AvoinGLAM invites cultural practitioners from all directions to biweekly online discussions to explore together the benefits of applying open practices and co-creating new initiatives.
In December 2020 the French Parliament passed a bill to return 26 looted cultural heritage objects to Benin from French museums. Returning objects raises questions about their digital reproductions, who gets to decide what is digitized, and how the digital reproductions can be shared online?
In this discussion Andrea Wallace, Mahuton Possoupe, Fawaz Tairou, Heikki Kastemaa, and Brigitte Vézina discuss how volunteer activities can be initiated to preserve and share open cultural heritage in the best interest of the originating culture. In 2021, Heikki Kastemaa will work in Benin on the history of Grand-Popo and continue his collaboration with Wikimédiens du Bénin. Andrea Wallace has written about the challenges of Open Access in regard to restitution in sub-Saharan Africa as a response to the French government’s report on restitution. Brigitte Vézina investigates questions of Traditional Knowledge in Creative Commons. The event is in English.
Andrea Wallace, University of Exeter
Mahuton Possoupe and Fawaz Tairou, Wikimédiens du Bénin
Heikki Kastemaa, Wikimedia Finland
Brigitte Vézina, Creative Commons
Readings
Pavis, Wallace: Response to the 2018 Sarr-Savoy Report: Statement on Intellectual Property Rights and Open Access Relevant to the Digitization and Restitution of African Cultural Heritage and Associated Materials, 2019.
Vézina, Muscat: Sharing Indigenous Cultural Heritage Online: An Overview of GLAM Policies, 2020.