Wikicite/grant/Balinese WikiLontar/Report
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Balinese WikiLontar is a program to collect metadata and cataloging balinese palm-leaf manuscript in Bali to added more reference for Wikipedia, specially Wikidata. The metadata catalog for the manuscripts will include any manuscripts parameter with additional parameters which will collected on site, such as: dimensions, date created, date recreated, the authors/writers, number of pages, origins, coordinates, owners, genre, license, and their condition.
Goals
Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went?
Yes we meet our goals, our goal is to create at least 500 balinese palm-leaf manuscripts metadata to Wikidata, Commons and additional Wikisource. Until now we already collected metadata from various genre and condition of palm-leaf manuscripts. Until finished project, 608 Balinese palm-leaf manuscripts we collected from 6 places. Which is at:
- Jro Mangku House, Tojan, Klungkung, Bali, at December 27th, 2020.
- Sugi Lanus, Wanagiri, Sukasada, Buleleng, Bali, at January 2-3rd, 2021 and January 12th, 2021.
- Museum Semarajaya, Semarapura, Klungkung, Bali, at January 27-29th, 2021
- Griya Kelodan Sawan, Sawan village, Sawan district, Buleleng, Bali, at February 5-7th, 2021
- Griya Kaleran Kemenuh, Sukawati district, Gianyar, Bali, at February 5-7th, 2021
- Jro Mangku House, Sukawati district, Gianyar, Bali, at February 27-28th, 2021
Another places (2-4 places) is canceled due to restricted Covid-19 Pandemic in that areas (see: project schedule), but we managed to find another place for reschedule. Another difficulty we encountered was the difficulty in convincing palm-leaf manuscripts owners to share their metadata. We had to approach it for two months before this project started. Some palm-leaf manuscripts owners still consider their lontar sacred and should not be read by just anyone.
Outcome
Please report on your original project targets.
| Target outcome | Achieved outcome | Explanation |
| Create 1 times online wikidata training for Balinese wikipedian community (5-8 persons). | The Wikidata training already held at December 20th, 2020 which already supported by 8 community members. | With help from Wikimedia Indonesia, we succesfully create one time online wikidata training. |
| Collect metadata and cataloging minimum 500 balinese palm-leaf manuscript which not yet identified in 8-10 houses. | Collecting metadata and catalog for 617 balinese palm-leaf manuscript from 5 houses and 1 museum. | We finalised to create catalog more than our target. |
| Create catalog tables and shared to Wikisource and Internet Archive. | All images already can seen in Commons | |
| Create 4 times online editathon. | The only editathon was held in March 17th, 2021. | As Covid-19 in Bali, we can't create more editathon. But we manage to finalize the database for palm-leaf manuscripts in Wikidata, Commons and Multilingual Wikisource via online meetups which scheduled each months. |
Lessons learned
Projects do not always go according to plan. Sharing what you learned can help you and others plan similar projects in the future. Help the movement learn from your experience by answering the following questions:
- What worked well? This project is actually the first project of its kind. Wikidata used to collect books, journals, magazines, letters and any kind publication with paper format, but none of this coming from manuscripts which came from southern part of globe. Palm-leaf manuscripts used as writing materials in Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia, even reportedly dating back to the 5th century BCE. In Indonesia, the palm-leaf manuscript is called lontar. This lontar has never been cataloging in digital format using wikidata before. The project create links for this barriers. Helping to create bridges over rivers. Many local communities or institutions don't know how to use Wikipedia, moreover Wikidata, Commons and Wikisource. The project have benefit, not just introducing wikipedia and wikidata, but also joining the communities and create more links each others. Two months before running this project we already contacting many institutions which want to create the digital catalog. The results, many big local institution such as Balai Bahasa Bali, Museum Semarajaya and others contribute and want to join our movement to create this catalogs. Initially we just want to collect 500 palm-leaf manuscripts titles and their metadata but at the final result, we can collect more than 600 titles, 776 wikidata items, and more items will coming from other institutions. We also try to identify which item in wikidata has wikipedia articles but not mentioned as palm-leaf manuscript. We try to train the community with existing catalog from Gedong Kirtya. So, when the project not yet started, we already has 100 items from existing catalog for start.
- What did not work so well? Covid-19 pandemic make us harder to convince the manuscript owner to open their collection. Some of owners which already agreed need to be rescheduled or canceled because a pandemic occurred in its territory. The needs to print out the catalog as owner aggrement make us to reschedule and asking more time for grants.
- What would you do differently next time? The project initially just for 3 regencies (Gianyar, Klungkung and Buleleng). Many other regencies still not covered by this project and already want to included in this project. The problem, our small community can't work in many areas at once. Hopefully we can have more or annual grants for this kind of project which can bring, at least, more than 10.000 palm-leaf manuscripts titles. Making wikidata and other wiki projects as the biggest repository for balinese palm-leaf manuscripts.
Finances
Grant funds spent
Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on.
| Description | Cost (Rupiahs) |
Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| B1 Renting material | 2,600,000.00 | 6.82% |
| B2 Medical devices | 430,000.00 | 1.13% |
| B3 Accessories and Souvenirs | 3,591,500.00 | 9.41% |
| B4 Accommodation | 9,420,644.00 | 24.69% |
| B5 Transportation | 200,000.00 | 0.52% |
| B6 Catalogs and Stationery | 13,866,700.00 | 36,35% |
| B7 Credit and Communication | 93,626.00 | 2.44% |
| B8 Others | 7,110,500.00 | 18.64% |
| TOTAL | 38,150,970.00 | USD 2,650 |
Remaining funds
Do you have any remaining grant funds?
Yes, We still have remaining grant funds around USD 1,320 which we used for another cataloging sessions with institutions which already interested with our project. One institution which already interested is Balai Bahasa Bali which already collected more than 150 balinese palm-leaf manuscripts. We scheduled this sessions with Balai Bahasa Bali from 1st to 3rd November 2021 after halted for several months, starting from 3rd July 2021 until 18th October 2021, as Indonesian government regulation for "Enforcement of Restrictions on Community Activities" which locally called PPKM (Pemberlakuan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat). All the funds already used to support this cataloging process and create more links and introduction to other institutions as well. Hopefully this project can be a pilot project for digitasion the palm-leaf manuscripts in the future.
Anything else
Anything else you want to share about your project?
Here one of my early video describing the the project important role to digitizing rare texts with Wikisource, cataloging metadata to wikidata and create images for the manuscripts via Commons.