Welcome to the Syrian Oral History Archive (SOHA) Platform. Launched by Dawlaty organisation, the Platform attempts to create an inclusive, comprehensive Syrian narrative about what happened in Syria from the beginning of the peaceful movement in 2011 until today, collecting oral testimonies and preserving them in one archive that any Syrian from current and future generations can access.
You can access the SOHA Platform, administered by Dawlaty, through the following link: https://soha.dawlaty.org.
These Terms and Conditions set out the rules and regulations for the use of the platform.
The following terminology apples to these Terms and Conditions and privacy policy:
- The terms “user”, “you” and “your” refers to the person who logs into the Platform and agrees to the Terms and Conditions of the platform.
- The terms “platform,” “we” and “Dawlaty” refer to the administration of the platform.
The above terminology or other words in the singular and plural, and/or s/he/them, are interchangeably used and therefore have the same meaning.
In order to use the platform, we assume that you accept these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree to all the Terms and Conditions mentioned on this page, you will not be able to access the full archive or use the other privileges provided by the SOHA Platform.
Using the platform
The SOHA Platform allows you to view the events that have occurred in Syria since the Syrian uprising in 2011, including the following war, enforced disappearances, displacement and other violations of various kinds across different Syrian cities. The Platform is designed to be a reference and documentation of Syrian memory during the period 2011-2018. Activists, researchers, journalists, graduate students, artists, and human rights advocates may use the Platform to serve their work and studies, in accordance with the Privacy Policy designed by Dawlaty to protect the security and privacy of the participants according to the following steps:
- You can access short audio clips without having to request access or log in to the platform. But for the full recordings, you will have to request access by submitting a request in the Request Access Form. You can also view the User’s Guide.
- The request must be made using your correct data. This is a condition for accepting the request and accessing the Platform’s content (you can read the Privacy Policy here). A request to view the Platform’s content shall be sent via the Access Request page.
- Upon signing up, your application will be received by an evaluation committee, which will review your application request and verify its validity. The committee may request to conduct an interview with you in order to further understand the purpose of requesting the audio recordings. You will be notified via email if your application was approved or rejected.
- The validity period of each ‘user’ is automatically set at two weeks, unless another period is chosen when signing up.
- The validity period can be extended by communicating with the Platform through the Contact Us page or via email.
- Any misuse of the archive content, such as republishing them without prior permission or selling them to third parties, will expose you to legal liability.
- The materials on the Platform are not for commercial use.
- The Platform has the right to develop and amend the usage policy when deemed necessary.
- By using the Platform, you agree to the Terms of Use.
Number of testimonies you are entitled to access
The number of testimonies that you will be granted access to is limited. It will be determined upon signing up, and the number of testimonies shared with you will depend on your purpose of using the Platform. If you want to access more recordings, you must submit a new request upon completion of your current use.
Sharing your work on the Platform
If you use the Platform and the shared recordings to produce art, literary works, reports (etc.) for publication later on, Dawlaty reserves the right to publish these as well, since your work will be resourced by Dawlaty’s SOHA archives. The producer will retain the intellectual property rights of their work and will be cited in the Publications section.
Intellectual Property Rights
Dawlaty and/or its partners own the intellectual property rights to all materials on SOHA Platform. All intellectual property rights are reserved. You may access the Platform for your own personal use, subject to the restrictions set forth in these Terms and Conditions.
- You are granted limited access only for the purposes of viewing the materials on the Platform.
- All content, features, and functionality of the Platform (including, but not limited to, all information, software, text, exhibits, images, video and audio clips, designs, selections and collections of all of the foregoing) is owned by Dawlaty. Some audio recordings are owned by other partners of Dawlaty who contributed to the collection of testimonies or audio recordings featured on the Platform.
- The material must not be copied, entirely or partially, modified, reproduced, uploaded, or redistributed in any form without the written consent of either Dawlaty, the parties that licensed Dawlaty to use their collected testimonials and recordings, or other providers of such materials protected by international and local laws governing copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, and other intellectual property and ownership laws.
- Any unauthorised use of these materials is prohibited unless a contract between Dawlaty and the user explicitly states otherwise.
Restrictions
You must not:
- Publish any of the Platform's material in any other media;
- Sell, licence and/or sell any of the platform materials in any other way;
- Post and/or partially display any of the Platform’s materials on other outputs;
- Use the Platform in any way that is or may be harmful to intellectual property owners;
- Use the Platform in any way that affects users’ access to the Platform;
- Use the Platform incompatible with the applicable laws and regulations, or in any way that may cause harm to either the Platform or any person or entity associated with its work;
- Engage in data mining, data gathering, or any other similar activity that is harmful to users of the Platform; Use the Platform or its outputs for advertising and marketing activities;
- Your access to certain sections of the Platform is prohibited, and Dawlaty may restrict your access to any sections of the Platform at any time in its sole discretion;
- You must not share the login information that gives you access to the Platform. Avoiding that this information is kept from being stolen is your responsibility.
Privacy
Please read the Privacy Policy.
Limitation of Liability
- Neither Dawlaty nor any of its officers, directors, and employees will assume responsibility for the outputs created based on the contents of the SOHA Platform. Nor will they be liable for any engagements or obligations arising as a result of your use of the Platform, whether or not these obligations are the result of concluded contracts.
- The materials on the Platform are preented “as they are,” and Dawlaty offers no representations or warranties with respect to the Platform or the materials contained therein. In addition, nothing contained on the Platform can be construed as being relevant to you and fit your use or expectations.
Updating and modifying the Platform
Dawlaty may occasionally , at its sole discretion, improve or develop the features/functions of the Platform. These updates may result from modifying or deleting certain features and/or functionality of the platform. You hereby acknowledge that Dawlaty is under no obligation to provide any updates, or continue to provide or enable certain features and/or functionalities of the Platform. You also acknowledge that all updates will form an integral part of the Platform, subject to these terms.
Dawlaty reserves the right to modify, suspend, disable or discontinue the Platform or any services connected to it, and/or stop the operation of the Platform, either permanently or temporarily, with or without prior notice, and without any liability to you or to any third party concerning any real and/or potential loss of any data, and/or any damage to you or any third party as a result of the Platform’s disruption and/or its cessation of operation. Accordingly, in the event that we modify, suspend or disable the Platform or any of its features or stop its operation, you are not entitled to demand any compensation from Dawlaty for the damages that may result from any of these steps.
Cookies
The Platform’s developer uses cookies for the purpose of providing a good user experience by customising language and login sessions. You can access the developer’s Cookie Policy.
Development of Terms of Use
Dawlaty is permitted to revise these terms at any time it sees fit. By using the Platform, we kindly ask you to review these terms regularly, as we will send email notifications when these policies are updated.
Governing law and jurisdiction
These terms will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Belgium, and you submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the state courts and courts located in Belgium to resolve any disputes.