The public domain, digital commons, and digital public goods (DPGs): How Wikimedia projects advance a positive vision for the internet’s future

This blog post was first published in Diff, a Wikimedia community blog, on 12 February, 2025.

Written by the Wikimedia Foundation’s: Miguelángel Verde Garrido, Senior Editorial Project Manager, and Allison Davenport, Lead Public Policy Analyst.

On 1 January 2025, Wikimedians across the world marked Public Domain Day, holding in-person and online celebrations throughout the first month of the new year.? Public Domain Day celebrates the moment when copyright protections on numerous cultural works expire and they become common cultural heritage that can be freely and openly accessed, shared, and reimagined. For the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia volunteers, Public Domain Day celebrations offer a chance to discover and preserve works of cultural or historical significance and to imagine the endless possibilities that come from being able to access, adapt, modify, and share the sum of all human knowledge. On the first day of 2025, many important works of art, literature, and music entered the public domain in the United States and many other countries. Some of the most famous works included:

• illustrated characters such as Popeye and Tintin;
• novels like Wiliam Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, the English translation of Erich Marie Remarque’s All Quiet on The Western Front, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms;
• musical pieces such as George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue;
• numerous paintings from artists like Frida Kahlo and Henri Matisse, and;
• the Barcelona chair designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich.

In this blog post, we illustrate the value of the public domain in enriching human knowledge and culture as a part of the digital commons, as well as in powering online collaborative projects like Wikipedia. We also explain digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructures (DPIs), which frequently come up as a focus of the public policy advocacy that Wikimedia affiliates and the Foundation do in partnership with international institutions, governments, and allied organizations across the world. Finally, we describe how the public domain and digital commons are important to the Foundation’s positive vision of the future of the internet, and share examples of the work we have been doing to advance this vision.

What is the public domain, actually … and how is it connected to the digital commons?

The public domain are cultural works no longer protected by any copyright. For that reason, the general public collectively owns them: nobody needs to obtain permission to reference or use them in any way. Works of many kinds enter the public domain when their copyright expires or when they are ineligible for copyright protection to begin with, like many national government works. Some works of the public domain are part of the digital commons. What do we mean by that? The commons are resources that belong to no one in particular and, because of that, belong to everyone and can be used by everyone. Historically, the concept of a commons was related to natural resources: commons were large public lands where people could take their animals to feed. The concept and usage of commons have continued to evolve historically. With the spread of the internet, it also includes things that are created, preserved, or shared through digital technologies. This is what we understand as the digital commons. While public domain works make up some of the digital commons, open access advocates have created specific copyright licenses that allow anyone to contribute their work to the commons during their lifetime. Creative Commons licenses and public domain tools establish how digital commons can be accessed, modified, reused, and shared with others—for instance, by attributing the work to whoever created or modified it in order to recognize their effort. For example, content on Wikimedia projects was updated in 2023 to the latest Creative Commons license. This provided a number of benefits to Wikimedia volunteers and the general public who want to access and share free knowledge. Museums, for instance, recognize that Wikimedia Commons has become “one of the most important hubs for image information” worldwide, and researchers have estimated that throughout the lifetime of this Wikimedia project it could contribute US$ 28.9 billion (!) to the global economy—noting that its “actual societal value” is most likely “considerably greater.”

What are digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructures (DPIs)? Are they different from the digital commons and the public domain?

Digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructures (DPIs) are terms that have become familiar in the context of international relations and development by the United Nations (UN). Recently, there has been much interest within the UN system and among UN Member States in understanding how digital tools created for the public interest can help achieve their stated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and improve the lives of billions of people worldwide. DPGs include open-source software, data, AI models, standards, and content. The Creative Commons license and public domain tools mentioned above are examples of digital commons being officially recognized as DPGs. Another recent example, which makes us especially proud, is that Wikipedia was also officially recognized as a DPG! The online encyclopedia has served to increase awareness and understanding of the SDGs in addition to its many other contributions to free and open knowledge worldwide.?Several other Wikimedia projects and tools also serve the public interest in innovative ways. Wikidata, for instance, has proven to be a valuable resource for everything from data journalism storytelling to ensuring historical memory and social accountability. Local governments have joined Wikimania hackathons to learn how to use Wikibase in order to improve coordination and discussion around the development and implementation of solutions to reach the SDGs, even with scarce resources. DPIs are understood through an evolving concept that covers networked open technology built for the public interest and helps to enable governance and innovation. The Global Positioning System (GPS) and the internet and mobile networks are examples of DPIs. Other examples include platforms for identification, public services, and instant payments that countries both in the Majority World and Global North have developed in past years.

Advancing a positive vision of the future of the internet

The Foundation believes that in order to flourish, people need access to knowledge for education, health, economic opportunities, sustainable development, informed decisions, and accountable governance. As the nonprofit that hosts the Wikimedia projects, we are committed to advancing our mission of making the sum of human knowledge available to everyone, everywhere. For these reasons, we champion everyone having easy access to a multilingual digital commons that is supported by a thriving public domain and freely and openly licensed content. As a result, we advocate promoting and protecting DPGs and DPIs in collaboration with a number of international institutions, governments, and civil society partners, who are allies in sharing a positive vision of the internet and the global digital commons. What follows are some examples of the efforts that the Foundation and Wikimedia affiliates carry out with the above-mentioned allied partners.

