Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Enhancing Indic Oral Culture on Wikimedia projects

statusUnder review

Wikimedia Community Fund

Enhancing Indic Oral Culture on Wikimedia projects

start date2024-07-01

end date2025-06-30

budget (local currency)1764180 INR

amount requested (USD)21912.15 USD ^{[note 1]}

grant typeIndividual

funding regionSA

decision fiscal year2023-24

funding program roundRound 2

applicant and people related to proposalAmrit Sufi

give feedback

Friendly Space Policy

Universal Code of Conduct

Application Privacy Statement

Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Enhancing Indic Oral Culture on Wikimedia projects

This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the grantmaking web service of Wikimedia Foundation where the user has submitted their application. Please do not make any changes to this page because all changes will be removed after the next update. Use the discussion page for your feedback. The page was created by CR-FluxxBot.

Applicant information[edit]

Organization name or Wikimedia Username for individuals. (required): Amrit Sufi

Do you have any approved General Support Fund requests? (required): No, it is my first time applying for a General Support Fund

You are applying as a(n). (required): Individual

Are your group or organization legally registered in your country? (required): N/A

Do you have a fiscal sponsor?: N/A

Fiscal organization name.: Wikitongues, Inc.

Main proposal[edit]

1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be a title for the Meta-Wiki page. (required): Enhancing Indic Oral Culture on Wikimedia projects

2. Do you want to apply for the multi-year funding or renewal process? (required): N/A

2.1. For how many years of multi-year funding are you applying? (required): N/A

2.2. Provide a brief overview of Year 2 and Year 3 of the proposed plan and how this relates to the current proposal and your strategic plan? (required)

N/A

3. Proposed start date. (required): 2024-07-01

4. Proposed end date. (required): 2025-06-30

5. Does your organization or group have an Affiliate or Organizational Annual Plan that can help us understand your proposal? If yes, please provide it. (required): Yes; https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aWJ7Zyh3TX733yspCiFKGGUQ2jOuIxJgRhGiTsFxNjw/edit?usp=sharing

6. Does your affiliate, organization or group have a Strategic Plan that can help us understand your proposal? If yes, please provide it. (required): Yes; https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O5vvyZmvmeKVMoVJ5Nbe0_D7JFmzsueU2jSMBZqGn-A/edit?usp=sharing

7. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required): Regional (more than one country in the same continent or region); Volunteer participants from South Asian countries in addition to India will be invited to join the project.

8. What are your programs, approaches, and strategies? What are the challenges that you are trying to address and how will your strategies support you in addressing these challenges? (required)

This project is driven by a strong passion for preserving under-documented Indic languages. The applicant, an Angika speaker and academician committed to language decolonization, has witnessed firsthand the richness and urgency of documenting these fading oral traditions. Many Indic languages exist primarily in spoken form, carrying invaluable cultural heritage through folk songs, tales, histories, sayings, and performances. The project aims to empower individuals to document their own oral cultures and make them accessible to a wider audience. Wikimedia projects provide open knowledge platforms that facilitate this goal.

The learnings (link:https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Needs_assessment_for_documentation_and_revitalization_of_Indic_languages_using_Wikimedia_projects/Executive_report#Learnings) of the ‘Needs Assessment for the documentation and revitalization of Indic languages using Wikimedia projects’ (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Needs_assessment_for_documentation_and_revitalization_of_Indic_languages_using_Wikimedia_projects/Executive_report) research project indicate the need to document the oral culture of the Indic region. The recommendations of the project were following: moving from text-centrism and using Wikimedia projects innovatively, empowering citizen archivists to document oral culture, providing needed support to interested individuals, and creation of oral culture content relevant for given languages

The learnings of this project were utilized in the experimental Indic Oral Culture Project (IOCP) that successfully involved citizen archivists to document the oral culture in their region. The Oral Culture Transcription Toolkit (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Oral_Culture_Transcription_Toolkit), which has been edited upon feedback from participants from all the three projects, was applied to the IOCP.

The proposed project builds upon the learnings of previous needs assessments and the IOCP, which successfully empowered citizen archivists through minimal resources and with training. They had accessible training and support that enabled them to bring their cultural knowledge onto Wikimedia projects. Witnessing the success of the IOCP strengthens my resolve to bridge the gap in awareness of Wikimedia's multimedia capabilities and empower more citizen archivists to document their own diverse oral traditions. It has had the impact of bringing oral culture content from several underrepresented Indic languages onto Wikimedia projects, therefore enhancing inclusion with regards to knowledge. The project is currently underway, and its report will be available here (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/MSIG/Indic_Oral_Culture_Project/Report) by the last week of March 2024.

There is a visible gap with regards to audio-visual documentation of oral culture, and there are several Indic languages that have miniscule presence on Wikimedia projects. Therefore, the aim of this project is to remedy it by creating a community of oral culture enthusiasts, by collaborating with institutions, and by creating resources to support the sustainability of the project.

