History: Tiki Digital Public Good Submission Draft
Preview of version: 5 (current)
Tiki Digital Public Good Submission Draft
This page contains a draft submission to the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) to have Tiki recognized as a Digital Public Good (DPG) under the DPG Standard.
Overview
Project Name: Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware
Website: https://tiki.org
Repository: https://gitlab.com/tikiwiki/tiki
Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware (often referred to simply as Tiki) is a free and open-source wiki-based content management system (CMS) and groupware platform that enables organizations to build powerful, customizable websites, intranets, and collaboration platforms. It integrates a wide range of features including wikis, forums, trackers, calendars, and more into a single, cohesive system.
1. Relevance to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Tiki contributes to multiple Sustainable Development Goals:
1.1. SDG 4: Quality Education
Tiki provides tools for knowledge sharing, collaborative learning, and educational content development:
Wiki functionality enables collaborative creation of educational resources
Learning Management System (LMS) features support online education
Multilingual capabilities make educational content accessible across language barriers
Knowledge base features facilitate preservation and sharing of institutional knowledge
1.2. SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Tiki contributes to resilient infrastructure and fosters innovation by providing an open-source, customizable platform that organizations can adapt for a wide range of use cases. Tiki's all-in-one system allows for the creation of powerful, sustainable digital platforms while promoting digital sovereignty and innovation.
- Free and open-source nature reduces barriers to accessing robust digital infrastructure
- Extensible framework enables customization for diverse use cases and innovations
- All-in-One Platform: Tiki integrates over 100 features (wiki, forums, trackers, etc.), reducing fragmentation and simplifying system management.
- Self-Hosting & Digital Sovereignty: Tiki can be self-hosted, providing control over data and infrastructure, enabling more sustainable and locally tailored solutions.
- Innovation Enabler: Tiki's extensible framework supports innovation in sectors like education, healthcare, and governance.
- API & Integration: Tiki’s API enables integration with external systems, allowing for automation, data synchronization, and greater innovation.
- Sustainability & Resilience: Tiki’s low resource requirements and global volunteer community ensure its long-term sustainability, even in resource-limited environments.
1.3. SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
Tiki helps reduce inequality within and among countries:
- Zero license cost enables access regardless of economic status
- Multilingual Capabilities: Tiki supports over 40 languages and allows users to contribute translations. This fosters inclusion and accessibility for non-English-speaking users and promotes linguistic diversity.
- Accessibility Features: Tiki includes accessibility-focused features and supports standards that help users with disabilities engage meaningfully with digital content.
- Self-Hosting and Sovereignty: The ability to self-host Tiki gives communities and countries control over their digital infrastructure, which can be important for marginalized or sovereignty-conscious groups.
- Community-Driven Development: Anyone, regardless of geography or background, can contribute to Tiki’s development, documentation, and localization—supporting inclusive participation in global digital innovation.
1.4. SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Transparency & Accountability Tools: Tiki includes built-in features like trackers, file galleries, logs, and version control that can be used to document, audit, and share decisions or records — useful for governments, NGOs, and civic groups aiming for transparency
- Participatory Governance: Tiki’s groupware tools (forums, polls, surveys, comments, etc.) support inclusive decision-making and public engagement — ideal for participatory governance and civic tech initiatives.
- Open-Source and Self-Hosted: Enables institutions to own their digital infrastructure, enhancing security, data protection, and sovereignty — essential for justice and public trust.
- Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing: Tiki allows teams and institutions to manage knowledge, publish documents, and collaborate in secure, organized spaces — strengthening institutional effectiveness.
1.5. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
Tiki fosters global collaboration and open partnerships for sustainable development:
- Open-Source Community: Tiki is developed by a global volunteer community, promoting inclusive collaboration across borders.
- Shared Knowledge Infrastructure: Its free and open license supports knowledge sharing, capacity building, and localization.
- Interoperability: Tiki’s API and integration capabilities support collaboration with other platforms and digital tools.
