Digital History

Creative Commons South Africa is working together with the Visual History Archive to understand and develop response to issues of copyright and privacy which when analogue film or photographs are digitised by curators such as archives and museums.

A fascinating mix of issues faces non profit curators who are seeking to preserve South Africa’s visual history by digitising photographs and film. Both film and photograph stock decay, with the result that irreplaceable images are lost. But its not always clear whether the photograph or film is under copyright, raising legal issues for curators seeking to save South Africa’s heritage. Evolving standards of privacy raise new questions for curators.

There is an opportunity for a volunteer to work with Creative Commons South Africa, itself a volunteer project, on these issues. This would suit a post graduate student who would like to write on issues ranging from privacy, copyright, history, identity and memory arising from digitisation processes. Preference will be given to applicants based at the University of Cape Town, or at least in the Western Cape.
You don’t have to be a lawyer or curator, just have a strong interest in one or more aspects of the project.

Interested? Contact us