Samhita DAO - Empowering communities to preserve their linguistic heritage

Project Name: Samhita DAO

Project Track: NFT

Team Name: HeritageSpeak

Team Member(s): 5+ @Aarohi

Dorahacks Project Link: Samhita DAO | Buidls | DoraHacks

Project Goal: Our vision is to empower endangered language communities by providing tools for language preservation and incentivizing participation. The platform ultimately aims to preserve linguistic heritage and cultural traditions while promoting linguistic diversity in the digital age.

Project Info:
SamhitaDao PPT (1).pdf (944.1 KB)

This is a project that aims to preserve endangered languages by leveraging the power of decentralised technology. It offers a platform for language communities to collaborate, create, and communicate across languages, with tools for crowdsourcing and curating linguistic resources. This project also encourages community members to contribute to these resources and provides a marketplace for language-related goods and services, creating a sustainable ecosystem for language preservation.

Inspiration: Helping to preserve endangered languages is important to keep traditions alive.

Samhita DAO was born from a deep sense of urgency to save endangered languages from disappearing into oblivion. We understand that a language is more than just a means of communication but a treasure trove of wisdom, traditions, and identity of a community. Witnessing the challenges faced by communities struggling to preserve their languages was a wake-up call, and we knew we had to take action.

Project Website: https://samhita-dao-one.vercel.app/
Here’s a sneak peek!

Project Test Instructions:

  • Become a member of SamhitaDAO
    • To become a member, you’ll need to visit the website to create an account
    • Connect a wallet e.g Metamask to buy Samhita Tokens
    • As a member, you participate in the community’s ecosysytem by sending proposals
    • You can also vote on proposals as per your voting rights
  • Contribute as a member of SamhitaDAO
    • Create a languageDAO
    • Create templates of databases e.g lexical, text, audio to be used by other language DAOs
    • When a template is approved, an NFT will be minted
    • You get royalties when a language DAO uses your templates
    • You can also buy and sell Samhita tokens
  • Launch a languageDAO
    • To launch a languageDAO, you must be a member of Samhita DAO
    • Set token configuration with token name and symbol to launch token
    • Review information
    • Launch language DAO
  • Join a Language DAO community
    • Become a member of a languageDAO by purchasing their token
    • You can use templates created by SamhitaDAO for language preservation
    • Buy and sell tokens of that particular languageDAO
    • When a particular languageDAO validates a database, it will be stored as an NFT.
    • These database NFTs will be rentable for organisations or AI models and the languageDAO will be paid in the form of royalties.

Project Details: Imagine visiting your aged grandparents and sitting with them, listening to the beautiful stories they tell about their childhood. They chip in bits of a language that you can’t quite understand, but you can feel the depth of their words in your bones and you’re mesmerised by the rhythm, flow and melody of their words. As you listen, you can’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia for a time and place that you’ve never experienced. One of them then explains to you that they are speaking in a language that has been passed down through generations in their community. But now, with younger generations turning away from their linguistic heritage, their language is at risk of being lost forever. As you sit there with them, listening to their stories, you realise that these moments are precious and that languages are a part of a cultural heritage that must be preserved.

Samhita DAO understands the value of preserving endangered languages, and the project is aimed to ensure that these languages don’t fade away into obscurity. Through the project’s decentralised platform, a safe space is being created where language communities can come together to share their unique perspectives on the world. Several database templates are used to preserve endangered languages.

These databases include: lexical, text, speech, audio, and video databases. The lexical database template is used to capture and store words, phrases, and other linguistic structures in a standardised format and includes fields for part of speech, definitions, examples, and other relevant information. The text database template is used to capture and store written texts, such as stories, poems, and historical documents. The speech database template is used to capture and store spoken language, including recordings of conversations, speeches, and oral histories to detect dialects and accents. The audio database template is used to capture and store audio recordings, such as songs, chants, and other forms of vocal expression. The video database template is used to capture and store video recordings, such as performances, ceremonies, and other visual expressions of language and culture.

These templates are designed to capture and organise linguistic resources in a way that is easily accessible and usable by language communities. With these tools for crowdsourcing and curating linguistic resources, Samhita DAO is empowering communities to create dictionaries, grammar guides, and oral histories that capture the essence of their language.

