The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) established an ethical framework for documenting Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). As ICH is a living practice, agency of the heritage communities on their records is primordial for immaterieelerfgoed.be and further dissemination of the documented practices in a digital ecosystem involving GLAM institutions and online platforms such as Wikipedia.

In collaboration with the heritage communities or individuals practicing ICH, Werkplaats Immaterieel Erfgoed created a participative procedure to develop and publish texts, for example on intangible heritage practices, and other material on immaterieelerfgoed.be. In every step of the process the submitter is able to edit their entry, from the focus on full consent of the content that is provided to the visitors of immaterieelerfgoed.be, external communication by Werkplaats and further applications of the provided metadata.

In this session we will focus on how the topics of ownership, participative registration, diversity and linking data play up in working with communities, and interacts with the question of ethics this implies.