Open access and cultural heritage specialist
Micro-museum platform MagnificentH interviewed me for its In Conversation With series. The interview text is reproduced below; visit the MagnificentH website for the original. In Conversation with: Doug McCarthy We talk to the cultural heritage specialist about preserving digital museum collections, common copyright misconceptions and what being a “gatekeeper” really means. Doug McCarthy is an…
Unbounded freedom ruled the wandering sceneNor fence of ownership crept in betweenTo hide the prospect of the following eyeIts only bondage was the circling sky. John Clare, The Moors In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Enclosure Movement swept through rural England. Common lands that had been open for communal use were fenced off, privatised and Continue reading Museums and the Digital Enclosure…
An analysis of the inconsistencies in UK museums’ copyright claims over digital reproductions of public domain works Introduction In our online, globally connected era, cultural institutions are vital custodians of history and culture, preserving and making accessible millions of digitised artworks, manuscripts, and objects. Yet in the United Kingdom, a complex and inconsistent approach to…
The choices museums make about copyright as they digitise their collections have profound implications for public access.
Are museum picture libraries generating profits, and at what cost to public access?
Why are there so few open access museums in the UK?
How will the ruling in THJ v Sheridan on copyright and the threshold of originality in UK law affect cultural institutions?
Now in its sixth year of existence, the Open GLAM Survey has just undergone a significant overhaul. Here s what has changed. Since Dr Andrea Wallace and I began the Open GLAM Survey in 2018, it has tracked galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAMs) making open access content available for re-use. It s become the go-to reference Continue reading What’s new in the Open GLAM Survey
What does the Rijksmuseum s landmark Vermeer exhibition tell us about museums, copyright and digital collections today? Vermeer is a major exhibition of the artist s work at the Rijksmuseum that brings Vermeers from around the world to Amsterdam. A total of twenty eight works, from fourteen institutions, feature in the exhibition. These are helpfully itemised on Continue reading 28 Vermeers
Fresh insight, important updates and new visualisations into the global picture of open access to cultural heritage