How can Wikipedia editors work with Indigenous content in a responsible way?

Hear a panel discussion with Indigenous lawyers Dr Terri Janke, Shavonne Wright, and Matilda Langford on the new Wikimedia Australia guide to respectful, accurate engagement with Indigenous knowledge.

Oral knowledge can't be referenced under Wikipedia's own rules, and that hits Indigenous knowledge hardest. Most Australian editors are non-Indigenous, and our research found their confidence with Indigenous content varies widely.

Hear how a new practical guide, developed with Wikimedia Australia and led by Dr Terri Janke, will support you to include and edit First Nations content on Wikipedia.

Recorded live at WikiCon Australia 2026.

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) and Indigenous Data Sovereignty Guide

Wikimedia Australia has adopted the Guide as organisational practice for our Board, staff and funded projects. We are also pleased to share it as recommended good practice for editors and contributors who want to engage responsibly with Indigenous content across Wikimedia projects.

It's grounded in a set of clear values:

Valuing relationships and accuracy over quantity

• Respecting Indigenous cultural authority and protocols
• Being transparent about what is shared on Wiki platforms
• Supporting Indigenous agency and authorship
• Avoiding harm

Rather than prescribing rules, the Guide outlines a risk-assessment approach, helping contributors to think through whether the content in front of them is lower-risk (general, non-sensitive Indigenous content) or something that calls for a higher level of caution (culturally sensitive, secret or sacred, or offensive material), and steps to follow in each case.

It provides guidance on reliable sources and citation, metadata and description. It also addresses free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) – the principle that communities have the right to make decisions about their own knowledge before it's used.

Read the Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) and Indigenous Data Sovereignty guide

‘The White Paper: the questions we’re still sitting with’

The Guide gives practical direction. The CultureStrong White Paper is honest about what's unresolved.

It examines where open licensing and customary law pull against each other, where the law is silent, and where the wider Wikimedia movement, not just in Australia but worldwide, needs to keep talking.

It also looks ahead. It recommends developing a dedicated First Nations Protocol for Wikimedia Australia through a staged, Indigenous-led process shaped with communities, Knowledge Holders and Wikimedians.

Such a Protocol would deliver what the editing community is asking for: scenario-based guidance that reflects the diversity of the 200-plus First Nations across the Australian continent, and offering a methodology other Wikimedia chapters could adapt internationally.

Read the White Paper

The text above is from Wikimedia Australia’s Respecting First Nations knowledge on Wikimedia platforms

Voices

Heather Ford is an ARC Future Fellow and Professor in the School of Communication and Social Sciences at UTS. She is a former Advisory Board member of the Wikimedia Foundation and the author of “Writing the Revolution: Wikipedia and the Survival of Facts in the Digital Age” published by MIT Press.

Terri Janke is a Wuthathi, Yadhaigana and Meriam woman and a nationally and internationally recognised expert on Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP). As Solicitor Director and owner of Terri Janke and Company, Terri leads a multidisciplinary team delivering legal and advisory services across ICIP, copyright, trade marks, business law and governance.

John Paul Janke is a journalist, National Indigenous Affairs Editor at NITV and co-host of their flagship news and current affairs program The Point.

Shevawn Wright is a Nunga and Irish practising artist and lawyer with expertise in the fine arts as well as commercial and construction law. Her areas of specialty include infrastructure projects and arts related legal issues. Shevaun is passionate about empowering First Nations people to thrive in both the public and private sectors through legal advocacy, broader community training and innovative contractual solutions.

Matilda Langford is a paralegal at TJC who is skilled in community consultation, law, politics, and social media communications. Matilda completed her Bachelor of Arts (Politics) (2022) and her Bachelor of Laws (2024) from the University of Sydney.

Elliot Bledsoe is the President of Wikimedia Australia, the Australian chapter of the international Wikimedia Foundation – and he is Co-lead of Creative Commons Australia – the local Chapter of the CC Global Network which promotes and encourages the use of CC licences in Australia. Elliott also runs Agentry, an arts marketing micro-consultancy.

This panel discussion was recorded by Jane Curtis at WikiCon Australia 2026 in Canberra, Australia.

Credits

The executive producer of this series is Heather Ford.

The series is hosted by Heather Ford, Francesca Sidoti and Richard Cooke.

Produced by Jane Curtis. Associate producer is Francesa Sidoti.

Sound by John Jacobs.

Executive Producer of UTS Impact Studios is Sarah Gilbert.

It’s produced on Gadigal Country in Sydney Australia.

wikihistories is supported by Australian Research Council Grant DP220100662, ‘Wikipedia and the Nation’s Story: Towards Equity in Knowledge Production’.

Find out more at wikihistories.net