DH in India

Abstract A focus on open access is much needed for the actualization of knowledge societies, and this has been made possible in India with digital archiving. Such archives especially afford a new means to catalog and cross-reference underexamined narratives of community knowledge and can kindle new ecosystems of storytelling and inspired research, adding to what has been traditionally available via academic study. These new registers espousing open access often cross-question official narratives and enable a multiplication of viewpoints, languages, and forms for the cocreation of public scrutiny and inclusive accountability. Often begun as single person ventures, the legacies of what the journalist P. Sainath has sparked with the People's Archive of Rural India (PARI), the multimodality of the Oral History Narmada project undertaken by activist Nandini Oza that has spanned changing media over three decades, and the pioneering work to preserve tribal cultures begun under the aegis of Professor Devy at Bhasha Research and Publication Centre will all ensure that subaltern voices also endure in a digital commons.