News and Views from Other Shores

An international perspective

This section brings to you news and views from around the world on issues related to documenting, recording, digitizing and disseminating intangible Cultural Heritage. Apart from guidelines and best practices adopted by various important institutions, there are some articles which present the opinions and views of individuals dealing with copyrights and ethical issues in their work which are presented as case studies.

Recut, Reframe, Recycle

An Interview with Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi (Part One)
Posted by Henri Jenkins, on February 6, 2008

Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi have issued several major new studies on the impact of copyright confusion on our culture, work which is setting the stage for efforts to identify "best practices" and to negotiate "acceptable use" standards to broaden the protections afforded those of us who are tying to integrate media production activities into our classrooms or who are involved in mashing up content as a form of expressive practice. This is an interview which brings to us their viewpoints on the issue.

Irish Traditional Music and the Copyright Debate.

Anthony McCann
Irish Folk Festival (Petr Pandula, ed.)
September 2003.

McCann's article documents a performing rights dispute in the 1990's between the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI). In this case Irish folk bands were being prevented from playing 'traditional' music in pubs unless publicans had payed the IMRO royalties. McCann analyses the case and gives us interesting insights into the changing landscape for traditional musicians and their thoughts on the impact of copyright on traditional practices.

'Are we systematically forgetting, ignoring, or wilfully turning away from powerful and humanizing politics, and replacing them with the ready-made traditions such as those of intellectual property, copyright, and performing rights. And do we do this in deference to the law because we are often led to believe, by way of persusasion, coercion, and maybe a little self-interest, that we should?'

http://www.beyondthecommons.com/iff2003.html

Access and Control of Indigenous Knowledge in Libraries and Archives:

Ownership and Future Use
Presented By Jane Anderson at the seminar 'Correcting Course: Rebalancing Copyright for Libraries in the National and International Arena'
Columbia University, New York, May 2005.

Fundamental questions about access and control, ownership and authorship test rationalities of library and archival management. In Australia, like in other places around the world, Indigenous people are seeking greater access to and, in certain cases, control over cultural material. This not only challenges rationalities of library and archival management but legal conceptions of authorship and ownership including, importantly, conceptions of ‘public’.

Attachments:
Jane Anderson Article.pdf	666 Kb

Our Culture : Our Future

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission

In 1997, ATSIC released the discussion paper Our Culture: Our Future: Proposals for the Protection and Recognition of Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property, and invited public comment on the need for protecting and recognising Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights. The report extracted here was developed in the light of over 70 submissions received on this discussion paper, and also in consultation with a National Indigenous Reference Group and other relevant individuals, communities and organisations. It was written and researched by Terri Janke, a solicitor at Michael Frankel and Company Solicitors as part of a National Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Project coordinated by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and funded by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.