Analytics & Usage Tracking Privacy Policy

Last Updated: June 2026

University Privacy Statement: This policy supplements the University of Colorado Boulder Privacy Statement. We collect only the minimum information necessary to improve our services.

Purpose

We track how CU Boulder users (logged in with IdentiKey) and visitors use the Physics Undergraduate Labs website to understand usage patterns, identify problems, and improve the system.

What We Track

Basic Activity (All Visitors)

Tracked for both logged-in users and anonymous visitors:

Page views (demos, experiments, equipment, course content, documentation)
Search queries
Navigation patterns
Referring page URL (the page you came from within or outside this site)
Full browser user agent string (includes browser name, version, operating system, and device type)

Anonymous visitors are tracked using temporary session identifiers only. No personal information is collected.

Reservation Activity (Logged-In CU Users Only)

Reservation requests (cart actions)
CSV bulk upload usage
Login and logout events
Viewing your events list and the events calendar

Help Room Queue (Logged-In Users)

When you use the Help Room queue, our usage analytics record that you used it - joining or canceling a spot, and session outcomes such as completed or no-show - linked to your account. We do not keep the course or topic of your question against your identity in these analytics.

The course and topic you select when joining are used only:

Anonymously - de-identified records (course, topic category, day, time, wait time, and session length, with no link to you) help us see which courses and topics need the most support and staff the room accordingly.
Operationally - your active queue entry, including anything you type to describe your question, is visible to helpers while you wait and is deleted after the end of the semester.

For helpers and staff, we also record check-in, check-out, and helper assignments to coordinate coverage.

Course Content Interaction

Lab guide views - Which course content is accessed
Table of contents clicks - How users navigate within lab guides
Code block copies - Which code examples are used

Interaction & Engagement

To improve our service and better support faculty teaching:

External link clicks - Curate better teaching resources
Page scroll depth - Understand if faculty are discovering new demos or need better outreach/content formats
Print actions - Shows practical classroom use
Search result clicks - Improve search functionality
Cart abandonment - Identify barriers to remove
Reservation conflicts - Find system issues to fix

Staff Administration (Staff Only)

For staff who manage the system, we also track views of administrative pages including the staff dashboard, equipment and apparatus lists, reservations management, and maintenance portal. This helps us understand staff workflows and improve internal tools.

Demo Bot & AI Cart Builder (Optional Features)

Optional natural language features that help faculty find demos using conversational requests (e.g., "I need ballistic pendulum for PHYS 1110 next Tuesday").

How it works: 100% local processing using on-premise AI models - no external services, no cloud APIs, no third-party data sharing.

Search queries and conversation history
Query classification type and confidence scores
Match results and confidence scores
User interactions (items accepted, rejected, refined)
Success metrics (whether you found what you needed)
AI Cart Builder usage (interface views, queries submitted, items approved)

All data is analyzed as aggregate patterns to drive service improvements, not to track individual behavior.

Data Retention

Activity logs: At least 5 years for trend analysis across academic cycles.

Reservation history: Retained indefinitely for institutional knowledge, curriculum planning, and equipment lifecycle decisions.

Data Sharing

Individual data: Your individual activity data is accessible to Physics Labs administrators (staff with system administrator privileges) who need it to manage and improve the system. We do not share individual user data outside Physics Labs or with third parties.

Aggregate statistics: We may share anonymized statistics publicly (e.g., "40% of visitors scroll deeply," "Most reserved demo: Newton's Cradle") at faculty meetings, conferences, or in reports. These contain no personally identifiable information.

Cookies & Browser Storage

Session Cookies: We use a session cookie to maintain your login state and, for visitors who are not logged in, to group your activity within a single visit. This cookie holds only a random session identifier — no name, email, or personal information — and expires after 24 hours or when you log out. We do not use third-party or advertising cookies.

Browser Local Storage: Your preferences (like dark mode) are stored locally in your browser and never transmitted to our servers.