In the first half of 2024, Wikimedia CH conducted a study (in French) on the introduction of the Creative Commons CC BY-SA licence to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (DHS). The result is largely positive (see results of the study).
In 2017, the HLS placed its online content under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-SA. This means that it can be freely reused, shared and modified for any purpose, as long as the authorship is acknowledged, and that the content is reshared with a similar or more permissive licence (see exceptions). Since then, around 1000 Wikipedia articles have been referenced with links to DHS content. In 2023 alone, the DHS recorded an increase of 110,000 unique visitors. The HLS’s active participation in the study also helped to better connect the institution with the active Wikimedia community.
The study was conducted by Wikimedia CH staff members Amandine Cabrio, Flor Méchain and Vivian Epiney. Sources and references were Stéphanie Summermatter (DHS), Kiki Lutz (DHS), Diego Hättenschwiler (Wikipedian and contributor to the DHS) and the DHS website: ‘About’ page, the page concerning rights of use and the page on the history of the project.
The idea of the project was to identify arguments, but in particular ‘best practices’ for other public institutions to follow the example of the HLS and make online content available under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-SA. The study contributes to Wikimedia CH’s goal of raising awareness of the importance of free knowledge and the value of the contributions of Wikipedia’s volunteer authors.
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