Ethics of Digitizing Public Heritage

The preservation of heritage and culture has gained new meaning and scope in the digital age, leading to new challenges around the ethical practice of digital culture. Without clear direction or an ethical framework, western interventions of digitizing public heritage from emerging countries can often fall into the dark hole of ‘digital colonialism.’ This paper will contextualise this contemporary form of colonialism and sketch out a framework with which the ethics of digital reconstruction can be analysed.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Najam Ul-Assar

Conference

Publication date: September 2021

Publication date (Print): September 2021

Pages: 38-44

Affiliations

[0001]Lahore Digital Arts Festival

Copenhagen, Denmark

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/POM2021.5

SO-VID: 25ce27aa-abcd-4b5d-bee8-a4c2256f8083

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of Politics of the Machines - Rogue Research 2021

Conference acronym: POM 2021

Conference number: 3

Conference location: Berlin, Germany

Conference date: September 14-17, 2021

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: debate and devise concepts and practices that seek to critically question and unravel novel modes of science

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/POM2021.5

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] M. Allahyari (n.d.) Material Speculation - ISIS (2015-2016) http://www.morehshin.com/material-speculation-isis/ (20 June 2021)

[2] F. Bedrich (2018, May 21). Plastic 3D Printer Technologies and Servicesââ‚¬“An Overview. http://all3dp.com/plastic-3d-printer-plastics-3d-print/ (25 August 2021)

[3] CBS. (2015, February 27). ISIS destroys ancient artifacts in Mosul. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/isis-destroys-ancient-artifacts-in-mosul/#x (25 August 2021).

[4] CyArk. (n.d.). Our Mission. http://www.cyark.org/ourMission/ (25 June 2021)

[5] W. Dalrymple, A. Anand (2016). Koh-I-Noor: The story of Worldââ‚¬™s most infamous Diamond. Juggernaut Books, New Delhi.

[6] G. Del Valle (2016, September 20). Replica Of Ancient Arch Destroyed By ISIS Is Now At City Hall Park. http://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/replica-of-ancient-arch-destroyed-by-isis-is-now-at-city-hall-park (20 June 2021)

[7] G. Deprez (2020, August 16). Destruction Of Cultural Heritage Since Antiquity: A Shocking Review. http://www.thecollector.com/destruction-cultural-heritage-since-antiquity/ (19 June 2021)

[8] Digital Archeology, (n.d). The Triumphal Arch. http://digitalarchaeology.org.uk/the-triumphal-arch (20 August 2021)

[9] M. Easton & B. Butcher (2018, April 24). Where have the UK’s 10,000 Syrian refugees gone? http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43826163 (21 June 2021)

[10] F. Hawamy, S. Mohammed, L. Harding (2014, November 19). Inside Islamic Stateââ‚¬™s oil empire: how captured oilfields fuel Isis insurgency. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/19/-sp-islamic-state-oil-empire-iraq-isis (21 June 2021)

[11] ICRC. (n.d.). How does law protect in war? - Online casebook. http://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/cultural-property (23 January 2022)

[12] J. Jones (2016, April 11). Palmyra must not be fixed. History would never forgive us. http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2016/apr/11/palmyra-isis-syria-restored-3d-printers-vandalism (25 August 2021)

[13] J. Jouhki, H. Pertti (2017). We Shape Our Tools, and Thereafter Our Tools Shape Us. Human Technology, 13(2), 145ââ‚¬“148.

[14] Penn State University. (n.d.) The Digital Divide http://psu.pb.unizin.org/ist110/chapter/9-3-the-digital-divide/ (20 June 2021)

[15] J.A. Piazza & A. Guler (2019). The Online Caliphate: Internet Usage and ISIS Support in the Arab World. Terrorism and Political Violence (May). http://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2019.1606801 (25 August 2021)

[16] Rhizome. (2019, May 20). Physical Tactics for Digital Colonialism. [Video]. Vimeo. http://vimeo.com/337394969 (25 August 2021)

[17] H. Schiller (1976), Communication and Cultural Domination. Routledge, New York.

[18] K. Shaheen (2015, February 26). Isis fighters destroy ancient artefacts at Mosul Museum. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/26/isis-fighters-destroy-ancient-artefacts-mosul-museum-iraq (25 August 2021)

[19] P. Soulellis (2016, February 16). The Distributed Monument. http://rhizome.org/editorial/2016/feb/16/morehshin-allahyari/ (25 August 2021)

[20] UNESCO. (2003, October 15). Charter on the Preservation of Digital Heritage. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=17721&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html (20 June 2021)

[21] H. Vartanian (2019, June 11). Talking Digital Colonialism with Morehshin Allahyari. http://hyperallergic.com/504461/talking-digital-colonialism-with-morehshin-allahyari/ (21 June 2021)

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