Aboriginal Studies
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Research and Inquiry Methods: Major Project
Copyright & cultural ownership
OUTCOMES
H4.1 investigates, analyses and synthesises information from Aboriginal and other perspectives
H4.2 undertakes community consultation and fieldwork
H4.3 communicates information effectively from Aboriginal perspectives, using a varity of media
H4.4 applies ethical research practicesIntellectual and cultural property rights
Knowledge about the intellectual and cultural property rights of Aboriginal peoples is to be taught in Part IV of the Preliminary course (page 22 of the syllabus).
Legislation and policy in this area is continually developing. A comprehensive resource for teaching about Australian Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights is:
Our Culture: Our Future - Report on Australian Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights.
Sharing of material and intellectual property
Bear in mind that:
- knowledge may be community knowledge or personal knowledge
- individuals may be custodians of aspects of culture
- permission needs to be gained from the community(ies) before knowledge is passed on.
- When writing up someone's story always ask the speaker how they want their story written and ask if the person wants to have time to review the draft before the next visit.
- Invite the person being interviewed to have a family member present during the interview.
- There should be a minimum of two visits to the interviewee, the first to note the information and the second to have it verified as being accurately recorded.
- Negotiate how the speaker wants the story edited, for example, do they want the notes to be left as spoken or written with standard spelling? Who will do the editing, the speaker or interviewer or both together?
- Make the purpose of any interview very clear so the interviewee knows how their knowledge or material will be used.
- If an interviewee moves to another location or becomes ill or dies before the project has been completed, permission to continue should be sought from the person's family.
Issues of copyright
Within the final presentation of their project, students must acknowledge the source of all quotations, photographs, illustrations, text, and newspaper articles.
A sample Participation Agreement between a student and community members is included.The aim of this agreement is to acknowledge the rights of the participant and the responsibilities of the student.
All material on this page reproduced with the kind permission of the Board of Studies NSW
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