this lets us know if you’ve visited before, so we can count how many of our visitors are new to the site or to a certain page2 years
_utmbThis works with _utmc to calculate the average length of time you spend on the site30 minutes
_utmcThis works with _utmb to calculate when you close your browserwhen you close your browser
_utmzThis tells us how you reached the site (like from another website or a search engine)6 months
_gat_UA-376728-1This is used by Google Analytics to ensure its work doesn't have a big impact on the site's performance 1 day

Providing a personalised experience

We use Adobe Target to tailor the content you see. We do this to highlight information directly relevant to your institution or sector. We also use this to recommend content based on your activity elsewhere on the site.

Adobe Target stores information about:

  • Your behaviour on the site
  • Basic attributes about where you're visiting from (location, sector, institution)

The following cookie is set by Adobe Target:

NamePurposeExpires
mboxThis helps us know what you look at on the site, and stores basic attributes about where you're visiting from2 years

Understanding our users' needs

We use Hotjar to better understand our users’ needs and optimise the experience of this website. It helps us understand users’ experiences (eg how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc), which enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback.

Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behaviour and their devices. This includes:

  • A device's IP address (processed during your session and stored in a de-identified form)
  • Device screen size
  • Device type (unique device identifiers)
  • Browser information
  • Geographic location (country only)
  • Preferred language used to display our website

Hotjar stores this information on our behalf in a pseudonymised user profile and is contractually forbidden to sell any data collected on our behalf.

The following cookies are set by Hotjar:

NamePurposeExpires
_hjDonePolls This is used to maire sure the same survey does not reappear if you've already filled it in.1 year
_hjMinimizedPollsThis is used when you minimise a survey widget - it makes sure that this stays minimised as you navigate through the website.1 year
_hjid Set when a user first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It's used to persist the Hotjar User ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.1 year
_hjTLDTestWhen the Hotjar script executes, it tries to determine the most generic cookie path to use, instead of the page hostname. This is done so that cookies can be shared across subdomains (where applicable). To determine this, Hotjar tries to store the _hjTLDTest cookie for different URL substring alternatives until it fails. After this check, the cookie is removed.when you close your browser
_hjCachedUserAttributesThis stores User Attributes which are sent through the Hotjar Identify API, whenever the user is not in the sample. Collected attributes will only be saved to Hotjar servers if the user interacts with a Hotjar Feedback tool, but the cookie will be used regardless of whether a Feedback tool is present.when you close your browser
_hjLocalStorageTestThis is used to check if the Hotjar Tracking Script can use local storage. If it can, a value of 1 is set in this cookie and is deleted almost immediately after it is created.under 100m/s
_hjIncludedInPageviewSampleThis is set to let Hotjar know whether that user is included in the data sampling defined by your site's pageview limit.30 minutes
_hjViewportIdThis stores information about the user viewport such as size and dimensions.when you close your browser

Essential cookies

Website operation

The system that runs our website sets cookies to allow it to run smoothly.

NamePurposeExpires
has_jsThis tells the site whether you're using JavaScript or notwhen you close your browser
visitedPreviouslyrandomly generated number60 days
ssessAllow the page to provide you with content 
adaptiveLibraryDefaultStateUsed to remember your display preferences  
jisc_eprivacyUsed to remember your privacy preferences90 days
AWSALBUsed to make sure the website can cope with unexpected traffic2 years
AWSALBCORSUsed to make sure the website can cope with unexpected traffic2 years

Logged in access

Our system uses cookies to allow you to log into the site, and access restricted content and services.

NamePurposeExpires
_saml_idpAllow our identity provider to recognise yousix months after last visiting the site
_shibsession_<number>Allow the page to provide you with restricted contentwhen you close your browser
authcache
drupal_user
drupal_uid
Used to improve the performance of the site for logged-in userswhen you close your browser

Other cookies

YouTube

We've tried to replace all our embedded videos with cookie free versions. However, if you've seen embedded videos on our site in the past then these cookies may be on your system.

NamePurposeExpires
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVEThis tries to estimate your bandwidth and deliver a video of appropriate quality240 days
YSCA unique identify given to a user on a site with videoswhen you close your browser
GEUPAllows Google to track viewers across sites that use YouTube videos2 years
PREFAllows Google to track viewers across sites that use YouTube videos240 days
GPSAllows basic tracking based on location on mobile devices (where permitted)30 minutes

NB: Cookie guidance wording adapted from gov.uk, shared under the Open Government License.

Last updated: 15 February 2023.

Footnotes

  • 1 Please note, if you have used the site in the past these cookies may still be on your computer - but by disabling them in your settings we will no longer access them.

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