Commons News

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ road to Open Access

Written by Cheryl Foong on 4th January 2012

At the OAIC 2011 Information Policy Conference held in Canberra on 15 November 2011, Siu-Ming Tam of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) presented on the topic ‘The Road to Open Access – Story of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’.

Dr Tam’s presentation charted ABS’s journey from the implementation of its “User Pays” in 1985, to its current use of the CC BY licence. Continue reading

European Commission on the reuse of its documents

Written by Cheryl Foong on 15th December 2011

Following the launch of the European Commission’s Open Data Strategy on 12 December, the EC has published its decision on the reuse of Commission documents in the Official Journal of the European Union. According to the decision, it:

determines the conditions for the reuse of documents held by the Commission or on its behalf by the Publications Office of the European Union (the Publications Office) with the aim of facilitating a wider reuse of information, enhancing the image of openness of the Commission, and avoiding unnecessary administrative burdens for reusers and the Commission services alike.

Continue reading

European Commission’s Digital Agenda: Turning government data into gold

Written by Cheryl Foong on 13th December 2011

On 12 December, the European Commission (EC) announced the launch of its Open Data Strategy, one which is expected to deliver a €40 billion boost to the EU’s economy each year. This strategy involves three steps: Continue reading

DEEDI and QPS websites licensed under CC BY

Written by Cheryl Foong on 28th November 2011

There is no shortage of Australian government agencies and departments adopting open access policies , and we’re glad to showcase two Queensland examples – the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI) and the Queensland Police Service (QPS). Continue reading

Thank you Canberrans!

Written by Cheryl Foong on 10th November 2011


We’d like to extend our thanks to all of you who took the time to attend and participate in the Creative Commons for You, and for Government free public seminar at the National Library on Friday. We were very pleased with the excellent turnout and positive atmosphere evident throughout the whole day.

We also extend a sincere ‘thank you’ to Miles Nicholls (Atlas of Living Australia) and Anthony Baxter (Google.org) Continue reading