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Doug McCarthy

@culturedoug.bsky.social

890 followers 310 following 180 posts

Open GLAM ninja. Cat wrangler. Senior Open Content Specialist at Open Future. douglasmccarthy.com #Museums #Libraries #Archives #Copyright #OpenGLAM #DigitalStrategy

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Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Apr 7

NEW 🐣

The editors of the Italian open access journal Engramma invited me to contribute an article for a special issue on copyleft and internet piracy.

'Museums and the Enclosure of the Public Domain in the Digital Age' is now online at engramma.it/eOS/index.ph...

#museums #copyright #publicdomain

Cover of Italian open access journal Engramma, issue 222, March 2025

Online article 'Museums and the Enclosure of the Public Domain in the Digital Age', by Douglas McCarthy, available at https://lnkd.in/eUm6nzY8

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Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · 22h

Our latest CommonsDB post explores registries and the challenge of sourcing trustworthy, legally sound data for AI training.

Open Future @openfuture.bsky.social · 1d

🔍 Can registries make AI training data more lawful? Our CommonsDB workshop explored this with experts from pleias, @creativecommons.bsky.social , @commoncrawl.bsky.social and @kb.nl. We're building bridges between digital assets, rights info, and AI. www.commonsdb.org/blog/explori...

Exploring CommonsDB’s role in AI training data

Participants at a recent CommonsDB workshop explored whether the registry can support lawful, traceable data for AI training

www.commonsdb.org

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Reposted by Doug McCarthy

Open Future @openfuture.bsky.social · 23d

#GLAMWiki2025: Wikimedia as essential digital infrastructure and trusted tools for cultural institutions.

@culturedoug.bsky.social will showcase CommonsDB as part of our copyright infrastructure work—connecting cultural memory with digital commons.

Register by Sep 30: w.wiki/D5Xq

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Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · 29d

ultra-nano version for people running to catch a bus

#Icepops25

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Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · 29d

Thanks, Jane! Enjoy some well earned downtime when you get home.

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Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · 29d

The slides of my Icepops talk are now online at my website: douglasmccarthy.com/presentations/

Thanks to my fellow speakers and everyone who attended yesterday, it was a brilliant day (and night 🎤). Until next time, @jsecker.bsky.social!

'The Sunflower is Mine. Paradoxical Patterns in the Public Domain' A talk at Icepops 2025 by Doug McCarthy, 9 September 2025. All content © Doug McCarthy, CC BY 4.0, unless otherwise stated

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Reposted by Doug McCarthy

Open Future @openfuture.bsky.social · Sep 9

📣 Join us at #GLAMWiki2025 in Lisbon (Oct 30-Nov 1)

Explore resilience in cultural heritage with workshops and expert sessions, including @culturedoug.bsky.social presenting the CommonsDB registry for Wikimedians and cultural institutions.

Register by Sep 30: w.wiki/D5Xq

#GlamWiki2025 Conference presentation, October 30 to November 1 in Lisbon.

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Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Sep 9

En route to Manchester 🚄 ✈️ to attend the 6th edition of Icepops, the copyright festival with a smile on its face.

I'll present new research on museums, copyright and the public domain. 🌻

There will be sunflowers, there will be memes. Slides to follow.

#Icepops2025 #OpenGLAM #Museums #Copyright

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Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Aug 5

That looks fantastic. Enjoy!

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Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jul 4

Q. How was your summer?
A.

Seated Man, 1905–6
Paul Cezanne. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jul 4

Beautiful. Thank you.

Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jul 4

The King will see you now.

ISAAC OLIVER (C. 1565-1617)
Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia (1596-1662) when Princess Elizabeth 1613
Watercolour on vellum laid on playing card (the suit of diamonds) | 5.3 x 4.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 420044

https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/2/collection/420044/elizabeth-queen-of-bohemia-1596-1662-when-princess-elizabeth

COPYRIGHT

https://www.rct.uk/about/policies/copyright

Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jul 3

Pixies version is up there. Any others I should know about?

Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jul 3

don’t be a bad Bohemian

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Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jul 3

You had me at Winterlong on piano.

Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jul 3

N-RICH Prototype announcement triggered me.

Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jul 3

Just discovered that www.culturegrid.org.uk redirects to
museumdata.uk.

Now feeling centuries old.

Skeletons and écorché figures in various positions, with proportions marked. Line engraving by G.F. Ferrero, 1845.
Ferrero, Giovanni Francesco, active 1845.
Date: 1845
Reference: 564257i
Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark.
https://wellcomecollection.org/works/qwesaprg/images?id=g8b8qtdg

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Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jul 2

This section stood out to me.

Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jul 2

Worth reading if you're engaged with this topic.

blog.cloudflare.com/control-cont...

[GLAM-E Lab bat-signal >> @michaelweinberg.org @andeewallace.bsky.social]

Control content use for AI training with Cloudflare’s managed robots.txt and blocking for monetized content

Cloudflare is making it easier for publishers and content creators of all sizes to prevent their content from being scraped for AI training by managing robots.txt on their behalf, and allowing targete...

blog.cloudflare.com

Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jul 1

Me: 🥵
Cat: You think YOU'RE hot?

Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jul 1

Slow Down Ronnie

Reposted by Doug McCarthy

Hadas Weiss @hadas.bsky.social · Jun 27

me: there’s nothing worse than opening a blank document

microsoft word: hold my beer

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Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jun 26

Thanks for the comment. The core objective is providing verifiable rights information efficiently, so we focus on limited but essential metadata, with minimal reproduction of services available elsewhere (e.g. repositories). Researching metadata standards is out of scope at this stage.

Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jun 25

And the grey alien head.

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Doug McCarthy @culturedoug.bsky.social · Jun 25

Pretty sure I saw you wearing this in St Andrews circa '95:
www.etsy.com/listing/4321...

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Reposted by Doug McCarthy

Open Future @openfuture.bsky.social · Jun 24

The first part of CommonsDB Feasibility Study—by @paulk.bsky.social, @culturedoug.bsky.social, @posth.me, @jpquintais.bsky.social, @theflyinglawyer.bsky.social, and Thomas Margon—anticipates launching the first public version of the registry after summer.

Download: openfuture.eu/publication/...

CommonsDB Feasibility Study: Building the Future of Digital Commons – Open Future

This study outlines how CommonsDB is creating a registry of Public Domain and openly licensed works to improve legal certainty when reusing digital content.

openfuture.eu

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