- Neutral & Transparent Governance: Decisions are made collaboratively, without corporate ownership, encouraging equitable partnerships.
- Support for Multistakeholder Use: Tiki is used by NGOs, governments, academic institutions, and civil society to collaborate on shared goals.
2. Use of Approved Open Licenses
Tiki is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1, which is an approved open license under the Digital Public Goods Standard. This license allows anyone to use, modify, and distribute the software freely, promoting openness, collaboration, and reuse.
3. Clear Ownership
Tiki is a community-driven open-source project, maintained and governed by the Tiki Software Community Association (TSCA), a non-profit entity established in Canada. The TSCA ensures transparent governance, stewardship of the project’s assets, and oversight of the development roadmap, representing the collective interests of the global Tiki community.
4. Platform Independence
Tiki is platform-independent and can run on all major operating systems, including Linux, Windows, and macOS. It is built using widely supported web technologies (PHP, MySQL/MariaDB, HTML, CSS, JavaScript), and it functions in any standard web browser without requiring proprietary software. This ensures that users and organizations can deploy and use Tiki regardless of their preferred hardware or software environment.
NB: When third-party libraries are used, they are carefully selected to ensure they have compatible open-source licenses that don't restrict Tiki's use.
5. Documentation
Tiki provides comprehensive and well-maintained documentation through two dedicated portals:
- doc.tiki.org: The main documentation site offers extensive resources for users and administrators, including installation guides, feature overviews, usage tutorials, and best practices.
- dev.tiki.org: The developer portal contains technical documentation, coding standards, development roadmaps, version control practices, and contribution guidelines.
Both platforms are collaboratively maintained by the Tiki community and continuously updated, ensuring accessible and reliable information for all stakeholders.
6. Mechanism for Extracting Data and Content
Tiki provides users with full access to their data and content through multiple export and integration options:
- Built-in Export Features: Users can export data from trackers, wikis, articles, and other modules in common formats such as CSV, PDF, and RSS feeds.
- Database Access: As a self-hosted solution, Tiki allows full access to the underlying MySQL/MariaDB database, enabling custom queries and complete data control.
- Version Control and Backups: Built-in versioning and backup tools enable users to retrieve historical data and maintain full control over content.
- API Access: RESTful API for programmatic data access and extraction
- Non-proprietary Formats: All data can be extracted in open, non-proprietary formats
7. Adherence to Privacy and Applicable Laws
Tiki is designed to comply with privacy and other applicable laws:
- Granular Permissions: Tiki features an advanced permissions system that controls access at every level—pages, modules, data fields—ensuring only authorized users can view or edit sensitive content.
- User Consent: Tiki includes tools for managing user consent
- Data Protection: Encryption options for sensitive information
- Data Retention & Deletion: Administrators can configure data retention policies and delete user data as required by privacy laws like GDPR.
- Audit Trails: Versioning, logs, and history tracking provide accountability and traceability of content and user actions.
- No Vendor Lock-in or Tracking: Tiki does not include any third-party tracking, ad services, or analytics by default, promoting user privacy by design.
- Self-Hosting & Data Control: Organizations retain full control over data storage and processing, enabling compliance with jurisdiction-specific laws.
8. Adherence to Standards & Best Practices
Tiki adheres to widely recognized web, software development, and accessibility standards, ensuring robust, secure, and inclusive implementations:
- Web Standards: Tiki is built with HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript in accordance with W3C guidelines for broad browser compatibility and usability.
- Security Best Practices: User permissions, CAPTCHA, two-factor authentication, and role-based access help protect user data and system integrity.
- Accessibility: Tiki strives to support WCAG 2.1 standards, offering features such as keyboard navigation, alt text for media, and high-contrast themes to enhance accessibility.
- Open Standards: Tiki uses open and widely adopted formats (CSV, XML, RSS, iCal, etc.) for data interchange, enhancing interoperability.
- Development Workflow: The Tiki community follows best practices such as version control (Git), continuous integration, and peer review for ongoing code quality and sustainability.