Community Resources and Partnerships/India Rapid Project/North East India Cultural Documentation:Apatani Community & Ziro Festival, 2025
Applicant
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
JyotiPN
- Organization
N/A
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
N/A
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
N/A
Project
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
North East India Cultural Documentation: Apatani Community & Ziro Festival, 2025
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2025-09-26 - 2026-02-28
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
India
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Wiki Loves Folklore
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
This project seeks to bridge the knowledge and representation gap related to indigenous communities of North East India, specifically the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, by documenting their intangible cultural heritage, traditional practices, and participation in the Ziro Festival through photography and community storytelling.
We aim to:
1.Preserve endangered cultural practices like facial tattooing, oral histories, and ecological farming systems.
2. Elevate voices from underrepresented geographies in global platforms like Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia.
3. Promote gender equity by enabling a woman-led initiative in a region where representation of women in digital knowledge production is limited.
4. Encourage local participation and ownership in open knowledge movements.
Challenges or Problems We’re Addressing:
1. Underrepresentation of North East India on Wikimedia projects– There is a significant lack of quality images, context, and cultural knowledge about Arunachal Pradesh and its indigenous tribes.
2.Disappearing traditional knowledge and practices– Apatani oral histories, tattooing, and ecological farming are at risk of being forgotten, as younger generations migrate or adopt modern lifestyles.
3.Limited digital literacy and access to platforms in remote regions– Local communities often lack the awareness or tools to document their own heritage or contribute to open platforms.
4.Gender imbalance in contribution to open knowledge– Most contributors to Wikimedia projects in India are male; this project provides space for women-led cultural work.
Approches to achieve the challenges:
1.Conduct an on-ground photo walk during the Ziro Festival to capture the festival and surrounding Apatani cultural life.
2. Engage with the local community to collect oral stories, permissions, and cultural insights ethically and respectfully.
3. Upload high-quality media to Wikimedia Commons with appropriate categorization and licensing.
4.Create or improve Wikipedia articles related to Apatani people, Ziro Festival, and their cultural practices.
5.Document the project transparently on Meta-Wiki, inviting contributions, translations, and follow-up collaborations.
6.Train and involve local youth and women contributors, wherever possible, to encourage sustainable engagement in future.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
A photowalk to Ziro Valley from 25th to 28th of September.
Plan of Action:
During Festival (25–28 Sept)
- Full visual coverage of festival events and community participation
- Documentation of homes, farming systems, local cuisine, attire, and rituals
Post-Festival (Oct–Nov)
- Editing and archiving of photographs and video content, to be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
- Optionally: Public talk, offline exhibition, community screening
Post-Festival (Dec–Feb)
Uploading the curated content to Wikimedia Commons as part of the documentation initiative.
It is a collaborative documentation project supported by a partnership involving Loren Sonowal – a professional photographer and a wikimedian, the Tourism Department of Assam, and a wikimedian from Assam.
Collaborators’ Background:
- Pranjyoti Nath (User:JyotiPN) : Based in Assam, a Wikimedian with experience in documenting regional festivals, folk traditions, and GLAM projects with open knowledge platforms.
- Loren Sonowal : A professional photographer and a wikimedian who has contributed to the Wiki Loves Butterfly Campaign, with a deep understanding and access to the Apatani community.
- Madhav Das, Tourism Department of Assam: Partnering to enhance cultural documentation, regional outreach, and Northeast heritage promotion.
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc.
Pranjyoti Nath, User:JyotiPN - Project lead
Loren Sonowal, User:Lorensonowal - Head of the photography team
Madhav Das - Coordinator
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
Participants:
Local tribes of Arunachal Pradesh.
- 9.1. If your project includes in-person activities, are there any international participants travelling to India for them? (required)
- No
- 9.1.1. List all countries of participation. (required)
- 9.2. Will the project be transferring funds to any international participants? (required)
- No
- 9.2.1. List all international participants receiving funding and their countries. (required)
N/A
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
- No
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
N/A
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
It's a off wiki discussion with individuals and collaborative partners.
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Content Gender gap
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Culture, heritage or GLAM
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Geographic
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Invest in Skills and Leadership Development
Metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
Through this project, we aim to gain deeper insights into:
Community-Centered Documentation Practices – How to respectfully and effectively collaborate with indigenous communities like the Apatanis for documenting sensitive cultural traditions and oral histories.
Ethical Storytelling and Representation – How to ensure that the portrayal of the Apatani culture on open platforms like Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia is accurate, nuanced, and community-approved.
Strategies to Bridge Content Gaps on Wikimedia Projects – What works best when contributing media and knowledge from underrepresented regions like Arunachal Pradesh, where language barriers, access issues, and digital divides exist.
Sustainable Involvement of Local and Marginalized Voices – How to engage local youth and women, especially from tribal communities, in open knowledge work and encourage future participation in Wikimedia projects.
Event-Based Documentation Models – How festivals like the Ziro Festival can serve as dynamic entry points for capturing both modern and traditional aspects of indigenous life.
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 40 | We anticipate that atleast 40 to 50 local people will actively participate in the documentation process. |
| Number of editors | 10 | Including the project associates. |
| Number of organizers | 1 |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 5 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 200 |
| Wikidata | 50 |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | 2 |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
N/A
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
Yes
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Celebrate Women Campaign | To promote the Celebrate Women Campaign, I have been organizing two events each year since 2024 in celebration of International Women's Day.
In 2024, I conducted an online Wikisource Proofread-a-thon, where each participant was awarded a book as a token of appreciation for their contribution. In 2025, I organized a Digitization and Assamese Wikisource Proofread-a-thon workshop in collaboration with the Department of Assamese, Tezpur University. The total budget for the event was approximately ₹25,000, covering lunch for 50 participants, and travel and accommodation for myself and guest speakers. Both programs were entirely self-funded. This year, I am seeking support from the Wikimedia Foundation to carry forward and expand these activities in connection with International Women's Day. Here are the links: 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Assamese_Wikimedia_Community/Events/Celebrate_Women_Wikisource_Edit-a-thon,_2024 2. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Assamese_Wikimedia_Community/Events/Celebrate_Women:_Digitization_and_Assamese_Wikisource_Workshop,_2025 |
N/A |
| GLAM with libraries and archives | I am currently working on two GLAM projects. I have recently received permission from another library to begin a new GLAM project. To initiate this work and organize an accompanying edit-a-thon, I require a small amount of funding.
Here is the links of the ongoing projects: 1.https://as.wikisource.org/wiki/ৱিকিউৎস:GLAM/GLAM_Project_with_Jagannath_Barooah_College,_Jorhat 2.https://as.wikisource.org/wiki/ৱিকিউৎস:GLAM/GLAM_Project_with_Jagannath_Barooah_College,_Jorhat |
N/A |
| Relicensing of books | As part of my efforts to expand the digital library and preserve cultural heritage, I have successfully relicensed a few books for open access and uploaded them to Wikimedia Commons. To carry this initiative forward in the current year, I am requesting a modest amount of funding.
Here is the link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Relicensed_books_by_User:JyotiPN |
N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
I am not sure and need support.
Budget
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
- 22. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in Indian Rupees. (required)
97500 INR
- 22.1. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD. (required)
1113.3 USD
- By submitting this proposal request you agree with the Institutional Partner Privacy Policy, Application Privacy Statements, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
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