Introductory description

Art, Technology & Law (ArTechLaw) is a course that examines how law and technology interface with digital copyright and the arts through experiential learning methods in the immersive and virtual classroom of Minecraft.

Through various sources, both traditional and alternative, students will explore how legal frameworks shape digital creative production and rights management, through both individual and group tasks, to understand the ownership divides of creative works that play out in real life, and in online platforms. The reading list includes films and documentaries, artworks and exhibitions, case law and scholarly commentary on emerging issues in this rapidly-changing area. Using collaborative digital environment, students will participate in a series of creative tasks that develop and strengthen their capacity for analytical, creative and critical thinking.

Students are not required to have experience with Minecraft for this module, which can be played on tablets and laptops alike. All sessions will be taught in Minecraft.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

While the module's precise content will vary from year to year, the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Introduction to Art, Technology and Law
• Platform Policies, Terms of Use and Creative Codes of Conduct
• Decolonising Copyright and Creativity
• Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property and Indigenous Data Sovereignty
• Digital Cultural Heritage Exploitations and Explorations
• Digital Art, NFTs, and Cryptocurrency
• Alternative Licenses and Approaches to Intellectual Property
• A Gamer's Approach to IP: Preserving Creative Legacies in Digital Spaces

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate coherent, nuanced and advanced understanding of the relationship among art, law and technology within an online gaming platform
• Think critically and creatively about legal concepts designed for an analogue world that are increasingly adapted to digital contexts
• Work colalboratively to develop a creative work and produce written commentary that to draws from a range of primary and secondary sources
• Develop a sound understanding of various civic responses to rigid legal frameworks, such as open and copyleft movements, to produce licensing terms and contracts for rights management

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Interdisciplinary

The module brings together arts-based pedagogy and production methods with legal studies and analysis to explore how legal issues influence, or are influenced by, technology and digital platforms, primarily Minecraft.

International

The module includes an international dimension by examining digital aspects of cultural production and management that present cross-border issues to the circulation of art and cultural heritage, particularly in digital form.

Subject specific skills

Legal analysis of topics such as copyright law, digital copyright and rights management, Indigenous rights, property law, contract law, and intellectual property restitution. The application of these legal areas to creative practice and production to foster critical thinking and analysis in real time, through group tasks that engage with the creative process and how legal frameworks regulate it. The drafting of contracts, codes of conduct and licensing terms for classroom engagement and students' access or reuse of the creative works produced in the Minecraft world.

Transferable skills

Reading comprehension and the application of complex and nuance topics through experiential learning, namely by undertaking creative tasks in group and individual settings that interface with the legal areas discussed. We will critique the creative works produced and the legal topics they explore, which will support students' development of persuasive oral and written argumentation skills, as well as communication, presentation and justification skills. The critiques will facilitate group discussion around argumentation made in visual rather than literal form, enabling students to give feedback to each other during critiques and ask questions that support others in developing and honing their arguments.