Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Digitalizing Punjabi Manuscripts (Phase II) (ID: 22024557)/Final Report
Report Status: Accepted
Due date: 30 June 2024
Funding program: Rapid Fund
Report type: Final
This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the web service of Wikimedia Foundation Funds where the user has submitted their midpoint report. 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.General information
[edit]- Applicant username: Gaurav Jhammat
- Organization name: N/A
- Amount awarded: 3782
- Amount spent: 2718 USD, 228425
Part 1: Project and impact
[edit]1. Describe the implemented activities and results achieved. Additionally, share which approaches were most effective in supporting you to achieve the results. (required)
Before filing this project grant, We had done research and a survey based activity in which we had chosen 6 manuscripts for this project. One of our team members, Simar Singh, is an independent historian and researcher. He helped the Punjabi community to give us the data as names of some important manuscripts and their access so we can scan it. (He previously did the same by which Punjabi Community did the same kind of Project as which we are saying Phase I of this project). These manuscripts are placed at different places and they are not allowed to get displaced or move to any other place for display or scan activities. so we did field visits. After scanning the work, we uploaded 4 of them to Wikimedia Commons.
The primary objective of this project was to digitize six (but we could do only four) historical manuscripts to enhance accessibility and preserve their content for future research. The manuscripts we took as base, were of significant cultural and academic value and digitization was essential for both preservation and dissemination purposes.
2. Documentation of your impact. Please use space below to share links that help tell your story, impact, and evaluation. (required)
Share links to:
- Project page on Meta-Wiki or any other Wikimedia project
- Dashboards and tools that you used to track contributions
- Some photos or videos from your event. Remember to share access.
You can also share links to:
- Important social media posts
- Surveys and their results
- Infographics and sound files
- Examples of content edited on Wikimedia projects
Project Meta Page on meta-wiki : https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Digitalizing_Punjabi_Manuscripts_(Phase_II)
Tools used to track contribution :
- GoogleMeet : We used googlemeet for every discussion regarding project planning, execution and task issues.
- Communication : Whatsapp and Telegram for communication at informal level and for formal discussions, we used Gmail.
- Google Docs : for saving records and documentation, we used Google docs.
Additionally, share the materials and resources that you used in the implementation of your project. (required)
For example:
- Training materials and guides
- Presentations and slides
- Work processes and plans
- Any other materials your team has created or adapted and can be shared with others
We did not felt need of any specific training material and guide but i want to mention some Apparatus/devices which we used while implementation of project.
- Scanner : It was ScanSnap scanner which helped us to scan the manuscripts.
- ABBYY FineReader and Scan Tailor : These were the software whic we used to edit the scanned images and compile into single files.
3. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with this Rapid Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals. Required. Select one option per question. (required)
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Not applicable |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Not applicable |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Not applicable |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Not applicable |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement | Agree |
| F. Other (optional) |
Part 2: Learning
[edit]4. In your application, you outlined some learning questions. What did you learn from these learning questions when you implemented your project? How do you hope to use this learnings in the future? You can recall these learning questions below. (required)
You can recall these learning questions below: We have already done a pilot project regarding it in which we scanned 4 manuscripts about more than 2000 pages. In this project, we faced some difficulties and learn lessons from them. A manuscript scanning work is very different from scanning a normal book specially in that case when the particular manuscript has any kind of prestigious heritage, cultural and religious value. You have to keep guidelines in your mind while scanning to keep your work proper. Like in case of manuscript, we cant move manuscript as per our ease. We have to adjust our own scanner and light system as per manuscript is fixed at any particular place or angle. Pages are very soft and gentle and they also need to clean first by brush before scanning, So this kind of work need so much passion, time and hard work. These things we learned in our pilot project. We are just scaling it up.
