Indic Digital Archive Foundation is a non-profit organisation that works on digital archival and preservation of Indic language cultural artefacts such as books, publications, and documents, making them available for open access.
History
The foundation was born out of the pioneering digitisation work Shiju Alex did from 2009 to 2021. The open access collection of Kerala related artefacts digitized by Shiju, which he named Grandhappura / ഗ്രന്ഥപ്പുര, spanning ~2000+ documents with over 120,000+ pages, seeded the new ഗ്രന്ഥപ്പുര project. The project has received international recognition inviting collaboration from institutions such as the Tuebingen University, Germany.
After a decade of significant time, effort, and money spent on the project, Shiju decided to wind it down in December 2021, owing to the difficulties in sustaining it as a personal project. The announcement brought many well wishers forward expressing support for the continuation of the project. Shiju, Jisso, and Kailash setup the foundation, reviving and institutionalising the project, expanding its activities and scope.
In 2022, the foundation went live with the the financial support from the following founding donors:
Charmy Harikrishnan↗, Cherian Samuel↗, CV Radhakrishnan↗, Ebenezer Manoj Kumar↗, George Thomas↗, Joy Sebastian↗, Jyothis Edathoot↗, Manoj Narayanan↗, Manojkumar Nair↗ and Mary Pearl Britto↗, Nishad Nikarthil↗, Patric Edward↗, Sunil Kumar (Muthukurussi Mana Elamkulam)↗, Samagata Foundation↗
Team
See the team page.
Press
See the press page.
Milestones
- 2022: The first scanning centre is setup at the Dharmaram College library, Bengaluru, with an MoU to digitise its Malayalam collection.
- 2023: The foundation wins Kerala State Govt. Malayalam Mission Bhasha Prathibha award (ഭാഷാപ്രതിഭാ പുരസ്കാരം) for its Granthappura project.
- 2023: Olam dictionary, created by Kailash in 2010, is inducted into the foundation.
Collaborations
Digitisation
- Madras University, Chennai
- Dharmaram College, Bangalore
- K Jacob Thomas Memorial Sahrudaya Public Library, Mannarkkad
- P. Govinda Pilla Reference Library, Thiruvanathapuram
- Ayathil Sahithya Vilasini Grandhasala, Kollam
- CKP Vilasam Grandasala, Perinad, Kollam
Technical
Financials
We are a non-profit foundation that runs on public donations and grants. If you would like to see the foundation's work continue and expand, you can donate to support its activities.
Reports
The foundation's logo is the Brahmi 𑁍 lotus glyph, a punctuation that denotes separation between large textual units, like a full stop. In the logo, it symbolises the invisible line where the physical ends and the digital begins.