Indic Oral Culture Wiki/Meetups/Trainings

Orientation Meeting 5 September 2024

The Orientation meeting for participants, held on 5th September 2024, served as an icebreaker where each participant introduced themselves, fostering a sense of community. The agenda covered key aspects of the project, such as its goals, expected impact on both participants and the broader oral culture preservation effort, and the timeline for key milestones. A detailed discussion on how the project would contribute to Creative Commons and open knowledge initiatives was also part of the conversation. Participants were given a sneak peek into the first training session, which was aimed at setting the foundation for future sessions, ensuring everyone understood the structure and what to expect. This meeting set the tone for collaborative work throughout the project.

First Training Session

In the First Training Session which was held on 13th September 2024, several important topics were covered to set the foundation for the project. The session began with an overview of the previous connect, ensuring all participants were up to date. It then delved into the idea, definition, and significance of oral culture, emphasizing its role in preserving intangible heritage. Techniques and methods for documenting oral culture were discussed, highlighting the importance of accuracy and preservation. Additionally, Creative Commons, open knowledge, and Wikimedia projects were introduced as key platforms for sharing and contributing to open resources. The session also outlined the schedule for future meetings with the organizers, followed by details about the next connect to keep participants engaged and informed.

Second Training Session

In the Second Training Session which was held on 25th September 2024, expectations from participants were clearly outlined, focusing on active engagement and contribution. Field experiences were shared by IOCP participants, including Kavitha ma'am, Sanjib Sir, and David Sir, providing practical insights into oral culture documentation. Topics like ownership and the use of a consent script were covered to ensure ethical documentation practices. Participants were introduced to the various types of Creative Commons (CC) licenses, their applications, and how they are used on Wikimedia Commons. They learned how to recognize oral culture content that needs documentation and were guided on what to avoid collecting. The attendance policy was emphasized, with a minimum of 60% attendance required for successful project contribution, which would also serve as a selection criterion for in-person meetups.

Third Training Session

In the Third Training Session held on 12th October 2024, participants were guided on the essential aspects of conducting fieldwork. The session covered key topics such as creating a checklist before heading to the field, how to find and approach participants or informants, and the importance of thorough research prior to departure. Emphasis was also placed on maintaining proper etiquette during field interactions, both on-camera and off-camera, ensuring respectful and ethical engagement. Participants were reminded of key things to remember before leaving and setting clear objectives. Finally, information regarding the upcoming sessions was provided to ensure participants are prepared for future activities.

Fourth Training Session

In the Fourth Training Session held on October 25, 2024, participants were guided on creating good quality audio-visuals with the resources available to them. The session covered key topics such as the importance of creating videos, achieving good lighting, effective framing, watchability and aesthetics, processing videos, utilizing tripods, and understanding video quality, including good versus bad framing for videos.
Finally, information regarding the upcoming sessions was provided to ensure participants are prepared for future activities, fostering an environment of continuous learning and improvement. Participants left feeling inspired and equipped with new skills to enhance their audio-visual projects.

Fifth Training Session

The Fifth Training Session, held on November 15, 2024, focused on several important topics related to oral culture. The agenda covered an in-depth exploration of oral culture categories quality and quantity expectations for each category, emphasizing the importance of balancing detailed, authentic documentation with sufficient data collection.
A walkthrough of the toolkit provided practical guidance on the tools and methods for recording, transcribing, and analyzing oral traditions. Finally, the session concluded with a motivating message from the project advisor, stressing the importance of preserving oral cultures for future generations. The session equipped attendees with both the theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary for their work.

Early Training Session

During the early training session held on 25th January 2025, participants were guided through different methods of uploading videos to Wiki platforms. The session covered the direct upload method using the Video2Commons tool, which allows uploading without changing the video format. A demo was provided to show how this tool works and how to input metadata correctly.
The indirect method was also demonstrated, which involves converting MP4 files to WEBM using free websites like video-converter.com and clideo.com. Participants were advised to check if videos need clipping or splitting before upload.
The use of OpenShot was recommended for editing large files (over 500MB). The limitations of free video tools—such as file size caps and possible watermarks—were discussed. Overall, the session aimed to build confidence in preparing and uploading video content effectively.

Transcription and Translation Training

The training session held on April 3, 2025, focused on transcribing, subtitling, and translating videos to enhance accessibility and multilingual reach on Wikimedia platforms. Participants were introduced to amara.org for subtitling: after logging in, they selected a transcribed video, clicked “Start Subtitling for Free,” and accessed the original video file from commons.wikimedia.org. The session covered creating .txt files for Wikisource—supporting the idea of an “e-library” for oral culture—and .srt files for TimedText, which sync subtitles with video playback. The importance of translating transcripts was highlighted, emphasizing broader accessibility, knowledge equity, and support for global communities. Participants also learned how to translate subtitles directly on Amara by selecting “Add/Edit Subtitles,” choosing “Translate,” and picking a target language. Optional translation via Wikisource was also mentioned.

Integration Training

The training session held on April 11, 2025 The session covered the agenda for upcoming integration and community engagement activities. Key topics included why to integrate—to increase the reach of content, enrich Wikimedia knowledge platforms, and grow viewership. Participants learned where integration can happen, including embedding media files into Wikipedia articles, citing Wikisource articles as references, and adding media to relevant Wikidata items. A contest was announced, starting on 21st April, with categories like most Wikipedia pages created (minimum 10), most Wikidata items created (minimum 50), most Wikipedia pages edited (minimum 20), and most videos transcribed or translated (minimum 10). The session concluded with open-ended discussion questions for participants: Who would like to write about their experience? How would they prefer to stay connected? Is there interest in an in-person meetup, and what should its agenda be? Finally, participants were invited to consider joining a user group of interwiki volunteers focused on language and culture digitization through audio-visual content

Blog writing training for interested individuals

Participants from five separate language teams were provided with training on writing Wikimedia Diff articles during the month of May 2025. As of the last week of September, participants from three language teams have five of their blogs published on Diff.

In-person meetup during WTS 2024

Few of the participants who were pat of Wiki Technology Summit 2024 had a small meetup during the Summit .

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  EIOC project participants During the social dinner at the Wikimedia Technology Summit 2024 in Hyderabad

Meetup with Dr.Fauzia

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  Dr Fauzia Farooqui and Amrit Sufi in-person meeting in Delhi

Orientation Meeting 5 September 2025

The Orientation meeting for participants, held on 5th September 2025, served as an engaging icebreaker where new participants introduced themselves and the purpose of project extension till December 2025.
The agenda covered talk by Dr.Fauzia, South Asian Studies Princeton University, oral Culture project over the years, Recap of EIOC project activities, Expectations from the team, New participants introductions and activity timeline was discussed.

Training on adding structured data on Commons and Wikidata on created vidoes

User:Gnoeee provided training and demo to the participants on the Topic: EIOC- Increase Visibility of Your Oral Culture Videos on Oct 17, 2025 07:00 PM IST. The 80-minute session focused on the importance of structured data in enhancing the discoverability and accessibility of oral culture videos on Wikimedia Commons. Participants learned about Wikidata, its role as a structured data repository, and how to add metadata such as depicts, language, and recording details to videos. Various tools like ISA Tool, OpenRefine, and QuickStatements were introduced for adding structured data. The session concluded with a Q&A segment to address participants’ queries.