We learned a lot from this project. A manuscript scanning work is very different from scanning a normal book specially in that case when the particular manuscript has any kind of prestigious heritage, cultural and religious value. Like in case of manuscript, we cant move manuscript as per our ease. We have to adjust our own scanner and light system as per manuscript is fixed at any particular place or angle. Pages are very soft and gentle and they also need to clean first by brush before scanning, So this kind of work need so much passion, time and hard work. In this journey, we came across some other independent individuals and also, institutions who are doing same task from which we reached upto this idea that community should collaborate with these institutions to enrich the content as well as learning skills. In addition,
Like we earlier said, we had done a same kind of activity in the past too so we had a self-belief in ourselves that we can attain ours current target too but we couldn’t. The main reason for that we lost the connection with manuscript owners. We were unable to communicate with them after a certain point of time.
5. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities? This can include both positive and negative situations. What did you learn from those experiences? (required)
Yes, something unexpected happened while execution of the project which didn't let complete our target. During the scanning process, several challenges arose:
- Physical Condition: Two of the manuscripts were found to be in poor physical condition. Hand touch was necessary if we scanned them but any hand or physical touch to them could cause further damage, which led to a decision to halt the scanning process for these items to avoid any risk.
- Alterative Manuscripts : We had some alternative manuscripts too in mind while planning this project but till this unforeseen situation came, we had lost the communication with manuscript's owners/care-takers so we decided to wait for some time. We asked for the extension for this project but we could not achieve our target even in that extended period too. The project had a plenty pf time but unexpected delays in assessing the condition of the manuscripts impacted the overall schedule.
We learnt a lesson from this situation that If we would plan something like that we would keep assure the condition and availability in advance to avoid such kind of happenings.
6. What is your plan to share your project learnings and results with other community members? If you have already done it, describe how. (required)
We are thinking to conduct a Wikisource Workshop in the upcoming times in which we will edit and proofread this manuscripts so we can compile them into a normal understandable book look. This task seems to be easy but actually its not because manuscripts belong to ages ago and written in multiple writing styles and many writers. In this workshop, we will call any linguist who will help the community members to understand the manuscripts during the activities of proofreading.
Part 3: Metrics
[edit]7. Wikimedia Metrics results. (required)
In your application, you set some Wikimedia targets in numbers (Wikimedia metrics). In this section, you will describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used.
| Target | Results | Comments and tools used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 6 | ||
| Number of editors | 8 | ||
| Number of organizers | 1 |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | |||
| Wikimedia Commons | 7369 | 0 | |
| Wikidata | |||
| Wiktionary | |||
| Wikisource | |||
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | |||
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | |||
| Wikivoyage | |||
| Wikibooks | |||
| Wikiversity | |||
| Wikinews | |||
| Wikispecies | |||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
8. Other Metrics results.
In your proposal, you could also set Other Metrics targets. Please describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used if you set Other Metrics in your application.
| Other Metrics name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| content by scanning | Our main work and focus is scanning the 6 manuscripts about 20,000 pages. Content Enrichment will be through scanned manuscripts in form of books on Commons. These 6 manuscripts will bring approx. 20 thousands pages. | 6 | 7369 | No. We didnt feel any need of any tool because project output was based on quantitative approach. |
| Participants | Participants who will go on visits and will contribute in scanning work, post-scanning work, documentation or report writing part. | 8 | ||
9. Did you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results? (required)
No
9.1. Please state what difficulties you had. How do you hope to overcome these challenges in the future? Do you have any recommendations for the Foundation to support you in addressing these challenges? (required)
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]10. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency. (required)
228425
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
2718
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
Provide the link to the financial report https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bQW8nJ6rfwAehCRGnSwdDQe5uXFt5jovOaRaQvR_u14/edit?gid=0#gid=0
12.2. If you have not already done so in your financial spending report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal. (optional)
13. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
Yes
13.1. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
81575 INR which we have as unspent funds. We could not spent them as we failed to achieve our complete target. We had to scan 6 manuscripts in 13 field visits but we could only do 4 manuscripts in 11 field visits.
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
B. Propose to use them to partially or fully fund a new/future grant request with PO approval
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
We will do a community event in which we will edit and proofread these manuscripts. This community event will lead to a training environment in which we will be able to edit the manuscripts on wikisource too with a proper learning and understanding.
14.1. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
Yes
14.2. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
14.3. Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
Yes
15. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. (optional)
Review notes
[edit]Review notes from Program Officer:
N/A
Applicant's response to the review feedback.
N/A