Purpose and Uses

This blog is intended for the informal exchange of ideas and not as a means to survey visitors or solicit official information or comments. Statements made in this blog, either by you or by us, will in no way constitute a legal or official notice from, or comment to, the U.S. National Science Foundation or any official or employee of the U.S. National Science Foundation for any purpose.

When appropriate, opportunities to provide responses to official information requests occurring external to this blog (such as Federal Register notices and OMB-approved surveys) may be hyperlinked from this blog.  Information responding to such official requests will not be collected through this blog.

We may collect IP addresses, browser information, and similar data as part of regular server logs and Web site visitation analysis. If so, we will use the information only in aggregate and will not link it to specific comments or blog participants.

Any references that we make to commercial entities, products, services, or other nongovernmental organizations or individuals is solely for the information of people using this blog. Such references are not an official or personal endorsement of any product, person, or service, and may not be quoted or reproduced for the purpose of stating or implying U.S. National Science Foundation endorsement or approval of any product, person, or service.

Reporters should send questions to the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs through their normal channels and should not submit questions here.

Comment Policy

This is a moderated blog. We will review all comments before we post them and will not post comments that do not comply with this blog policy.

Your comments are welcome at any time; however, this blog will operate during normal business hours (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., U.S. east coast time), Monday through Friday. Comments submitted during normal business hours require review by personnel with limited availability and will not appear immediately. Comments submitted after hours, on weekends, holidays, or during office closures will be reviewed and posted as early as possible when business resumes.

NSF responses to comments posted on this blog are constrained by personnel availability, business hours and the accessibility of information needed for a response. Regular review of all comments will occur, but participants should not expect rapid or direct responses to comments.  In addition, not all questions and comments received from blog participants will receive responses in the blog format.

This blog is open to a variety of perspectives, but participants should treat each other, as well as the Agency and its employees, with respect. We will not post comments that contain:

• vulgar, offensive, threatening, or harassing language;
• threats against the Government, its employees, or other citizens;
• content that violates the privacy of another individual;
• comments that are spam, are clearly off topic; or
• promotions of commercial products or services.

We will not post comments that discuss specifics of individual grants or applications.

We will not knowingly post for public view any copyrighted material submitted as a blog comment unless they note that they have permission from the copyright holder to use the content.

Unattributed comments will be accepted for posting or rejected in whole based on the above criteria.

Participants may, but are not required to, provide a contact e-mail address when commenting. If provided, we may use the e-mail address to contact you regarding edits to your comment for clarity or length or to remove inappropriate material.

Blog content becomes part of the public domain when it is posted. To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include phone numbers or email addresses in the body of your comment. Do not give us any information in your comments you do not want to share with all blog visitors.

Reporter questions will not be posted or answered.

Privacy

This blog does not gather information about you, other than information automatically collected and stored (see above), when you visit our website unless you choose to provide that information to us. The U.S. National Science Foundation will not share or sell any personal information obtained from users with any other organization or government agency except as required by law.

Linking Policy and Disclaimer of Endorsement

This blog includes useful hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations and individuals’ blogs. This blog provides these links and pointers solely for our users’ information and convenience.

When you select a link to an outside website, you are leaving this blog and are subject to the privacy and security policies of the owners/sponsors of the outside website.

NSF and this blog do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness or completeness of information contained on a linked website.

NSF and this blog do not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites, and we do not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.

NSF and this blog cannot authorize the use of copyrighted materials contained in linked websites. Users must request such authorization from the sponsor of the linked website. Those who provide comments are responsible for the copyright of the text they provide.

NSF and this blog are not responsible for transmissions users receive from linked websites.

NSF and this blog do not guarantee that outside websites comply with Section 508 (Accessibility Requirements) of the Rehabilitation Act.

NSF and this blog do not guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness or completeness of information contained in posted comments.

These views and posted comments do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. National Science Foundation or the federal government.

Blog Policy Changes

We may amend or modify this blog policy statement at any time to ensure its continued use is consistent with the blog’s intended purpose as a limited forum. NSF’s standard policies for use of all types of social media can be found here:http://www.nsf.gov/social/policies.jsp.