Assamese Wikimedia Community/Events/Assamese Wikimedia Projects and Digital Literary Practices
A specialized hands-on-workshop titled 'Assamese Wikimedia Projects and Digital Literary Practices' was conducted at Gauhati University, Assam on 28th December 2025 from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM. This session was a key component of the three-day workshop on "Essential Digital Skills for Research and Publication in Humanities", organized by the Department of Modern Indian Language and Literary Studies (MIL&LS), Gauhati University in collaboration with the Asomiya Sahitya Sanmilani. It was attended by 80 nos. of students, research scholars and faculties from different institutes of Assam.
The session was led by Dr. Gitartha Bordoloi (User:Gitartha.bordoloi), a long time contributor to Assamese Wikimedia Projects who is also acting as sysops in Assamese Wikipedia and Wikisource. He was assisted during the session by Dr. Bhaskar Bhuyan (User:BhuyanBhaskar), another prominent contributor to Assamese projects.
Workshop overview
[edit]The primary goal of the session was to bridge the gap between traditional humanities research and modern digital archiving. The trainer focussed on how scholars and students can utilize Wikimedia platforms to preserve and disseminate Assamese literary heritage.
Key components
[edit]- Introduction to Wikimedia ecosystem: An overview of Assamese Wikipedia, Assamese Wikisource and Assamese Wikiquote as tools for academic research. The participants were guided to create their accounts in Wikipedia.
- Hands-on editing: Participants were guided through the technical aspects of editing wikipedia pages including Source and Visual editing, Adding citations and Sandbox practice.
- Digitization via Wikisource: A major focus placed on the digitization of copyright-free books. The trainers demonstrated the workflow of scanning, uploading to Wikimedia commons and the proofreading process on Wikisource to create searchable digital texts of Assamese classics.
- Ditital literary practices: Discussion on how digital platforms can host archives of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, making them accessible to a global audience.
Impact and outcomes
[edit]The workshop successfully registered approximately 80 participants including research scholars and faculty members. By the end of the session, participants had:
- Gained the primary skills to contribute to the online repository o Assamese knowledge.
- Learned to utilize digital tools for proofreading, typography and academic writing.
- Understood the importance of Open access in the context of Humanities research in Assam.
Gallery
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