Keywords: Digitization, Open Access, Critical Heritage Studies
Open GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) advocates for the adoption of Open Access policies in the heritage sector. Heritage organizations are hence called to make “[…] public domain materials open for use without any restrictions, and [make] copyrighted materials available under the provisions of fair use (non-commercial, educational)” (Kapsalis, 2016: 2). At the latest since the launch of the EU co-funded OpenGLAM initiative in 2011, ‘openness’ became a key argument to justify digitization projects (Lutz, 2018: 3). Similar to heritage digitization in general (Prescott and Hughes, 2018), Open GLAM is envisioned to ‘democratize’ the access to cultural heritage. However, for heritage organizations openness comes not without practical and political implications. Indeed, research has shown that questions on ownership, authority or generating revenue make Open GLAM a complex undertaking (Ross et al., 2018), especially from a post-colonial perspective (Pavis and Wallace, 2019).
Within this context, this paper takes a step back and investigates critically how among others the Free- and Open Source Software movement informed the current notion of ‘openness’ in Open GLAM (Hamilton and Saunderson, 2017: 8). By reviewing the Open GLAM discourse in the literature and policy documents that advocate for open politics, this paper illustrates why the current notion of ‘open’ can create tensions when applied one-to-one into the heritage sector. This talk brings together and complements critical investigations on heritage digitization and open politics (e.g.: Thylstrup, 2018; Tkacz, 2015; Rév, 2020). Thus, it seeks to contribute to the evolving reflection of what ‘open’ could mean for the heritage sector (Wallace, 2020: 7-8). It is likely to be relevant for researchers who are interested in the impact of digital culture on the heritage sector, and digitization professionals in libraries, archives and museums.
References
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Kapsalis, E. (2016). The Impact of Open Access on Galleries, Libraries, Museums, & Archives. Smithsonian Emerging Leaders Development Program http://siarchives.si.edu/sites/default/files/pdfs/2016_03_10_OpenCollections_Public.pdf (accessed 6 February 2020).
Lutz, S. (2018). {D1G1TAL HER1TAGE}. From cultural to digital heritage. , Hamburger Journal Für Kulturanthropologie(7): 3–23.
Pavis, M. and Wallace, A. (2019). 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. doi:10.5281/zenodo.2620596. https://zenodo.org/record/2620596 (accessed 6 February 2020).
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Ross, J., Beamer, A. and Ganley, C. (2018). Digital collections, open data and the boundaries of openness: a case study from the National Galleries of Scotland. MW18: MW 2018. Vancouver https://mw18.mwconf.org/paper/digital-collections-open-data-and-the-boundaries-of-openness-a-case-study-from-the-national-galleries-of-scotland/ (accessed 6 February 2020).
Thylstrup, N. B. (2018). The Politics of Mass Digitization. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
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Wallace, A. (2020). Introduction. Critical Open GLAM: Towards [Appropriate] Open Access for Cultural Heritage doi:10.21428/74d826b1.be9df175. https://openglam.pubpub.org/pub/introduction-to-critical-open-glam (accessed 29 October 2020).