Principles and levels

Principles

Keep Wikimedia content recognizable

Reusers integrate Wikipedia and other Wikimedia content into their products, but reuse without attribution makes Wikimedia projects invisible to end users. If external audiences are unaware of the sources of the information they are consuming and do not comprehend its value, it may become more difficult to attract new contributors to keep the flow of free knowledge alive.

Clear pathways back to the source

When content from Wikimedia projects is distributed through external platforms, besides audiences recognizing where information comes from, they must have a clear way to access original sources.

Trustworthy, verifiable content

Attribution surfaces the quality and the reliability of Wikimedia's up-to-date content.

Made by humans

Attribution highlights that Wikimedia content is created and verified by humans. It gives credit to the volunteer community when contextually appropriate, and can encourage new people to participate.

Levels of attribution

Based on usage of signals: We have defined different levels of attribution for reusers to meet.

Basic

• Explicit mention of source
• Path to source (as appropriate to the medium).
• Content has been reused without modification, or modifications have been disclosed.
• All “essential” attribution signals for the use case and format are provided.

Approaching

• All “Basic” items; and
• All “essential” attribution signals for the use case and format are provided in context and visible with reused content.

Ideal

• All “Approaching” items; and
• One or more additional signals beyond the essential for the reuse scenario have been used.
• One or more active CTAs to engage with Wikimedia are included in the reuse scenario.

Contributing back: In connection to the levels of attribution, there are different levels of impact related to the extent that reuse generates engagement on Wikimedia projects.

Minimum

• Generating more than zero monthly visitors or equivalent engagement conversions to Wikimedia projects (contributions, donations, or participation).

Expected

• Generating more than X% of the reuser traffic, or equivalent engagement conversions to Wikimedia projects (contributions, donations, or participation).

Elevated

• Generating more than X+Y% of the reuser traffic, or equivalent engagement conversions to Wikimedia projects (contributions, donations, or participation).