Call for Papers: Towards digitization of cultural practices and contents Issues, limits and legal tools

Deadline: 

02/22/22

Event Date: 

09/25/22

Location name: 

N/A

Organization: 

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law

Call for Papers 

Special issue 

Towards digitization of cultural practices and contents 

Issues, limits and legal tools 

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law 

https://www.springer.com/journal/11196

Guest Editors: Marie-Sophie de Clippele & Anne Wagner 

It is often claimed that developing a digital strategy to improve access to and participation in culture and cultural heritage increases democratization and citizens’ sense of collective belonging. As a result, and particularly in the COVID-19 context, many cultural institutions,  both public and private, have accelerated the development of tools for accessing and digitally disseminating their cultural content: online access to collections, visits to museums or 3D  virtual sites, visits to entirely online exhibitions, online access to cultural and musical performances, reading of tales via video… Furthermore, participatory digital cultural practices have also increased exponentially to integrate users in the creation, use, and transmission of culture and cultural heritage (methods of crowdsourcing, storytelling, citizen science…),  notably through digital tools linked to artificial intelligence and virtual reality. 

However, this digital craze, already underway before the pandemic, is not without legal difficulties, particularly in the field of intellectual property and data protection, and also raises ethical questions. With the dematerialization of cultural practices and content, some legal principles can constitute obstacles, while others can facilitate digitization and access to such content and practices. Both mechanisms in public law – legislation and case law ensuring a  balance between rights and interests, such as those of the author, the owner, the user, the personal data subject or controller; participatory governance measures; development of direct and indirect cultural policies… –, as well as tools in private law – licence contracts; property  rights; control and access mechanisms such as Digital Rights Management (DRM); legal  governance models and structures, etc. – must be examined for an inclusive access to  dematerialized cultural practices and content. Nevertheless, the notion of access itself should  be examined, including from an ethical point of view: the desire to grant universal access to  certain dematerialized cultural content may come up against certain rights and interests,  particularly those of the communities of origin, a fortiori when it comes to digitizing sacred  objects. Following a decolonial approach to the concepts of access and dematerialization,  thought should be given to the inclusion of these communities in the digitization process as  well as in the access policies of these digital contents. 

The aim of this Special Issue is therefore to question the dematerialization movement from a  legal point of view, by asking within what limits, under what conditions and with what  legal tools cultural practices and contents can develop in the context of digitization of  cultural practices and contents

Three axes are to be explored in this Special Issue, in which more concrete thematic ideas are  listed, while being open to other aspects within these three axes: 

1. Digitization and intellectual property 

What are the issues, limits and tools in intellectual property law in the face of digitized cultural  practices and content? 

– The evolving enforcement of intellectual property rights with the expansion of digitized  cultural practices and content; 

– The impact of Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17  April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the digital single market and amending Directives  96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC on intellectual property regimes, in particular with regard to the  reproduction right of works of visual art, as well as with regard to other exceptions to the rights  of reproduction or communication to the public; 

– New licensing practices for the use of new digital tools (co-created digital files, 3D scanning,  virtual reality games…); 

– The scope of the exceptions to copyright and related rights for user-generated content with  cultural creations (quotation, parody, etc.) and the adequacy of remuneration rights – The issue of restitution of cultural goods and their digitization: the intellectual (and material) rights on these goods. 

2. Digitization, cultural platforms and data protection 

What are the issues, limits and tools in platform law and data protection law in the face of  digitized cultural practices and content? 

– The role of cultural platforms in guaranteeing access while respecting the principle of cultural  diversity (regulation of private cultural platforms, development and accessibility of cultural  platforms managed directly by the public authorities, particularly for education and research,  etc.); 

– The role of new intermediaries in cultural mediation (for ex. risks of new gatekeepers such as  streaming platforms for accessing cultural content); 

– Data protection of digital cultural content, especially in the case of user-generated content. 3. Digitization, participatory governance and virtual communities 

What are the issues, limits and tools of participatory governance in the face of digitized cultural  practices and content? 

– The right(s), interest(s) and/or responsibility(s) for users of these cultural practices; – Virtual communities vs. communities of origin; 

– The principles of participatory governance for these dematerialized cultural practices and  contents; 

– The challenge of the (digital) commons (need for new open licenses, etc.); – The role of public authorities in ensuring active participation in culture. 

Please send your abstract of 500 words (max.) to Marie-Sophie DE CLIPPELE (marie [email protected]by 25 February 2022 with decisions made by 25 March  2022. Papers should be no longer than 15,000 words. The deadline for submitting full papers  is 25 August 2022.

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