{"id":14787,"key":"Governments_and_knowledge_sharing","title":"Governments and knowledge sharing","latest":{"id":1252161,"timestamp":"2026-06-24T10:55:39Z"},"content_model":"wikitext","license":{"url":"https://www.appropedia.org/Appropedia:Copyrights","title":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"source":"[[Knowledge transfer]] is a key part of [[official development assistance]] and behavior change for [[sustainability]], and many [[government]] programs revolve around conveying knowledge to the community.\n\nUsing [[open licenses]] for content is one important part of making that knowledge transfer effective. Governments often develop content, e.g. for sustainability programs, and if open licenses are used, this can be shared and collaboratively developed between them, and with other groups, for maximum impact.\n\n== Governments and open content ==\n\nMany governments around the world use open licenses. See [http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Government_use_of_CC_licenses Government use of CC licenses] on the Creative Commons wiki for a detailed list. Some examples relevant to sustainability and development knowledge sharing are discussed below.\n\n=== United States ===\n\nThe '''US federal government''' has large amounts of [[public domain]] content, as under US law no work by an officer of the federal government may be copyrighted. See [[US federal government websites and public domain]]. This can be searched using the [[Public Domain Search]].\n\n=== Australian governments ===\n\nThe '''Australian federal government''' is shifting to extensive use of open licensing, often the [[Creative Commons Attribution]] license (CC-by), starting around 2009. The [http://www.abs.gov.au/ Australian Bureau of Statistics] and [http://web.archive.org/web/20100702010845/http://www.ga.gov.au:80/about-us/our-role/index.jsp Geoscience Australia], for example, are now using CC-by as the default licence for their websites.\n\nThe [http://www.creativecommons.org.au/node/262 Mashup Australia] competition was held in 2009 to encourage creative use of government data.\n\nThe '''Victorian state government''' in Australia [http://www.diird.vic.gov.au/diird-projects/access-to-public-sector-information appears to be seriously considering Creative Commons licenses as the default for all its public sector information].\n\nThe '''Queensland state government''' in Australia is exploring open licenses - the [http://web.archive.org/web/20110628054056/http://www.gilf.gov.au:80/ Government Information Licensing Framework] (GILF) website \"makes it easy for people who use public sector information (PSI) to understand the rights of use associated with PSI material.\"\n\nFor more information on Creative Commons Licensing by Australian goverments, see [http://www.creativecommons.org.au Creative Commons Australia], including the posts:\n\n* [http://www.creativecommons.org.au/node/277 Government 2.0 Taskforce gives CC a very big tick], 11 Jan 2010.\n* [http://www.creativecommons.org.au/node/274 More on Government Data - Geoscience Australia goes CC], 16 Dec 2009.\n\n== Policy ==\n\n[[Appropedia]] can play the role of a [[Green development policy wiki]], a place to share policies and open them to public analysis and creativity.\n\n{{Page data\n| license = CC-BY-SA-3.0\n}}\n\n[[Category:Governments]]\n[[Category:Knowledge sharing]]"}