Wikimedia and GLAMs: Making Open Knowledge CultureStrong

Wikimedia Australia is taking important steps to strengthen the way Indigenous knowledge and culture are shared online through its new Wikimedia Australia Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) and Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov) Guide, together with the CultureStrong Platforms White Paper. [1] The Terri Janke and Company team, comprising of Dr Terri Janke, Solicitor Director, Shevaun Wright, Senior Associate, and Matilda Langford, Paralegal, worked with Wikimedia Australia to produce the Guide and White Paper. [2]

This work is particularly important for galleries, libraries, archives and museums, GLAMs, because their collections are digitised and shared through Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata. These platforms provide extraordinary opportunities for people around the world to access knowledge. But when it comes to Indigenous knowledge and culture, openness can also bring risks.

ICIP includes Indigenous cultural heritage, art, knowledge, languages, stories and cultural expressions. IDSov recognises the rights of Indigenous peoples to govern data about themselves, their Country and cultures.

These rights do not always fit easily within Western systems of copyright, open licensing and information sharing. Something may be legally available to share, but that does not necessarily mean it is culturally appropriate to share.

This is where CultureStrong thinking becomes important.

Wikipedia relies on “reliable sources”, that is, information that can be verified through independent, published sources. But Indigenous knowledge has not always been written down or published. Knowledge may be held and passed down orally through generations by Elders and cultural knowledge holders. They are our living libraries. They hold knowledge because of their relationships, responsibilities and cultural authority.

Consider an Indigenous cultural object held in a museum.

A Wikipedia editor might want to write about that object and rely on a 1940s ethnographic book as the published source. But what if that information was written decades ago by a non-Indigenous collector with no input from the source community? What if the name of the object is written up incorrectly, its cultural purpose has been misunderstood, or important information about its Country is missing? What if Indigenous knowledge holders have a different and culturally authoritative understanding of that object?

It is important to consider whether the source is CultureStrong.

Who created the source? Was it created with cultural authority? Have Indigenous perspectives been included? 

A published source can appear authoritative and still be culturally incomplete, inaccurate or harmful. [3] Earlier research commissioned by Wikimedia Australia, from First Nations experts, identified concerns, including harmful metadata, deficit-based language, limited Indigenous agency, and historically inaccurate information in Western sources being repeated online.. [4]

The Wikimedia Australia ICIP and IDSov Guide provides a practical, rights-based way of thinking through these issues. Its core values include valuing relationships and accuracy over quantity, respecting Indigenous cultural authority and protocols, being transparent about what is shared, supporting Indigenous agency and authorship, and avoiding harm. [5]

Wikimedia Australia has adopted the Guide as organisational practice for its Board, staff and funded projects. It is also promoting the Guide to editors and contributors who want to engage responsibly with Indigenous content.

Shevaun Wright (Senior Associate, TJC), Belinda Spry (Executive Officer, Wikimedia), Elliott Bledsoe (President, Wikimedia), Dr Terri Janke (Solicitor Director, TJC) at Wikimania.

What does this mean for GLAMs?

For GLAM institutions around the world, CultureStrong builds on a much broader movement to rethink who has authority over Indigenous collections and knowledge.

In Australia, this work has been developing for many years. In 2018, Terri Janke and Company developed First Peoples: A Roadmap for Enhancing Indigenous Engagement in Museums and Galleries for the Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMaGA). [6] The Roadmap called on museums and galleries to strengthen relationships with Indigenous peoples, recognise Indigenous knowledge and embed Indigenous values into the way they work. Importantly, it identified ICIP Protocols as one of the critical pathways for change and called for Indigenous communities to have a voice in decisions about the care of their cultural material. [7] We have developed ICIP Protocols using the True Tracks® framework for a number of Australian GLAMs, including the National Museum of Australia and the National Library of Australia. The principles include respect, interpretation, cultural integrity, attribution and secrecy and privacy.

CultureStrong takes these principles into the global digital environment.

Where to next?

The Guide helps us with what we can do now. But there are bigger questions that a Guide alone cannot resolve.

