Are Digital Cultural Commons Culturally Diverse?

Cultural commons constitute a complex and varied field of research, as the concepts of commons and culture are both polysemic. Therefore, the qualification of ‘cultural commons’ remains perilous. What are cultural commons, and how can they be given legal resonance? After an overview of the different meanings, we propose to define them as follows: the individual or collective cultural productions, expressions, and practices marked by a form of inclusion and following participatory governance. However, this contribution is limited to the cultural commons in the digital universe (1), which requires specific analyses regarding their intangible nature, as well as their regime. Digital cultural commons play on the tension between access and control of digital cultural content more than tangible cultural commons, without necessarily excluding intellectual property rights over such content, on the contrary (2). In these movements, mainly at the European level, regarding the appropriation or access to cultural data, the issue of cultural diversity seems to be forgotten or at least poorly expressed. However, cultural diversity, understood as “the manifold ways in which the cultures of groups and societies find expression,“1 gives an objective to pursue, particularly in the development of digital cultural commons. But this diversity can be threatened, among other things, by “digital colonization,“ [1 : 336] according to which algorithms and platforms foster a certain cultural and economic hegemony. Platforms contribute to the critical analysis of digital cultural commons, in that they allow for the implementation of participatory governance specific to the commons (3)