Category – e-CULTURE & HERITAGE
Aporv – INDIA
DESCRIPTION
Aporv is an online portal that gives handicraft lovers all over the world easy access to a unique collection of ancient, modern as well as contemporary Indian art. Although India has a very strong handicraft culture, compared to other such countries, it numbers are very low in terms of trade. Aporv was born out of this realization of the need to create a platform which would reach out to the wider audience, educate them about these crafts and products and also facilitate the users to buy the products online. Aporv believes that knowing the history of a craft and how an object is created adds to the intrinsic value to the product and leads to a greater appreciation for it.
Aporv is committed to preserving the dying craft forms in India. Seeking out these arts which are on the verge of being forgotten, it partners with organizations, NGOs, Self-Help Groups and individual artisans and creates market linkages.
EVALUATION
After agriculture, handicraft is the second largest occupation in India with more than 23 million people employed in this sector. Every 10 years, about 10% of these artisans leave their jobs looking for better opportunities. If this continues most of Indian handicrafts will be lost in the next few decades. The only sustainable way to prevent this extinction of skills and crafts is to provide a platform where the craftsmen can get the true value of their products and hence continue to create these works of art. Aporv has the potential of becoming one such channel of trade. The Aporv team has set very high standards for itself by also ensuring that they follow fair trade policies right from the beginning and also partnering with only those organizations that follow the same. In the future, they hope to make an even bigger social impact with plans to invest a percentage of their revenue back into this sector.
ORIGINAL TITLE :- APORV
PRODUCER :- APORV CRAFTS PVT LTD
LOCATION :- BANGALORE, KARNATAKA, INDIA
MOBILE :- +91-9611804145
CONTACT :- SUDIP@APORV.COM , SUBHRA@APORV.COM
MEDIA FORMAT :- BROADBAND/ONLINE
LANGUAGE :- ENGLISH
WWW : – WWW.APORV.COM
Panjab Digital Library – INDIA
DESCRIPTION
The mission of the Panjab Digital Library (PDL) is to locate, digitize, preserve, collect and make accessible the accumulated wisdom of the Panjab region, without distinction as to script, language, religion or nationality. It is dedicated to addressing heritage loss due to environment, ignorance and destruction, saving invaluable treasures as well as connecting people globally by providing continued free online access. Digital preservation is the future of museums, libraries, archives and other repositories of valuable and rare historic information. Digitalization not only secures heritage for future generations but also enables wide availability of the preserved material through internet and makes it easily searchable. PDL has so far (till June 2010) digitized over 45,13,000 folios, launched India’s first digital library showcasing centuries old manuscripts, books, magazines, newspapers and photographs with over one million pages made avialable for research and reference.
EVALUATION
Today, access to manuscripts and other historical documents is quite difficult because of their widespread distribution. Moreover, many manuscripts and objects remain undocumented, uncatalogued, or simply unknown, posing a significant threat of loss and deterioration. The handling of originals establishes a risk of wear and tear, a damage classified as a permanent loss because no duplicates exist. Inappropriate storage conditions further compound the deterioration of precious materials. Thus, efforts in this field must be advanced on a wider level and taking a cue from this pioneering effort in the Punjab, other communities and regions of India should initiate similar projects. The PDL project aims to improve expertise in the field of digital preservation and establish common grounds for future collaborative work by specialists from the global community. Digital technology and integration to reference tools have revolutionized the ability to create electronic replicas of print materials.
ORIGINAL TITLE :- PANJAB DIGITAL LIBRARY
PRODUCER :- PANJAB DIGITAL LIBRARY
LOCATION :- MOHALI, PUNJAB, INDIA
MEDIA FORMAT :- BROADBAND/ONLINE
LANGUAGE :- PANJABI, HINDI, PERSIAN, ENGLISH
WWW :- WWW.PANJABDIGILIB.ORG