Course Catalogue

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This course provides students with the opportunity to investigate the main legal frameworks that govern the curation, use, and reuse of data in the context of AI development and deployment in creative, scientific and cultural sectors. As archives, broadcasters, and cultural institutions digitise materials and assemble datasets, decisions around how data is structured, accessed, and shared, whether through open or proprietary models, carry significant implications for research, public value, cultural memory, and innovation.

Students will examine the legal complexities and debates surrounding cultural data and content, such as the digitised collections of the British Library, the British Film Institute, and the National Archives. Legal and policy areas under consideration may include, for example, copyright and database rights, text and data mining, licensing models, metadata standards, and open data policies. Students will develop the tools to assess how legal structures and data infrastructures influence access to knowledge and innovation in a creative economy increasingly shaped by AI.

4 x 2-hour or 1.5-hour seminars (7 hours)

3 x 2-hour or 1-hour lectures (5 hours)

4 x 2-hour practical classes and workshops (8 hours)

The course is open to students enrolled in the PG Cert in AI Law and the Creative Economy.

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The summative assessment consists of:

■ Set Exercise (20%) - Interactive small-group exercises resulting in a post on Moodle mapping the relevant legal frameworks and policies.

■ Report (80%) - A written report of no more than 3,500-4,000 words, providing a critical assessment of relevant issues, a summary and analysis of key legal frameworks, or policy recommendations around the use of cultural data and content.

The details of the set exercise and report will be included in the course handbook. Students will be encouraged to draw on real-life challenges from their professional contexts, enabling collaborative problem-solving, and peer exchange. This approach aims to ensure that learning is grounded in practice and directly relevant to participants' careers.

The principal aim of this course is to provide students with a critical understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that govern the creation, curation, and reuse of data in the cultural and creative sectors. The course invites students to explore how data infrastructures, ranging from digitised archives to government data, shape cultural memory, research, and innovation.

Further aims are to:

■ Develop students' knowledge of key legal frameworks such as copyright and database rights in the context of data-driven innovation;

■ Examine the legal and ethical tensions between open and proprietary approaches to data governance;

■ Enable students to analyse the challenges faced by institutions managing digital collections in the context of AI development;

■ Foster critical reflection on the role of law in shaping access, participation, and sustainability in the creative economy;

■ Support the development of research, analytical, and communication skills through case-based and comparative inquiry.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Analyse the legal and ethical dimensions of data curation, access, and reuse in cultural and creative sectors;

■ Evaluate licensing models and metadata standards for managing open and proprietary datasets in the context of AI development and data-driven innovation;

■ Examine the role of data infrastructures in enabling research, innovation, and cultural memory within and beyond the cultural sectors;

■ Formulate legally sound and context-sensitive approaches to digitisation and data governance that align with institutional goals and public value.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.