A. Global Digital Compact and Freedom Online Coalition (FOC)

Last year, 2024, United Nations Member States drafted and approved the Global Digital Compact: an agreement which lays down the principles for the future of the internet and its governance. The Foundation, together with a number of Wikimedia affiliates and volunteers, worked to ensure this process highlighted the importance of community-led internet spaces and DPGs like Wikipedia. We published an open letter outlining our positions for the Compact, and carried out an advocacy campaign working closely with affiliates to ensure our shared points were reflected in the final text of the agreement. Thanks to this work, some aspects of the commitments we highlighted made it into the Compact, and we were able to secure partnerships and a seat at the table during the UN General Assembly and beyond to ensure DPGs are included in the implementation of the agreement. The Foundation is also a member of the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) Advisory Network. Last year we co-led a FOC task force on Information Integrity together with the governments of the Netherlands and Denmark. The task force developed and published a Blueprint on Information Integrity—which outlined a multistakeholder, positive vision of how to create a trustworthy information environment, articulated with the three core principles of agency, trust, and inclusion. In this vision, DPGs are considered an important aspect in helping to establish trust in reliable information online, in addition to furthering inclusive knowledge and empowering communities.

B. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the UN agency governing global copyright, patent, and trademark policies, and its 193 Member States are central to discussing copyright’s future. Wikimedia projects like Wikipedia depend on open copyright policies to facilitate free and open access and sharing of knowledge for millions globally. The Foundation advocates modern, flexible copyright frameworks that promote public access to free knowledge and culture, and believes a presence at WIPO would help shape a copyright landscape reflecting the internet’s global and diverse needs. Since 2020, the Foundation has sought permanent observer status at WIPO, but has not yet succeeded; meanwhile, since 2021, Wikimedia volunteers have an ongoing multilingual collaboration with the UN agency to make its content freely and openly available through the projects.

C. Toward a Recommendation on Cultural Heritage (TAROCH) Coalition

At the end of 2024, the Foundation joined the Toward a Recommendation on Open Cultural Heritage (TAROCH) Coalition. This Creative Commons-led initiative aims to encourage Member States in the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to adopt an international standard by 2029 that advocates open solutions to improve access to cultural heritage in the public domain. Wikimedia projects and communities are essential to sharing this public domain cultural heritage around the world. By joining the Coalition along with several Wikimedia affiliates, we reaffirm our commitment to support community efforts to celebrate and protect cultural heritage, and advocate the removal of barriers and the adoption of open access policies, both internationally and nationally.

D. Working to create and expand multilingual digital commons for a more equitable and inclusive internet

In October 2024, five new language versions of Wikipedia were launched: Pannonian Rusyn, Tai Nüa, Iban, Obolo, and Southern Ndebele Wikipedia. The launch was part of the Future of Language Incubation experiment, a cross-departmental effort throughout the Foundation that aims to understand how we can further support both existing and new languages on Wikipedia with access to tools and resources. The Research team at the Foundation also built the Wikimedia Language Metrics Explorer, which gives an overview of language coverage across Wikimedia projects. On the community front, there is the Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub, which works on new language versions of the projects—especially including Indigenous, minority, marginalized and/or under-resourced language communities. The hub hosted its first community call in November 2024, and the second community call is planned for 28 February, 2025; in addition, it is also offering consultation calls to interested language communities in order to provide them with the support they need. The open nature of Wikimedia projects is what enables this important work, which serves as an example of the significant role that DPGs can have in advancing the promise of an equitable internet and world.

Conclusions

The Wikimedia Foundation will continue to look for opportunities to advance our positive vision of access to a multilingual digital commons for all by fighting for support and protection for the public domain, along with DPGs and DPIs. But a thriving public domain and digital commons is, and should be, a project for all of us. If you would like to celebrate the public domain this year, there are several ways you can do so on the Wikimedia projects and beyond:

• Upload. Help make accessible an entire year’s worth of works. Anything from paintings by French artist Matisse to some of the earliest films with sound are now free to upload on projects like Wikimedia Commons and Wikisource. For ideas, check out this list on Wikipedia of works entering the public domain.?
• Remix & Share: Peruse some of the newest entries to the public domain, and share your favorites with your network and others who are interested in them. Or why not try your hand at coming up with a creative way to make these classics new again?
• Learn. Learn more about Public Domain Day from a Wikimedia volunteer, read an update from Wikimedia Belgium about the event they held to honor those who won the Wiki Loves Heritage Award, and explore the many resources linked in this blog post to better understand the public domain, digital commons, and DPGs!

We will continue to provide updates throughout the year about our work promoting the public domain, digital commons and open cultural heritage, and DPGs and DPIs. To stay-up-to-date easily, make sure you sign up to our quarterly newsletter and keep an eye out for our monthly recap on Diff, “Don’t Blink”!

Many thanks to everyone in the Foundation who contributed to this blog post with their knowledge, experience, and insights: Amalia Toledo (Lead Public Policy Specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean), Costanza Sciubba Caniglia (Anti-Disinformation Strategy Lead), Rebecca MacKinnon (Vice President, Global Advocacy), Satdeep Gill (Senior Program Officer, Culture and Heritage), Shaun Spalding (Lead Counsel), Stan Adams (Lead Public Policy Specialist for North America), and Ziski Putz (Senior Movement Advocacy Manager).