The platform is more than just a collection of linguistic resources - it’s a digital campfire where elders and youth can come together to pass down stories and traditions. It’s a place where the feeling of nostalgia is tangible, reminding us of the value of cultural heritage and the importance of preserving it for future generations.

Smart Contract links:

TemplateNFT : Contract Address 0x2e3aE78dD6b197b47a20C4d167A56FD180bC730D | BTTC

Samhita: Contract Address 0x656CCf107Eac3599A9A22445109e4c327451Ec76 | BTTC

SamhitaToken: Contract Address 0xcEF9199e247CA29e1cdb88ffe79A1a02fD3FA6d0 | BTTC

LanguageDAOFactory: Contract Address 0x87B3Dd2f2FA919310ea010F514C6cBe69419863a | BTTC

How we built it

On the BTTC network, we have deployed four smart contracts. The smart contracts are used to create SamhitaDAO and LanguageDAOs - with these you can become a member of DAOs, send proposals, vote for proposals, buy and sell DAO tokens. We have used ERC20 for creating own tokens and ERC721 for minting templates as NFTs.

Our interactive and seamless front end has been created using React.js

Project Milestones:
13-03-2023: Language DAO creation and management functionality
25-03-2023: DAO governance functionality
10-04-2023: Template creation
14-04-2023: Testing Samhita DAO and Language DAO functionality

Challenges we ran into:

The project faced several challenges in researching language preservation and figuring out how to use the DAO model to address this problem. One of the main challenges was finding reliable sources of information about language preservation efforts, particularly in the context of marginalised or endangered languages. Many of these efforts are led by small organisations or individual activists, and information about their work can be difficult to find or access.

Another challenge was determining the most effective approach to language preservation, given the diversity of languages and cultures that the project aims to support. We had to consider factors such as the level of documentation and support that different languages already have, the cultural significance of different languages, and the availability of resources and expertise for language preservation.

In addition to these challenges, we had to figure out how to incentivize members of the DAO to contribute to language preservation efforts for their community. This involved designing a governance structure that would give members a say in decision-making as well as creating incentives for members to contribute their time, expertise, and resources to language preservation projects.

Future Goals:

In the near future, we aim to improve our data structure and make sure our language data storage methods are all standardised.

We have plans to onboard volunteers who are not necessarily speakers of these languages but share a passion for their conservation. They will travel to remote regions to record audio and videos, scan texts, and assist in the digitization of these endangered languages with a reward system in place to incentivize them.

We also plan on partnering with other organisations to monetize the language data we store, thus providing more incentives for our DAO members.

Accomplishments we’re proud of:

One major accomplishment we’re proud of is how we were able to put our blockchain knowledge to good use for a good cause. The platform is built on blockchain technology that provides an unparalleled level of security and transparency, ensuring that the language resources stored on the platform are safe and tamper-proof. This level of security and transparency is essential for preserving endangered languages as it prevents any malicious actors from manipulating or altering the data.

The Samhita DAO project has achieved remarkable success in creating a platform that is closely aligned with our goals during the hackathon period. The project aims to create a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) that is dedicated to preserving endangered languages. To this end, the team has developed a platform that captures all aspects of language preservation, including documentation, curation, and dissemination of linguistic resources.

Our success in capturing all aspects of language preservation on the platform is a testament to our dedication to the cause and the technical expertise in developing a robust and scalable solution to the problem of linguistic loss.

What we learned:

During the development of the Samhita DAO project, we learned a great deal about creating decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), how they function, and the role they can play in language preservation. In the context of language preservation, we realised that DAOs could play a critical role in promoting linguistic diversity and protecting endangered languages. By creating a DAO that is dedicated to language preservation, we have created a platform that allows communities to come together to document, curate, and disseminate linguistic resources.

We also learned that language preservation requires a holistic approach that goes beyond simply collecting and storing linguistic data. The Samhita DAO platform incorporates a range of features such as community-based curation and incentivization mechanisms. The platform also emphasises the importance of engaging with the community and building relationships with key stakeholders such as linguists, educators, and language activists. Overall, the Samhita DAO project highlights the potential for DAOs to drive positive social change and promote the preservation of cultural heritage.

