Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Gondi Wiktionary Standardisation, Content Cleaning and Uploading Event - Urban (ID: 22067811)

Endorsment from ─ The Aafī ^(talk)

This kind of initiative is exactly the kind of thing the movement needs to develop in a such language with a good amount of material to contribute. The return on a small investment seems very worthwhile. Of course, I can imagine a world in which people from this region are given free access to knowledge in a language that they understand best. --─ The Aafī ^(talk) 13:44, 1 March 2023 (UTC)

Many thanks for the endorsement and kind words. -- Rohini (talk) 08:34, 4 March 2023 (UTC)

Timeline

24 to 28 March 2023: Event in rural areas as detailed in https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Rapid_Fund/Gondi_Wiktionary_Content_Collection_Event_(ID:_22067670)

29 March to 2 April 2023: Event in Raipur as detailed in https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Rapid_Fund/Gondi_Wiktionary_Standardisation,_Content_Cleaning_and_Uploading_Event_-_Urban_(ID:_22067811)

21 April 2023: Transfer of all words from app to Wiktionary completed.

12 May 2023: Deadline for submitting the grant report and qualitative documentation.

-- Rohini (talk) 08:15, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

Conversation and Follow-up Questions

Hello @Rohini and Shubhranshu

Tagging Shubhranshu since he isn't tagged already. I am replying on behalf of him and me. -- Rohini (talk) 14:34, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

It was a pleasure speaking to you earlier. I'm documenting the key points from our discussion earlier, please feel free to make further edits. Also sharing the initial comments and feedback from the South Asia Regional Funds Committee.

• Could you share about the history and growth of the Wiki community over time?
  • Started working in Gondi language in 2012. There was only 1 radio station then. The people in conflict and indigenous areas are still focus on getting information from the radio. Hence we decided to focus on mobile radio and started work in the Gondi language. We then realised that there are many indigenous languages within Gondi.

Slight correction: We then realised that there are many dialects of Gondi. -- Rohini (talk)

• • Gond people were divided into 6 states. From 2014, we started meeting to do the standadisation work. In 2019, we felt must use technology to take these forward. 9 meetings have brought us to 3000 standard words. The community is choosing which will be their standard words. There is not much digital presence on Gondi.

• • Gonds are one of the largest indigenous communities in India - but their language is non-represented. Only 1 in 4 Gonds speak their language. Many of these communities have lost their culture and forest over time. When working with the Gond community, we are getting requests "Can you send us a teacher that can be with me for 6 months, just teach me/ my children Gondi?" I see a renaissance in the Gond community -> they want to learn their language.
  • India has a new education policy - emphasises on education in the mother tongue. Education in Gondi has started. But because it is not an official language, there is no consistency. 12 million speakers. Hence between 2014 and 2018, we raised funds to do offline meetings. Each meeting had 100-150 people. Local organisers will then take care of the logistics.
  • Revival of language - We are not from the community and we are not speaking the language. We are the coordinators to help Gondi communities come together. We need this initial support for sometime.

We need to do this initial support for sometime before the community stands up on its own feet to do the work on their own. -- Rohini (talk) 14:33, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

• • We observe that young people are becoming literate in technology. We hope to bring them together for some time so that they can leapfrog from this.

We hope to bring them together at the workshop with an older generation from the community that knows the language better so that they can leapfrog from this together while helping each other. -- Rohini (talk) 14:48, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

• • We have already secured funding from state government - to fund some workshops. They make arrangements for places to stay, teachers who speak the language, they will provide food. They may not provide travel yet. We are also making two Apps. Not working with local museums or libraries at the moment. Gondi script is now available on mobile. Made an app of the last 3000 standard words and that is available on google app store. Would like to do similar things that can be downloaded on the mobile phone (offline). Wiktionary (online)

• • Not working with local museums or libraries at the moment. On the radar but not on this grant. Something that is very much planned as part of our efforts. Thinking aloud, maybe OCR on dictionary? but require more intensive resourcing that wil not be part of the grant, copyright issues (US vs India)
  • Also working with University - We are also working with Linguistics department of Pandit Ravishankar University Raipur Chhattisgarh); Inviting linguist to support the project that will be done by the university.

Also taking help from an institute and the linguistics departments of another university. -- Rohini (talk) 15:01, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

Initial comments from South Asia Regional Funds Committee - @User:आर्या जोशी

Reference: Gondi Wiktionary Content Collection Event (ID: 22067670)

I appreciate the efforts of the team towards a new beginning in the field of language.

Here are a few suggestions

1. This project is based on tribal community.Every tribal community have their own language and cultural source with them and it is nothing but elderly persons from their community. Kindly engage any two of these kinds of persons in this project and take guidance from them whenever needed.

We will involve the older and younger generations both. Both have their strengths and weaknesses as you suggested. Older people know the language better and younger people the technology. We aim to pair them at the workshops, so that they can add words as a team. We expect to form around 15 teams. -- Rohini (talk) 15:07, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

2. While dealing with a project based on language, if there will be any linguistic expert there with the team to guide it will be more beneficial. Experts can teach the participants the philosophy and the basic rules of language which will be useful for creation of a dictionary.