The CultureStrong Platforms White Paper takes the conversation to a global level. It asks how Wikimedia platforms can better recognise ICIP and IDSov; how Indigenous oral histories and community-controlled knowledge can be recognised as reliable sources; how Secret, Sacred and sensitive material should be handled; how metadata and naming can better reflect Indigenous perspectives; and what authority Indigenous peoples should have when decisions are made about their cultural material. [8]

Shevaun Wright (Senior Associate) and Dr Terri Janke (Solicitor Director).

We want people to respond.

If you work in a GLAM institution, contribute to Wikimedia, hold Indigenous knowledge, work with Indigenous collections or are interested in the future of open knowledge, please read the White Paper and consider its consultation questions. What would a truly CultureStrong global Wikimedia movement look like? What needs to change to get there?

And this work is continuing. Wikimedia Australia has secured funding to support the next stage to implement and operationalise the ICIP and IDSov Guide. This work will be undertaken in collaboration with Terri Janke and Company over the coming year.

This is an opportunity to move from principles into practice and to learn from how the Guide works in real situations.

You can follow the next stage of the project through the Wikimedia Australia website and sign up to the Wikimedia Australia newsletter for announcements and opportunities to be involved. [9]

The challenge is not to abandon open knowledge. It is to make open knowledge stronger by recognising that knowledge carries relationships, responsibilities and cultural authority.

Indigenous peoples should not simply be the subjects of digital collections. They should have agency in how their cultures, knowledge and stories are represented and shared.

Read the Guide. Respond to the White Paper. Join the conversation. Let’s make open knowledge CultureStrong.

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[1] Wikimedia Australia, Respecting First Nations knowledge on Wikimedia platforms, 16 July 2026. Wikimedia Australia released the Wikimedia Australia ICIP and Indigenous Data Sovereignty Guide and CultureStrong Platforms White Paper following an Indigenous-led development and consultation process.

[2] The development of the Guide and White Paper could not have been possible without the tireless effort, allyship and support of the Wikimedia Australia team, President Elliott Bledsoe, Executive Officer Belinda Spry, Communications and Project Coordinator Ali Smith, and Education and Projects Officer Alice Woods.

[3] Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), AIATSIS Guide to evaluating and selecting education resources, (2022). https://aiatsis.gov.au/publication/118125

[4] Bronwyn Carlson and Lotus Rana, ”I really like Wikipedia, but I don't trust it": Understanding First Nations people' experiences using Wikipedia as readers and/or editors (Commissioned Report, 6 June 2024) < https://researchers.mq.edu.au/files/345133520/First_Nations_Focus_Group_Report.pdf> ; Kirsten Thorpe, Nathan Sentance and Lauren Booker, Wikimedia Australia and First Nations Metadata: ATSILIRN Protocols for Description and Access (Discussion Paper, 2023) < https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/166700/3/Wikimedia%20Australia%20and%20First%20Nations%20Metadata-%20ATSILIRN%20Protocols%20for%20Description%20and%20Access%20Discussion%20paper%20FINAL.pdf>.

[5] Terri Janke and Company, Wikimedia Australia Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) and Indigenous Data Sovereignty Guide (Guide, 16 July 2026) https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Australia_ICIP_and_IDSov_Guide.pdf. . The Guide provides practical guidance for Wikimedia contributors engaging with Indigenous knowledge, content and cultural authority.

[6] Terri Janke and Company, First Peoples: A Roadmap for Enhancing Indigenous Engagement in Museums and Galleries (Australian Museums and Galleries Association, 2018).

[7] Terri Janke and Company, First Peoples: A Roadmap for Enhancing Indigenous Engagement in Museums and Galleries (Australian Museums and Galleries Association, 2018) 1–3.

[8] Terri Janke and Company and Wikimedia Australia, CultureStrong Platforms: Setting the Standard at Wikimedia (White Paper, 2026). Consultation questions address recognition of ICIP and IDSov, cultural safety, Secret/Sacred content, metadata and naming, decision-making, reliable sources and Indigenous knowledge, participation and leadership, training, language revitalisation and shared standards.

[9] Ali Smith, ‘Wikimedia Australia ICIP and IDSov’ (Web Page, Wikimedia Australia, 17 July 2026) https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/Wikimedia_Australia_ICIP_and_IDSov.  Wikimedia Australia publishes project updates, events and announcements and provides a newsletter subscription for updates on its work.