Purpose

Hidden Gems is a personalised discovery and engagement feature within iLancaster. It is designed to help students and visitors discover spaces, societies, events, and wellbeing resources through a combination of community contributions and AI-supported discovery.

This Acceptable Use Policy sets out how Hidden Gems should and should not be used, ensuring the service remains safe, respectful, inclusive, and trustworthy for everyone.

By using Hidden Gems, submitting content, or sharing ideas, you agree to follow this policy.

Appropriate Use

You may use Hidden Gems to:

• Explore study spaces, societies and events on campus, in Lancaster city, and in the wider area.
• Set and refine your preferences to receive personalised recommendations
• Save favourites and personalise your discovery experience
• Contribute suggestions for spaces, events, or resources via the structured submission form
• Share constructive feedback to help improve the service
• Engage with AI-assisted search and recommendations in good faith

All use should align with Lancaster University policies, values, and codes of conduct.

Prohibited Use

You must not use Hidden Gems to:

• Submit content that is offensive, abusive, discriminatory, harassing, or threatening
• Share false, misleading, or deliberately harmful information
• Upload personal data about others without their consent
• Promote illegal activity or unsafe behaviour
• Attempt to manipulate recommendations or moderation processes
• Use the service in a way that disrupts, degrades, or compromises the system
• Attempt to reverse engineer, probe, or bypass technical safeguards

Hidden Gems must not be used as a platform for advertising, political campaigning, or commercial promotion without explicit approval.

Community Contributions

When submitting spaces, events, or resources:

• Ensure content is accurate and provided in good faith
• Avoid including sensitive personal information
• Respect other users and the wider university community
• Submit only content relevant to student life and the campus experience

All contributed content passes through a moderation queue before being made visible. Submissions may be edited, held, or rejected if they do not meet these standards. University-approved authors may contribute curated recommendations for events and campus life guidance. All content is subject to the same moderation process.

Use of AI Features

Hidden Gems uses AI to support discovery and recommendation. AI generations are configured so that your data is never used to train external AI models and is not retained outside Lancaster University systems.

Users must:

• Treat AI-generated suggestions as guidance, not authoritative advice
• Not rely on Hidden Gems for emergency, medical, or crisis decisions
• Use the preference and feedback tools to refine recommendations over time
• Report inaccurate, biased, or inappropriate AI outputs where possible

AI features are designed to assist exploration, not to replace professional support or judgement. All AI outputs are subject to safety and bias guardrails, with flagged content reviewed by the service team.

Monitoring and Enforcement

Use of Hidden Gems is monitored to ensure compliance with this policy, support safeguarding, and improve the service. Audit logging captures searches, submissions, and interactions for compliance purposes.

If misuse is identified:

• Content may be removed
• Access may be restricted or withdrawn
• Serious breaches may be escalated in line with university disciplinary processes

To report a concern or inappropriate content, use the in-app reporting tool. All reports are reviewed through the moderation and safeguarding workflow by the service team.

Changes to This Policy

This policy may be updated as Hidden Gems evolves through its Proof of Value phase and beyond. Significant changes will be communicated through iLancaster or associated channels.