This project serves as the vital first year of a potential three-year plan, laying the groundwork for long-term, sustainable documentation of this invaluable cultural heritage. It proposes creation of a community of oral culture enthusiasts, enhancing the process of oral culture documentation on Wikimedia projects by collaborating with similarly inclined institutions, and exploring reuse of the created content on Wikimedia as well as in academia.

Community creation: As oral culture is a vital part of cultural knowledge, people need to be aware and be provided support to be able to document them and create a community which can grow the movement forward in that direction. To enable the same, participants will be encouraged to share their learnings with their peers, to aid them, and to be more participative in general. In order to enhance community creation, in-person events will also be planned so that they can come together and meet similarly-minded people.

Collaboration: with academic institutes and organizations is important so as to enhance the training for the volunteer participants. Another factor is to tailor the project to be dynamically applicable and to explore content reuse.

The overall focus of the strategic plan is ‘capacity building’, a process that can be time-consuming, therefore it has been divided into multiple stages.

Therefore, in the second year, the strategy would be to focus on scalability, sustainability, impact assessment, partnerships, and strengthening tools.

The project's long-term success hinges on a multi-pronged approach. To ensure sustainability, strategies for continued involvement beyond the initial project period will be explored. This includes establishing partnerships with academic institutions and cultural organizations to expand the project's scope and strengthen its implementation. Additionally, collaborations with developer communities and technical partners will be pursued to strengthen tools for audio-visual upload, transcription, and other processes. These efforts will ultimately contribute to the project's scalability as it organically grows and becomes a significant contributor to language preservation and cultural understanding within the Wikimedia ecosystem.

The third year would be focused on replication, innovation, advocacy, and knowledge sharing.

The project will prioritize replication in languages and cultures unexplored beforehand till year two. This involves exploring opportunities for documentation, establishing relationships with interested individuals in these communities, and designing and implementing a dedicated plan. To support these efforts and foster innovation, a structured framework will be developed to accommodate diverse documentation needs, particularly from remote regions and languages. This may involve identifying and utilizing competent tools and resources for efficient information gathering. Alongside these initiatives, the project will emphasize advocacy, raising awareness to encourage active participation in documenting cultures on Wikimedia platforms. Finally, fostering knowledge sharing by disseminating project news, developments, and learnings will empower and inspire other communities to adopt and adapt these strategies within their own regions.

9. What categories are your main programs and related activities under? Please select all that apply. (required)


Category	Yes/No
Education	No
Culture, heritage or GLAM	Yes
Gender and diversity	Yes
Community support and engagement	Yes
Participation in campaigns and contests	Yes
Public policy advocacy	No
Other	No

Culture, heritage or GLAM

9.2. Select all your programs and activities for Culture, heritage or GLAM. (required): Documenting or incubating languages on Wikimedia projects, Introducing new approaches to underrepresented culture and heritage, e.g. decolonising or reparative work; oral and visual knowledge; outreach to communities of origin, indigenous and first nations self-determination; Other programs and activities if any: N/A

Gender and diversity

9.3. Select all your programs and activities for Gender and diversity.: Bringing in women and/or gender diverse participants and editors, Focusing on creating content about marginalized (underrepresented) communities and their knowledge, Focusing on knowledge equity by bringing in contributors from underrepresented communities, Building organizer skills in women and diversity groups, Fomenting female leadership within the movement (either staff, members or boards); Other programs and activities if any: N/A

Community support and engagement

9.4. Select all your programs and activities for Community support and engagement.: On-wiki training of community members, Organizing meetups, conferences, and community events, Offering non financial support and services to community members (equipment, space, books, etc.); Other programs and activities if any: N/A

Participation in campaigns and contests

9.5. Select all campaigns that apply. (required): Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos; Other programs and activities if any: N/A
10. Please include a link to or upload a timeline (operational calendar) for your programs and activities. (required): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16UnrVAH5Hvo5eAeHBMab03op6m8ZKxzxoIOGRrmWfUw/edit?usp=sharing

11. Describe your team. (required)

Project lead (paid): User:Amrit Sufi will manage the project. She has managed three Wikimedia funded projects so far: the Oral Culture Transcription Toolkit, Needs Assessment for the documentation and revitalization of Indic languages using Wikimedia projects, and Indic Oral Culture Project. She has a background in academia and is a linguist. She also contributes to the visibility of Angika knowledge systems on Wikimedia projects, especially Commons, Wikisource, and Wikidata.

Communications and community coordinator (paid): To be decided. The coordinator will be in charge of maintaining efficient communication and engagement with volunteer participants. Assisting with operation of online and in-person events, sharing project updates, and community strengthening will be the tasks of the coordinator.

Praveen Das (WMF) will provide assistance with various types of partnership possibilities and overall advisory role.

