Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A digital archive applies community-issued TK Labels to records originating from a partner Indigenous community.
- Is an instance
A research dataset's metadata embeds TK Labels communicating community-specific use protocols to downstream users.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Generic copyright statements applied by an external institution are not Traditional Knowledge Labels.
- Not an instance
Restrictive licences imposed without community involvement do not function as TK Labels.
Editorial commentary
Traditional Knowledge (TK) Labels were created to give Indigenous communities a mechanism to communicate the cultural rules and provenance attached to their knowledge as it circulates through external systems — archives, publications, research datasets — outside direct community control. They are applied by communities themselves, through the Local Contexts Hub, and do not create or waive any legal right; they are a governance signal layered onto whatever legal instrument (a licence, a data-sharing agreement) already applies.
Three label categories
TK Labels are organised into three category types. Provenance Labels identify the cultural authority or community interest attached to a record (Attribution, Clan, Family, Multiple Communities, Community Voice, Creative). Protocol Labels set out access protocols and ask users to respect community practices (Verified, Non-Verified, Seasonal, Women/Men General, Women/Men Restricted, Culturally Sensitive, Secret/Sacred). Permission Labels indicate what a community has approved (Open to Commercialization, Non-Commercial, Community Use Only, Outreach, Open to Collaboration).
How TK Labels differ from BC Labels
Local Contexts also stewards a separate, related instrument family, Biocultural (BC) Labels — the two are routinely confused. TK Labels apply broadly across cultural heritage material: recordings, images, ceremonial items, oral histories, publications. BC Labels are the same instrument family purpose-built specifically for genetic sequences, biological specimens, and environmental data with cultural significance. They share a visual design lineage so institutions recognise them as one system, but a repository handling both cultural-heritage and biocultural/genetic material may need to apply both, not one in place of the other.
Not a substitute for community authority
A Label communicates a community’s expectations and consent status; because it is administered by the community itself, it is not a proxy for direct engagement. Institutions holding material that could carry a TK Label but has not yet had community determination should use a Notice instead, and work with the originating community toward an eventual Label.
What this means for research administration
A repository, archive, or dataset metadata schema receiving Indigenous-originated cultural material should check for existing TK Labels and honour the conditions expressed, routing any request to apply a new Label to the originating community via the Local Contexts Hub rather than assigning one unilaterally. A data management plan for a project generating such material should describe how TK Labels will be tracked through the data lifecycle.
References
- Local Contexts, “TK Labels,” localcontexts.org/labels/traditional-knowledge-labels.
Also known as
TK Labels
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Traditional Knowledge Labels"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/traditional-knowledge-labels" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/traditional-knowledge-labels",
"name": "Traditional Knowledge Labels",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/traditional-knowledge-labels",
"description": "Community-controlled metadata labels that communicate Indigenous community protocols, permissions, and expectations attached to Traditional Knowledge and associated data, developed through the Local Contexts initiative.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/indigenous-data-care#set",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/traditional-knowledge-labels",
"alternateName": [
"TK Labels"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"publisher": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
},
"author": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#editorial-team"
},
"datePublished": "2026-05-21T02:22:54",
"dateModified": "2026-08-23T04:40:38",
"inLanguage": "en-GB",
"isAccessibleForFree": true
}
