The politics of context: issues for law, researchers and the creation of databases

Abstract

Field recordings pose many dilemmas for intellectual property law, researchers, and the creation of databases containing Indigenous knowledge. Challenges arise because these field recordings in tangible form undergo constant change through processes such as digitisation and through differing types of demand for copies. The changing form means that the law is challenged to accommodate the various rights and interests that change with the material; and, researchers must be accountable for interpreting and clarifying the original context of the recordings. Given these difficulties, database designers and users face extremely complex problems in organising and representing Indigenous cultural material. The paper is divided into three sections. The first considers the challenges for the law in accounting for 'originality' along with the dilemma of fixing ownership and private rights in the recording. This leads to the second section of the paper examining how the changing context of the recordings in relation to the law and to the needs of archives affects the researcher. The final section touches briefly on digitisation and copyright, and then raises some pertinent concerns for creating databases of Indigenous knowledge.