Towards a Dialogic Archive: Canadian Copyright Law, Digital Archives and Fair Dealing

Intellectual property laws present formidable challenges for digital cultural archiving projects. While cultural institutions may be permitted to make works available to the public, these rights may not cover online publishing or reproduction. Consequently, institutions undertake time-consuming, resource-intensive clearance processes in order to secure licenses for displaying copyright protected cultural works online. In response to these challenges, the New Media Collaboration Centre at York University (Toronto) has developed Art mob, a content management system (CMS) with a dialogic approach to copyright informed by the fair dealing provisions of Canadian copyright law. The user interface design of this CMS facilitates uses covered by fair dealing, enables administrators to enter and display information regarding the layering of rights in cultural works, solicits information about unidentified rights holders and the creation of works from communities of users, and invites rights holders to assert their rights and license works.