1.- Who can use Colmena?

Colmena is a community and a space for media belonging to the third sector or non-profit media. These include, but are not limited to, all media that define themselves as alternative, free, community, educational, popular or local. This community is made up of media committed to the respect and protection of human rights, which is why it does not allow these rights to be violated through its contents, practices or members. Media that are mainly dedicated to political propaganda or religious proselytism will not be allowed to be part of this space.

2.- What features does Colmena offer?

Colmena is a community created for local and community media to work collaboratively, through the creation and sharing of content. To achieve this, Colmena has the following possibilities:

• Cloud: allows the creation or exchange of content between users of the same media, of other media with an account, and outside the platform through a public link. The functionalities integrated in the Cloud tool are: internal chat, audio editor, text editor and internal meeting via audio conference (encrypted and without registration).
• Publications: the media will be able to share final productions such as news, podcasts, audiovisual content among members of their team or with third parties.
• Virtual Studio: a space created to interact with people outside the platform, i.e., those who are not registered within Colmena. People without an account will be able to join the conferences through a link. The hosts of the audio-conference event will have the option to record or broadcast live.
• Streaming: broadcast audio signals through streaming services (stream featured).

3.- How to create an account?

Colmena is a community, so it does not work with a traditional service logic in which supplier-customer relationships are replicated. People who wish to be part of the community must be involved in the maintenance and preservation of the space. For this, three main mechanisms have been thought of that will allow the media to integrate into the community:

• By invitation: The organizations that coordinate Colmena will be able to grant invitation codes to media that allow the creation of an account in the Colmena instance. These invitations do not need to be evaluated or approved. The Coordination Team will inform the rest of the media through a mailing list (newsletter) of the new incorporations.
• By recommendation: The media that are part of Colmena will be able to recommend the platform to other media. These recommendations will be evaluated by the Coordination Team of the region in an expeditious manner.
• By form: Media that are interested, but do not fall within the aforementioned assumptions, may fill out a form where they describe in detail their communication project and the characteristics of the media. The Management Team, with the advice of the Regional Council, will be responsible for evaluating these requests, through a dialogic and transparent procedure.

4.- Use of Colmena

Media using Colmena agree to do so in compliance with the laws applicable in their country of residence, the provisions herein and the Code of Conduct. If the conditions or policies set forth herein are violated, Colmena reserves the right to make decisions regarding the media account, such as disabling or suspending it.

Media using Colmena agree to designate a contact person to maintain active communication with Colmena Managers. This person will be responsible for the actions and decisions taken by the media, i.e., he/she will be the Media Manager. Upon joining Colmena, the media company commits to publish the contact of the person in charge and to give notice in case of substitution or change. In addition, the person in charge will have to attend the Colmena Assembly once a year, where important decisions will be made for the operation of the space.

The media commit themselves to make active and frequent use of Colmena, as this is the only way to achieve a digital community. An account is considered inactive when no one from the media has logged in for a period of six months or has not published anything in a year. Inactivity is grounds for termination, in which case the responsible contact will be notified in order to give him/her the right to be heard before proceeding with the definitive termination.

The media commits to report any failure it detects in the platform, but also to actively participate in the co-creation of the platform. This participation can take place by suggesting improvements, contributing to translations, among other mechanisms.

5.- Content

Each medium is responsible for the content it creates, archives or shares. A content is considered data files, device functions, text, graphics, images, videos, music with or without lyrics, podcasts, or any information that may be generated by the use of the platform. Colmena is not responsible for content that violates applicable laws or regulations.

By accessing and being part of Colmena, the media and its members agree to contribute, use and share content of their own creation. In the case of contributing, using and sharing third party content, they must have the necessary and sufficient licenses and authorizations for the specific uses they intend to give them, in the geographic locations or media in which they will be visualized.

Likewise, the media and its members, when contributing, using and sharing third party contents that they consider of free use (i.e. fair use), must be previously guided and advised in accordance with their own legislation on copyright, and in its case by commercial treaties or international conventions on the matter, such as, among others, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, and other relative and applicable ones that regulate this type of uses.

If your copyrighted work was published in Colmena without authorization, you can submit a removal request for copyright infringement. This action will initiate a legal process in accordance with the relevant jurisdiction, through which the content may be removed and the user will be notified, or notify the user, the complainant, and according to the answers received the content will be removed or maintained. Similarly, Colmena may remove the content ex officio, through a specific procedure, if they have sufficient reason to believe that it does not comply with the relevant legal provisions, the Code of Conduct or with these Terms and Conditions of Service.

You may remove your Content at any time, unless it has been shared with third parties or co-created. You also have the option to make a copy of your Content before removing it.

6.- Limitation of Liability

Colmena makes no warranties or representations and excludes all liability for: (i) the completeness, accuracy, availability, timeliness, security or reliability of the Services or any Content; (ii) any harm to your computer system, loss of data or other damage resulting from your access to or use of the Services or any Content; (iii) the deletion of any Content or other communications maintained by the Services or the failure to store or transmit such Content or communications; and (iv) whether the Services will meet your requirements or be available on an uninterrupted, secure or error-free basis.

7.- Account Suspension and Cancellation

There are three mechanisms by which an account can be suspended or cancelled within Colmena.

• Expulsion. A media may be expelled from Colmena if it is shown to be in breach of the laws and regulations applicable in the region, the Terms and Conditions of Service or the Code of Conduct. The procedure may be initiated ex officio or by complaint (complaints may be received through the form available on the web page) and will be processed by the Council and the Regional Coordination, which will publish their rules of operation for the processing of the procedure.
• At the request of a party. Only the person responsible for the media may request cancellation of Colmena. This request may be made through the account service mail. The coordination team will grant a period of 10 days to back up the files, after that date all content will be deleted. Content shared to third parties will not be deleted.
• Inactivity. It is understood that an account is “inactive” when no one from the media has logged in for a period of 6 months or no productions have been published within 1 year. In case of suspension of accounts for this reason, a hearing right will be given before proceeding to the definitive cancellation of the account.

8.- Termination of Colmena

If Colmena has to close its own instances, it will be notified on the official website of the project at least six months in advance.

9.- Resolution of disputes

The Parties shall at all times endeavor to reach an agreement on the interpretation and application of these Terms and application of these Terms and Conditions, and shall make every effort, through dialogue, to reach a solution when there is a conflict with the interpretation or application of these Terms and Conditions. If this is not possible, resolution of disputes will be in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations of the country of residence of the media having jurisdiction over the dispute. Before resorting to a jurisdictional or administrative instance, the parties shall exhaust the established conciliation and dispute resolution procedure.

10.- Modification of the Terms and Conditions of Service

We may modify the Terms and Conditions of Service to adapt them to the operation and needs of the community to be created. If we make relevant modifications, we will give sufficient notice to the media that are part of the space and will publicly disclose the modified terms. If you do not agree with the new terms, you must remove the Content you have uploaded and stop using Colmena.