Dr. phil. Jörg Lehmann was a fellow at CAIS from October to March 2022 and, during this time, focused on the use of digitized cultural heritage by private companies. He has now published the results of his CAIS fellowship as a book chapter in the Research Handbook on Art, Culture and Heritage Law. The chapter is titled “Digital Cultural Heritage as a Concept.”
About the Book Chapter on Digital Cultural Heritage
The provision of digitised materials in open access has changed the role of cultural institutions with regard to user groups, international cooperation, the democratisation of historiography, narratives and identity formation, as well as the commodification of cultural datasets. Current copyright law is seen as a major obstacle to cultural development based on existing resources. This is particularly relevant for born-digital content, such as in the case of memes. The chapter addresses the legal challenges involved in preserving such content as digital cultural heritage and introduces the concept of intangible cultural heritage as an extension, which may serve as a fallback option for safeguarding contemporary cultural practices and creative skills.
Lehmann, J. (2026). “7: Digital cultural heritage as a concept”. In Research Handbook on Art, Culture and Heritage Law. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Retrieved Apr 22, 2026, from https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800374225.00012
Further Insights Into the Topic
In summer 2022, Jörg Lehmann spoke with Silke Offergeld and podcast host Dr. Matthias Begenat in the podcast #CAISzeit about his fellowship project, as well as the question of how cultural assets and cultural heritage can be made available and accessible on the internet.