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:
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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
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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
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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
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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
- 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.
- 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.
