About Artmob

Artmob is a multimedia digital archiving platform for Canadian arts organizations. As a multisectoral initiative, Artmob is designed to build large, accessible online archives of publicly licensed Canadian cultural content, therefore addressing issues surrounding creator rights and copyright laws in the digital age.

The problem of copyright online
The interpretation and enforcement of copyright laws in the digital age pose daunting challenges to the public interest. Uncertainties surrounding copyright status often create financial and legal obstacles for arts organizations that are trying to put cultural materials online. Many works require the negotiation of licenses with rights holders who are difficult or impossible to locate. This means that many culturally significant works of great educational and research value are not publicly accessible online.

How does Artmob help?
Artmob provides a means both to investigate and address this dilemma. It enables Canadian publishers, universities, arts groups, filmmakers, galleries, newspapers and others to take advantage of the democratizing potential of digital technology to increase access to cultural content. It allows memory institutions, such as libraries, archives, and museums, to fulfill their public mandates online without the risk of copyright liability.

By fostering and sustaining relationships of trust between rights holders, institutions, and the public, Artmob enhances the capacity of rights holders to manage online reproductions of works, and increases awareness of copyright issues in digital archiving. Artmob makes fair dealing possible in the digital age, enabling and encouraging Canadians to access and further develop their cultural content online.

Our beliefs

  • Canadians have the right to digitally access publically funded cultural materials.
  • Cultural institutions have a responsibility to make their materials available to scholars, researchers, and the general public.
  • The creation of digital archives requires a foundation of trust between rights holders, the public, students, educators, funding agencies, cultural and memory institutions, and arts organizations.