CIS-A2K/Events/Meghalaya visit for GLAM project review

The knowledge about the North-East region of India is underrepresented on Wikimedia projects. Considering this, CIS-A2K has started building partnerships with the institutions in various states from the last two years. In 2022, the first project was launched in Arunachal Pradesh with local partner RIWATCH to document tribal culture and diversity on Wikimedia projects. CIS-A2K collaborated with West Bengal Wikimedians User Group (WBG) for this project. In February 2023, CIS-A2K in collaboration with Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Sohra, Meghalaya and West Bengal Wikimedians User Group (WBG) have started a project to jointly work on the "Digitization & Documentation of Cultural Heritage and Literature in Meghalaya". This pilot project is partially funded by "The North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR)".

The project review was done during the visit to Meghalaya from 6 to 11 December 2023. The review meetings with various stakeholders, training of volunteers and orientation sessions were conducted in this visit.

We conducted Orientation and training of Wann Majaw (Wikimedian nominated by RKM) and other RKM coordinators for the documentation and uploading of photos and videos. The lists of photos are prepared. RKM is coordinating with him for the categorisation of items such as - historical places, monuments, caves, cultural dances, festivals etc. The orientation of Wikimedia projects and training session was conducted in Vintage Museum at Sohra. We have started working on metadata of books with the Vintage museum team. After the completion of this task, we will design the digitisation plan.

We conducted a detailed review session with Hammarsing and team about the scanning at Jeebon Roy Trust in Shillong in December 2023. The training about the post processing was done. The documents need to be converted into pdf format for uploading. They have scanned around 360 books. Once the entire library has been digitised and filed properly, a special review committee will be formed to select the literary works that can be uploaded and shared to appropriate sites and storage systems on the internet. This review committee will comprise members of the Jeebon Roy Family, Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Shillong and Sohra, Seng Khasi and other individuals who have knowledge and experience in fields related to this work. The copyright of several of the books scanned belong to the authors or publishing houses or families of the authors. Therefore, permission and consent, if necessary, will have to be obtained prior to any form of digital upload or distribution.

We had a meeting with NECTAR officer, Lyngksiar N. Khongwir about the progress of the project and the next steps. The discussion on the hurdles in project implementation was done and a request was made to extend the project period by three months as stipulated in the MoA. NECTAR has agreed to extend the project till 6th April 2024.