My project was to collect information on Indian heritage in diverse forms; organise the scattered information, share it to preserve it and promote it using new media.
This project intended to preserve Indian heritage in digital form. Different institutions, people and communities came together, engaged in collecting content online. A state of the art, knowledge management system helped store it and make it accessible to people around the globe.
The heritage of India has been shaped by its long history, unique topography and the combination of customs, traditions and ideas contributed by the indigenous people and invaders. Information technology is opening up new possibilities and mediums for preserving and creating content digitally for the future. Web sites have become destinations for users of communities to create, store, share, and collaborate with vast data. Blogging allows users to instantly share their thoughts, views, and opinions with the world.
After studying all possible aspects, knowledge classification and authenticity of the content were the main concerns while exploring various possibilities. Multiple dimensions and their streams, colossal data and different views of experts were the hurdles in the classification process. Authenticity was a major issue on a sensitive subject like heritage and web medium. Only the expert use of communication and content generation tools could solve these issues. Its scalability and dynamism led this project to become a unique online organization in the domain of knowledge. After design process and initial prototyping, the future scope of this project was focused on technical development, user testing, implementation, promotion and services.
Through the Herculean task of designing a knowledge system with complexities, I learnt that the success of any system of this type depends fully on the quality and authenticity of the content, and will require support from each concerned individual.
