Community resource
Bioregional, Community and Location-specific Questionnaire
q.sub
This questionnaire gathers what a community knows about its own place, language and daily life. The answers are meant to guide which AI-literacy materials are made next, and in which language.
Only the section outline is shown here. The questions and the answers we gather are kept confidential to facilitate the evaluation of AI models and the assessment of the synthetic language generated by them. The instrument is still being revised with community members.
1 General Introduction & Opening Conversation
General introduction covering personal details, family, livelihood, daily challenges, community temple visits, village-city differences, intergenerational knowledge, and messages for the next generation.
2 Animals, Birds & Wildlife
Focuses on domestic animals, livestock diseases and traditional remedies, human-wildlife interactions, bird conservation across seasons, and human responsibility toward living creatures.
3 Farming, Flora, Weather & Sacred Groves (Oran)
Covers farming practices, weather and rain indicators, sacred groves (Oran) and edible seasonal flora, local seed preservation, soil identification, and seasonal biological changes.
4 Food & Water Sources
Explores seasonal diets, heat resilience, drinking water sources and rainwater harvesting (palar/tanka), daily meals for family and livestock, real vs. fake ghee, and resilience during droughts.
5 Health, Illness & Traditional Medicine
Covers local healers (vaid) and herbal remedies, medicinal ingredients, childhood and seasonal illnesses, and traditional healthcare practices without formal medical infrastructure.
6 Clothing, Traditional Ornaments & Local Fairs
Focuses on traditional and home-stitched clothing, livestock decorations (Gorband), heirloom and ancestral ornaments, and the cultural significance and evolution of local and cattle fairs.
7 Bioregional Identity, Social Life & Livelihood
Questions about bioregional identity and environmental shifts over time, land distribution, conflict resolution, traditional construction techniques, childhood games, urban allyship, and sustainable traditional livelihoods.
8 Folk Songs, Stories, Dialect & Traditional Games
Documenting ancient and traditional games, seasonal and festival folk songs, local oral histories and village origin stories, dialect variations across villages, and regional linguistic identity.
9 Faith, Rituals, Heritage & Festivals
Investigates local deities and beliefs, agricultural and seasonal rituals (Halsotiyo, Basedo), life-cycle ceremonies (birth, marriage, death), and sacred historical sites or water bodies.
10 Elders' Wisdom & Intergenerational Knowledge
Captures memorable teachings from elders, land stewardship responsibilities, place-based knowledge learnable only locally, and essential wisdom passed down for caring for the bioregion.
11 Questions for Special or Sacred Sites
Designed for on-site field interviews to explore the significance of specific sacred or historical sites, visitor demographics, and comparative ecological observations of flora, fauna, and water quality.
12 The Digital World, Technology & Harmony with Nature
Assesses awareness of AI and robotics, digital connectivity and costs, intergenerational technology divides, community data sovereignty, technology's ecological impact, and pathways for strengthening human-nature harmony.
Answers collected with this questionnaire belong to the people who gave them. Nothing is shared outside the community without clear agreement.