User:Akbarali- project volunteer.

12. Will you be working with any internal (Wikimedia) or external partners? Describe the characteristics of these partnerships and bring a few examples of the most significant partnerships. (required)

Wikitongues: thought partner, enhance training for participants, assist with archival of audio-visuals to be created, and oral history elicitation protocol. It will also be the fiscal sponsor for the project.

CIS-A2K: assistance with participant outreach, events, and overall thought partnership.

13. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select all that apply. (required): Coordinate Across Stakeholders, Invest in Skills and Leadership Development, Innovate in Free Knowledge, Evaluate, Iterate, and Adapt

Metrics[edit]

Wikimedia Metrics[edit]

14. Please select and fill out Wikimedia Metrics for your proposal. (recommended)

14.1. Number of participants, editors, and organizers.

All metrics provided are optional, please fill them out if they are aligned with your programs and activities.

Participants, editors, and organizers
Metrics name	Target	Description
Number of all participants	25	N/A
Number of all editors	25	N/A
Number of new editors	0
Number of retained editors	0
Number of all organizers	4	N/A
Number of new organizers	N/A	N/A

14.2. Number of new content contributions to Wikimedia projects. (recommended)

Contributions to Wikimedia projects
Wikimedia project	Created	Edited or improved
Wikipedia		25
Wikimedia Commons	250
Wikidata	250
Wiktionary
Wikisource
Wikimedia Incubator
Translatewiki
MediaWiki
Wikiquote
Wikivoyage
Wikibooks
Wikiversity
Wikinews
Wikispecies
Wikifunctions / Abstract Wikipedia

Description for Wikimedia projects contributions metrics. (optional)

Other Metrics[edit]

15. Do you have other quantitative and qualitative targets for your project (other metrics)? (required): Yes


Other Metrics	Description	Target
Pre and post surveys	Pre and post surveys to check skill development of participants.	N/A
Creating and improving resources	Improving the ‘Oral Culture Transcription Toolkit’ (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Oral_Culture_Transcription_Toolkit) as per input during the project and meta pages elaborating on oral culture documentation, an example: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Indic_Oral_Culture_Project_Resources	N/A
Collaborations	Collaborating with one organization and one academic institute.	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A

Budget[edit]

16. Will you have any other revenue sources when implementing this proposal (e.g. other funding, membership contributions, donations)? (required): No

16.1. List other revenue sources. (required)

N/A

16.2. Approximately how much revenue will you have from other sources in your local currency? (required): N/A

17. Your local currency. (required): INR

18. What is the total requested amount in your local currency? (required): 1764180 INR

Multi-year funding request summary
Year	Amount (local currency)
Year 1	N/A INR
Year 2	N/A INR
Year 3	N/A INR

Requested amount in USD: 21912.15 USD ^{[note 1]}

Multi-year funding request summary in USD
Year	Amount USD ^{[note 1]}
Year 1	N/A USD
Year 2	N/A USD
Year 3	N/A USD

↑ ^a ^b ^c The following amount in US dollars was calculated by Wikimedia Foundation staff using the fixed currency rates. This amount is approximate and may not reflect the actual currency exchange rates on the day of submission or distribution. If the application is funded, the funding will be sent in the recipient’s local currency.

19. Does this proposal include compensation for staff or contractors? (required): Yes

19.1. How many paid staff members do you plan to have? (required)

Include the number of staff and contractors during the proposal period. If you have short-term contractors or staff, please include them separately and mention their terms.

Two paid staff members. One full time staff and one part-time staff

19.2. How many FTEs (full-time equivalents) in total? (required)

Include the total FTE of staff and contractors during the proposal period. If you have short-term contractors or staff, please include their FTEs with the terms separately.

1.5

19.3. Describe any staff or contractor changes compared to the current year / ongoing General Support Fund if any. (required only for returning grantees): N/A

20. Please provide an overview of your overall budget categories in your local currency. The budget breakdown should include only the amount requested with this General Support Fund (required).


Budget category	Amount in local currency
Staff and contractor costs	900000 INR
Operational costs	864180 INR
Programmatic costs	1764180 INR

21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WMKLNF_kTCnXFl3OZOY9mieWHTFmk83RyFRFHxB9nxI/edit?usp=sharing

Additional information[edit]

22. In this optional space you can add any other additional information about your proposal or organization that you think can help us when reviewing your proposal. (optional)

By submitting your proposal/funding request you agree that you are in agreement with the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and the Universal Code of Conduct.

We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.

Yes

Feedback[edit]

Please add any feedback to the grant discussion page only. Any feedback added here will be removed.

[fixedrate-1] The following amount in US dollars was calculated by Wikimedia Foundation staff using the fixed currency rates. This amount is approximate and may not reflect the actual currency exchange rates on the day of submission or distribution. If the application is funded, the funding will be sent in the recipient’s local currency.

[note 1]