Sharing and Collaborating on Tableau Public

Tableau Public exists because we believe it should be easier to tell stories and communicate with data. Our goal is to make Tableau Public a place where people can learn, connect, and be inspired. As a community we count on people sharing their work so we can learn new ways of displaying data and together all get better at visual analysis. So while Tableau Public is an open platform for others to repost and build on each other’s work, we want to make sure we respect, attribute and consult authorship.

Part of helping the community thrive together is through some guidelines. To that end we created the Community Code of Conduct in 2017, in collaboration with members of the Tableau Community.

We expect our community to abide by the principles in this Code. In addition, we have a documented Data Policy, Public Software End User License Agreement, and Terms of Service. These policies will help you understand your rights and obligations when using Tableau and Tableau Public. If there is a situation that breaks any of these policies, we reserve the right to remove content, cancel accounts or services and take further actions on a case by case scenario.

Work Attribution

One of the principles in our Code of Conduct is “give credit where credit is due,” and that Tableau Public users should “assign attribution to others’ work when what they’ve done has helped in some way, or whenever you use or refer to it. And, always give thanks. Do not represent someone else’s work or words as your own."

Is there a “right way” to attribute your sources of inspiration? Zen Master Andy Kriebel devoted much of his time recently to create the charts from the Financial Times’ Visual Vocabulary, with the intent that the Tableau Community could use and learn from it. You can read more about this project on VizWiz.com, but this is a great example of a Tableau Community member giving credit where credit is due.

Also, you have the ability to disable download for workbooks you publish. This will prevent others from downloading your visualization, and consequently avoid any reposting of your work. However, this will also limit learning opportunities for people eager to understand how the viz was made. Keeping workbooks downloadable helps others become better. Part of the magic of Tableau Public is that we can leverage and build upon each others work.

How to submit a takedown request

If you discover content that you believe should be taken down, you can simply email public@tableau.com with your request. Should you want more detail on submitting a takedown request, please refer to our Data Policy.

Product Improvements

At the Fanalytics event at TC17 we discussed attribution. We heard your comments on this topic and the Tableau Public engineering team is currently working to deliver a new attribution feature to encourage authors to provide credit where credit is due. Authors will be able to provide a link to an author or viz that inspired their creation, and this will be displayed under the viz’s metadata for all community members to see. We look forward to releasing this feature to the community soon!

We remain committed in our support of the great work you do, and ensuring our products are used in accordance to the principles of good conduct that are core to this amazing community.