We are taking guidance from the Linguistics department of Pandit Ravishankar University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, which is also organising the workshop with us. We have also been receiving help from 5 other research/ linguistics departments at different universities and institutes, and 15 different language experts. We expect at least 3 language experts to be present at the proposed workshop in Raipur. -- Rohini (talk) 15:23, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

3. In language and culture there are many interlinking threads. Editors should understand these small but important things while editing words in the wiktionary.

We are aware of the significance of cultural references, concepts and contexts in language, and the challenges of translating and transferring them to another language in activities such as building a dictionary. Hence we are working with community members, retired government officials from the Gond community, language experts and academics -- Rohini (talk)

4.Tribal communities have oral traditions which they have been following since centuries. It is a great need to record some pronunciations and actual usage of each word orally.IS there any idea of audio and video recording to preserve this language?

We will record the pronunciation of the words in the app during the workshops. We will also try to record some videos for the Wikitongues project. -- Rohini (talk) 15:58, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

5. I also want to get some more information about the participation of Karya Inc.

Karya is a company based in Bengaluru. It has created a Machine Translation Tool for the Gondi language. The tool is a work in progress as it is a machine learning (ML) project. The current accuracy of the translation is 62%, which needs improvement. Karya has also made the mobile phone application where the community is collecting words online for the Gondi dictionary. We will work with Karya to replicate those words from the dictionary to Wiktionary. -- Rohini (talk) 16:07, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

6. If applicants want any kind of help they are free to get in touch with me. As a researcher from the field of a language and culture I would love to help them if needed.

Thank You!

Thanks for your offer and your important and valuable suggestions. We shall be in touch for your guidance. --Rohini (talk) 16:11, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

Reference: Gondi Wiktionary Standardisation, Content Cleaning and Uploading Event - Urban (ID: 22067811)

1. As per my point of view this activity will need more time to complete the work up to mark. What will be the timeline proposed by the participants? Is there any flowchart or mind map they have created for this?

The timeline for the grant activities is on this page. As you very rightly say, this is a long term and continuous work, which will need more such workshops and online work. After the current series of workshops, we are keen to start work on digitisation of Gondi dictionaries in various dialects. -- Rohini (talk) 05:50, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

2. Though this is a separate program regarding language only, are they going to make some collaborations with local museums or libraries? There is ample literature or manuscripts or scriptures available in museums. Are they going to study this kind of historical tools?

Under the two, linked grant applications we have filed, there are no GLAM activities. We are interested in collaborating with GLAMs to get copies of Gondi dictionaries and other material to continue the work we intend to do via these two grants. -- Rohini (talk) 05:56, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

3. While upgrading the content there should be one scholar from the local language and another expert from culture who knows the local culture well should get involved.

We have addressed a question about the participation of experts on culture, Gondi language, and linguistics earlier in this post. -- Rohini (talk) 06:01, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

Here are further questions, which we would need your help to respond to:

Further questions

1) Would like to find out more about collaboration “with Karya Inc (incubated in Microsoft Research Bangalore) and XRI Institute, Texas, US who are helping us make Apps pro bono which will be used before and after the event to work online for collection of content” - How will the app compliment wiktionary? Also, could you provide the links to the google apps?

It is a dedicated dictionary app. The words will be added to the app with their meanings and the audio recording of their pronunciation. XRI and Karya both will adhere to open licensing and work with us to transfer a copy of all words collected during the workshop to Wiktionary.-- Rohini (talk) 06:32, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

2) Tribal communities have oral traditions which they have been following since centuries. It is a great need to record some pronunciations and actual usage of each word orally. Is there any idea of audio and video recording to preserve this language?

We have previously answered this question in this post. -- Rohini (talk) 06:36, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

3) While we note that this is a separate program regarding language only, are you planning to make some collaborations with local museums or libraries? There is ample literature or manuscripts or scriptures available in museums. Are they going to study this kind of historical tools?

We have previously answered this question in this post. -- Rohini (talk) 06:36, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you. Please also feel free to provide a response to the comments from the South Asia Regional Funds Committee.

Many thanks to you Jacqueline and the committee for your review and valuable comments. -- Rohini (talk) 06:38, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

Regards,

Jacqueline on behalf of the South Asia Regional Funds Committee JChen (WMF) (talk) 01:03, 18 March 2023 (UvTC)

Grant Approval, Reporting and Implementation Support

Hello @Rohini and @User:Shu bapi,

Thank you for putting in grant applications - Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Gondi Wiktionary Content Collection Event (ID: 22067670) and

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Rapid_Fund/Gondi_Wiktionary_Standardisation,_Content_Cleaning_and_Uploading_Event_-_Urban_(ID:_22067811)

Your grant applications have been approved. Good luck for your project and please feel free to reach out if you need any further support.

Let’s continue having regular conversations over the course of your grant implementation. Please let me know if you require support in any way or would like to share your experiences with a wider community through the Let's Connect Programme.

The reporting requirements for the grant can be found here and templates are available here. Timelines for reporting can be found in your grant agreement or on Fluxx. All reports are to be completed and submitted via Fluxx.

We thank you for your participation in the grant application process and hope to continue to journey with you as you embark on this project.

Let me know if you require any support.

Thank you.

Regards, Jacqueline JChen (WMF) (talk) 03:22, 20 March 2023 (UTC)