Standing document 07
Press
Licensing, research and press enquiries — and the facts a story about the archive needs.
01
The archive in brief
12 Seconds of the World is a living archive of ordinary places, recorded twelve seconds at a time. A witness records once, in a single take, with no editing screen. What the archive accepts is accessioned — catalogued with its place, its coordinates and the hour it was made — and kept under a hundred-year custody term. Nothing accessioned is edited afterwards, and nothing is deleted. There are no view counts, no likes and no comments: an archive records the world, not reactions to it.
02
The format
Every recording is exactly twelve seconds, held in one take, and mounted at the shape it was recorded in — upright or across — because the archive does not crop to fit. The length is the whole editorial policy: long enough to hold a place, too short to perform in.
03
Using an archive recording
Accessioned recordings and their catalogue records should not be downloaded, republished, modified, or used commercially without permission. Linking directly to a moment’s page—by its accession number—is always welcome.
04
Attribution and citation
When referencing an archive entry publicly, please credit "12 Seconds of the World" and include its accession number. Every record page carries a formatted citation under "Cite this moment", which names the recording, its place, the date and hour it was made, and its accession number — copying that is the surest way to get it right.
05
Requests we welcome
Licensing, educational or research use, press coverage, and cultural or institutional collaboration requests are all welcome. Write to hello@12secondsoftheworld.com and include the relevant accession number(s).
06
Brand files
The wordmark and the dial mark are published as SVG, each in a paper variant for light settings and a carbon variant for dark: /logo/svg/logo-horizontal-paper.svg and /logo/svg/logo-horizontal-carbon.svg, /logo/svg/dial-mark-paper.svg and /logo/svg/dial-mark-carbon.svg. The app icon is at /logo/svg/app-icon.svg and the social card at /logo/social/og-image-1200x630.png. Please use them unaltered.
07
How large the archive is
The number of recordings accessioned and the countries represented are stated live on the Places index rather than here, so a figure quoted from this page cannot go stale. Every country the archive has recorded in is listed there, with its own page once it holds five or more recordings.
Rules
01
No downloading, republishing, or commercial use without permission.
02
Linking to a moment’s own page is always allowed.
03
Credit "12 Seconds of the World" and the accession number when referencing an entry.
04
Licensing and press requests go to hello@12secondsoftheworld.com, with the accession number included.