Our Team

  1. Aarohi is a talented blockchain developer who believes that language is a vital part of cultural identity. She always wants to ensure that it is protected and passed down to future generations and is always on the lookout for new ways to merge her two passions – technology and language.
  2. Adithya is a skilled frontend developer. With a keen eye for detail, he ensures that the platform’s user experience is seamless and user-friendly. He believes that a well-designed frontend is key to the success of any application and takes pride in delivering high-quality work that meets the needs of Samhita DAO’s users.
51 Likes

Great project! Your vision to empower endangered language communities and preserve linguistic heritage is truly inspiring.:clap:

4 Likes

The project vision looks promising. I had a question regarding the user flow and what will be the role of NFT in the project as you mentioned the NFT track.

7 Likes

You are welcome and your vision is great. but as @akash asked, where will the nfts come to play.
Are you going to mint these audios, templates and others as nft

5 Likes

Hello team!

I loved your project description!!! Took me back to my childhood and I’m surely nostalgic. My mother-tongue is widely spoken throughout India but I can totally see a decline in the number of speakers with the coming generation. And the literature, folklores, songs that needs to be preserved at the earliest.

What I really liked about your project is how you have detailed the databases. It shows that you have researched well in terms of how language preservation should be done.

I had the same question as @akash and @Prince-Onscolo regarding the NFT bit.

Look forward to seeing the website and the templates in specific.

Wish you all the best!

7 Likes

Oh I see this means these decline in local languages are worldwide. Everybody wants to speak English. I have my nephews who can’t speak our local language

3 Likes

Great project idea. Best wishes to the team!

5 Likes

Welcome to Grand hackathon season 4, wish you all the best

4 Likes

Bienvenidos al S4, en cuanto a su proyecto me parece fantástico todo lo que sea preservar la identidad de uno mismo como sus raíces en las cuales una de sus vertientes es el lenguaje.

4 Likes

Welcome to the hackathon. It’s nice to see a different, original and very important project for all cultures.

3 Likes

That is a big concern. I believe preserving language with its literature is very important. It teaches us very much about how we should leave.

I remember one famous line after reading the project description “If you want to destroy a nation destroy its culture”.

Hope the project helps in retaining culture.

8 Likes

Great Project Idea. This different and unique idea on retaining culture is amazing.

5 Likes

Yeah very very important bro, I like the Chinese people. You will their language on their products. They value it

5 Likes

The project seems quite interesting. Preserving one’s language and culture has become something difficult due to people trying to adopt other cultural practices and languages for financial and social benefit by forgetting the importance of their own mother tongue.

A project like Samhita DAO is doing its best to find a solution and form a community to preserve the culture and language.

I had a question: What is the meaning of Samhita?

All the best team. :v:

4 Likes

Thank you for your kind words and for your interest in Samhita DAO!

The word “Samhita” comes from the Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest languages in the world and is still spoken by millions of people today. In Sanskrit, “Samhita” means “a collection of knowledge” or “a compendium of teachings”.

In the context of Samhita DAO, the word “Samhita” represents the idea of bringing together a community of people who share a common interest in preserving and promoting their language and culture.

I hope that answers your question! :slightly_smiling_face:

4 Likes

Thank you for your kind words! We’re glad to hear that you find our project inspiring. :slightly_smiling_face:

Thank you for your kind words and well wishes! :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thank you for your support! :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

Thanks for your question. @akash @Prince-Onscolo @Hirangi

Here is how NFTs are a prime part of the project.

(1) Whenever a user will create a template that can be helpful for other language DAOs it will be minted as an NFT. This will help the creator to get royalties when other Daos use their template.

(2) Similarly when a particular language DAO will validate a database, it will be stored as an NFT. These NFTs will be Rentable so if any AI model or organization wants to use it for a particular time it can rent Dataset. It will help monetise the DAOs.

7 Likes

Great initiative. Every language has their own text characters , were they all factored in developing the app?

4 Likes