The project will provide young Tibetan students with cameras, photography and web training where they will engage in their local culture by photographing Tibetan material heritage. The photos data will be written by the students and put on a public interactive database. The goal is to inspire Tibetans in China to document and share their rapidly disappearing material heritage with the rest of the world through online photos and articles.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Xining City, Qinghai Province
Describe the specific community with whom you will be working.
As an increasingly sensitive minority group in China, it is very difficult for Tibetans in China to find websites, blogs, or accurate articles online let alone publish their own ideas or share their culture. Unlike their counterparts in exile, Tibetans in China have very little presence online. Despite this there still remains a rich and strong Tibetan culture within China and this is something I want very much to show the rest of the world.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
The photos and articles will be put on a high tech website platform that will allow people to comment on, add insights to, and engage with the material in the photograph as well as the Tibetan photographer. One can learn about how an object is used, the process, and history through material culture. This project has great potential for academic inquiry, garnering attention to Tibetan culture in China, and preserving local culture.
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Other tools
Academic and public Wikipages
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established that will contribute to the success of the project.
The web platform for Engaging Digital Tibet already exists through Columbia University. Trace Foundation and the Rubin Foundation initially provided cameras and little funding for the first group of Tibetan students, but it ran out. I myself am an incoming PhD student at Columbia University currently living in Qinghai, so with their platform, tech skills, and your funding, I can take this project to the next level.
How many participants do you think will be involved in your project?
In past cycles we have trained two groups of about ten students with some coming back for the second round. We hope to train upwards of fifteen new students this year with training support from past students. Including past students in training will create a community that students can rely on going forward in their careers. Also, the students come from a college English program so English learning is an added incentive.
Besides the microgrant funding, what other resources and support are you seeking for your project to ensure its success?
Number one would be access to the Rising Voices community. Next would be input on how to make this project a success, how to reach the most people possible in the online world, and suggestions from, and connections to, websites or groups that are trying to accomplish a similar goal but with different groups of people.
Contact name
Elizabeth Joy Reynolds