Open data portals and data licences

Name:

Date:

Class:

Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. Which best describes open data?

A Private company records that only paying staff can see

B Datasets, such as government statistics, that anyone can download and reuse under a licence

2. You need Australian population statistics for a Year 10 project. Where is the best place to start looking?

A An open data portal such as data.gov.au

B A friend's private spreadsheet that has no source listed

3. Which search approach helps you find a dataset on a portal?

A Open every dataset one by one until you find something useful

B Search by keyword, such as 'bushfire', and filter by file format like CSV

4. What does a data licence tell you?

A How you are allowed to reuse the data and what credit you must give

B How many rows and columns the dataset has

5. A dataset is released under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. What must you do when you use it?

A Credit the source and publisher

B Nothing, because downloadable data is always free of conditions

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1license: CC BY 4.0		AThis citation is too vague. It does not name the portal, the publisher, the licence or the date accessed.
2format: CSV		BA licence that lets you reuse the data for any purpose as long as you credit the source
3Citing the source so the publisher gets credit for the data		Csearch: "rainfall" + filter: CSV
4Finding a dataset by searching a portal for a topic and filtering by file type		DOpen data still has a licence. Most licences require you to credit the source and follow the reuse terms.
5Source: I found this data on the internet.		ESource: data.gov.au, Dept of Health, CC BY 4.0, accessed 5 May 2025
6Open data means I can use it any way I like without credit.		FA download option that opens in a spreadsheet and lets you import the dataset

Definitions

open data

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

Portal: data.gov.au ______: rainfall

Dataset: Rainfall 2023 Licence: _____ 4.0

______: Bureau of Meteorology Licence: CC BY 4.0

Dataset: Rainfall 2023 Format: ___ Download: rainfall.csv

Licence: CC BY 4.0 Reuse: allowed Credit: ________

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A Portal: myfriendsblog.com

B Dataset: Bus stops Victoria

C Licence: CC BY 4.0

Question 2

A Dataset: Rainfall by suburb

B Licence: CC BY 4.0

C Reuse: allowed

D Credit: not needed

Question 3

A Dataset: Train punctuality

B Publisher: Dept of Transport

C Licence: none, so it is free

D Cite: Dept of Transport, 2024

Question 4

A SET topic TO 'bushfire risk'

B SET site TO 'data.vic.gov.au'

C SEARCH topic FOR site

D SHOW licence of each result

Question 5

A Author: Dept of Education

B Title: School locations 2023

C Publisher: data.vic.gov.au

D Accessed: next Friday

E Licence: CC BY 4.0

Answer Key

Open data portals and data licences

Section A: Quick Questions

B — Datasets, such as government statistics, that anyone can download and reuse under a licence

A — An open data portal such as data.gov.au

B — Search by keyword, such as 'bushfire', and filter by file format like CSV

A — How you are allowed to reuse the data and what credit you must give

A — Credit the source and publisher

Section B: Match the Pairs

license: CC BY 4.0 → A licence that lets you reuse the data for any purpose as long as you credit the source

format: CSV → A download option that opens in a spreadsheet and lets you import the dataset

Citing the source so the publisher gets credit for the data → Source: data.gov.au, Dept of Health, CC BY 4.0, accessed 5 May 2025

Finding a dataset by searching a portal for a topic and filtering by file type → search: "rainfall" + filter: CSV

Source: I found this data on the internet. → This citation is too vague. It does not name the portal, the publisher, the licence or the date accessed.

Open data means I can use it any way I like without credit. → Open data still has a licence. Most licences require you to credit the source and follow the reuse terms.

Section C: Definitions

open data — Datasets, such as government statistics, that anyone can download from a portal. A licence says how you may reuse them, and you must credit the source.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

Portal: data.gov.au
Search: rainfall

Dataset: Rainfall 2023
Licence: CC BY 4.0

Source: Bureau of Meteorology
Licence: CC BY 4.0

Dataset: Rainfall 2023
Format: CSV
Download: rainfall.csv

Licence: CC BY 4.0
Reuse: allowed
Credit: required

Section E: Spot the Error

A — Open datasets come from an official open data portal, such as data.gov.au. A friend's blog is not a trusted portal. Line 1 should name a real portal like data.gov.au.

D — A CC BY licence lets you reuse the data, but you must credit the source. Line 4 should say that credit is required.

C — Having no licence does not make data free to reuse. You must read the licence and follow its rules. Line 3 should name the licence, such as CC BY 4.0.

C — You search the portal (site) for the topic, not the other way round. Line 3 should be SEARCH site FOR topic.

D — A citation records the date you actually accessed the data, which must be in the past. Line 4 should be a real date, such as 12 March 2025.