Indian Languages, Digital Infrastructure & Collaborative Communities

What you’ll do

We are all passionate about our languages and emotional towards the ‘mother tongue’ — but do these languages contain knowledge or mere information? If they do contain knowledge, how do we evaluate it? How do we share it with other systems of knowledge? In the present digital constellations of data, information, and knowledge: whose knowledge counts, and by what measure?

These questions are urgent. Indian languages represent less than 0.1% of online content. AI models trained on English data fail when used with Indian languages, but those failures are invisible to the benchmarks meant to measure them. India has invested heavily in digitisation — the Million Book Project, the National Digital Library of India, Bharatvani, BHASHINI — yet research shows low awareness, poor accessibility, and weak community participation. These are failures of design and power, not of technology.

Across the studio, you’ll move from diagnosis to construction. You’ll map what has been built and what has failed. You’ll encounter theoretical lenses that challenge easy answers and confront the uncomfortable possibility that emotional celebration of Indian languages is not enough. Then you’ll build something small but real: a contribution to the digital commons on Wikipedia, Wikisource, Wikimedia Commons, or Wikidata.

What you’ll make

A tangible contribution to the digital commons — an edit, an upload, a proofread page, or a translated sentence — that demonstrates recognition and community-led value. On Day 6, you’ll also deliver a three-minute critical reflection on what you contributed, why you chose it, and what you learned about recognition, power, and community.

How you’ll be assessed

Who it’s for

No technical background required. Open to students from all disciplines.

Important: there will be heavy pre-work. You’ll receive readings (in both digital and print) before the studio begins, and the instructor will follow up to ensure compliance.