Talk:Community Resources and Partnerships/India Rapid Project/Digitizing Malayalam Books and Conducting Digitization Workshops in Schools

Follow-up questions on your application

Hi @Tonynirappathu,

Hope you are well. I have below clarifying questions related to the submitted project proposal.

1. How are you planning on sustaining the efforts after completion of the project, and how are you planning to absorb the new users in Kerala UG?

2. Can you please share who else would be working with you on this project?

3. May you clarify what the staff related expense “10000 pagesx3” is? And how are you planning to expense it?

4. Is the project focused solely on digitisation, or will it include both digitisation and transcription?

5. Could you explain the purpose of the “binding of books” mentioned in the budget?

6. Beyond the one-month mentorship period, are there any plans to ensure the continued involvement of new volunteers and students?

7. As this is a pilot project, I would recommend renting the equipment instead of purchasing it. Please let me know your thoughts.

Looking forward to your response.

Regards, Praveen PDas (WMF) (talk) 09:27, 26 May 2025 (UTC)

1. Sustaining Efforts & Absorbing New Users into Kerala UG

Post-Project Retention:

Mentorship & Micro-Tasks: New contributors (students, teachers, volunteers) will be given follow-up tasks (e.g., proofreading, small-scale digitization) with guidance via WhatsApp/Telegram groups.

Documentation & Replication: Lessons learned will be shared on Meta-Wiki to encourage similar projects in other schools/libraries.

2 Project Team Members

Primary Lead: Tony Antony (Tonynirappathu) – Overseeing digitization, workshops, and partnerships.

Additional Support:

Workshop Facilitators (2): Local Wikimedians or teachers (names to be confirmed) assisting in training.

Malayalam Wikisource Volunteers: Experienced editors will help with quality checks and troubleshooting.

Librarians/Archivists: From partner institutions (e.g., Kerala State Library) for book sourcing.

(Note: The proposal currently lists only the lead; collaborators will be finalized during Month 1.)

3. Staff Expense: "10,000 pages × 3"

Purpose: Covers manual or digitization of texts (Malayalam OCR often requires human intervention).

Calculation:

10,000 pages (target) × 3 INR per page = 30,000 INR for labor (e.g., volunteers/staff time).

Expense Plan: Funds will be allocated to honorarium for trained volunteers or part-time staff handling corrections.

4. Both are included:

Digitization: Scanning physical books → Uploading to Wikimedia Commons.

Transcription: Selected books can be digitalized. But transcribing the whole books to wikisource is much more effort and finance demanding one.

Workshops will teach participants both skills.

5 Budget Item: "Binding of Books"

Purpose: Some old books may be fragile or disbound; temporary binding ensures they survive scanning without damage. Doing so will encourage the custodians of the books to release more to digitization.

Scope: Limited to critically damaged books identified during selection.

Planned Strategies:

Ongoing Tasks: Curated lists of "easy-to-digitize" texts (e.g., magazines, pamphlets) for new contributors.

Recognition: Featuring top contributors on social media/Wiki pages.

Annual Events: Link participants to larger initiatives (e.g., Malayalam Wikipedia anniversary events). Tonynirappathu (talk) 15:11, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

Your project application is approved

Hi @Tonynirappathu,

I appreciate your response to the questions. We have completed the review of your application and the response you had shared to the questions we had asked. We are pleased to inform you that your request has been approved for the amount of ₹1,54,000.

Please note:

The rate for scanning and digitization has been capped at ₹2.5 per page (instead of ₹3).

The equipment purchase is not funded. Since this is a pilot project, we recommend renting equipment rather than buying.

Please make sure to document all of your achievements and learning in the final report for review and others to learn from. Wishing you all the best for the project. Best of luck!

Thanks, Praveen PDas (WMF) (talk) 18:00, 6 June 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for the approval Tonynirappathu (talk) 05:04, 8 June 2025 (UTC)

Project Extension

Dear @Tonynirappathu, per your email dated Sep 11, I grant you extension till 31st October 2025 for completing the project. Thanks PDas (WMF) (talk) 11:36, 12 September 2025 (UTC)

Dear @Tonynirappathu, I wanted to follow up on this project closure and reporting. Could you submit the report at the earliest? Thanks PDas (WMF) (talk) 10:17, 18 June 2026 (UTC)