Timeline

Noolaham Foundation Timeline v2.0

1998-2004

• The digitization of Sri Lankan Tamil books was first initiated by R. Pathmanaba Iyer. In this effort he digitized 40 Sri Lankan Tamil books in 1999 and 13 were added online through Project Madurai in the later part of 2000 (Project Madurai was started in 1998).
• After 1999 various individuals digitized a few books and made them available online. In these individual initiatives include 'Eelanool' (M. Mauran and T. Kopinath) [2004], 'E-Suvadi' (U. Jeyatheepan, T. Thavaruban and M. Mauran) [2004] and 'Thamil Valai' (Kanaga Sritharan) [2004].

2005

• Project Noolaham, emphasizing collective and voluntary efforts and promoting openness, was started in January 2005 by Muralitharan Mauran and Thillainathan Kopinath. Earlier digitization efforts were incorporated into Project Noolaham. Thus contributions made by R. Pathmanaba Iyer towards Project Madurai since 1999 and ebooks created by Eelanool during 2004 were included at Project Noolaham. Noolaham, from the beginning, strived to avoid duplication of efforts and stressed collectiveness for synergy.
• The Noolaham Google group was started on 31st August, 2005. K. T. Pratheepa, P. Eelanathan, R. Pathmanaba Iyer, K. Raminitharan, Mathy Kandasamy, L. Natkeeran and Kanaga Sritharan were the people who contributed to project Noolaham via the Google group.
• R. Pathmanaba Iyer and S. Thevaraja agreed to add their work in Project Noolaham and started supporting and contributing to it from then onwards. Pathmanaba Iyer was appointed as an advisor for project Noolaham.
• The first server for Noolaham was bought by P. Eelanathan by August 2005.

2006

• With the support and contribution of the Noolaham Google group volunteers and other contributors, the online digital library www.noolaham.net was made available online for public access with 100 e-books in 2006.
• PathmanabaIyer and A. Srikanthalakshmy’s efforts to utilize funds to accelerate digitization - the first funded project began in 2006.
• Kopinath introduced scanning as a means of digitizing the publications by the end of 2006.
• In the end of 2006 the number of total books digitized were 406.

2007

• In January 2007, Mathy Kandasamy published the second year annual report of project Noolaham.
• Since 2007, direct monetary contributions were accepted. And The first fund-raising event was organized by P. Piratheepan in south california, USA.
• G. Shaseevan started vast level of digitizing work for Noolaham. He started digitizing with 20 scanners targeting over 60,000 pages in 2500 documents.
• Mr. Teliwatte Joseph offered to digitize his vast collection of magazines.
• A space for office, and preliminary equipment arranged by V. Jasikaran.
• Until mid-2007, Project Noolaham maintained a manually created website using HTML pages and links. In June 2007, Joomla was selected as the content management system and P.Piratheepan took over the responsibility of creating pages for the site.
• After a couple of months Mediawiki software was installed and the site was transformed again. Muralitharan Mauran was instrumental in selecting these content management systems. The structure of the wiki site was formed by Kopinath and many volunteers including Piratheepan and R. Mathubhashini contributed as well. Vinodh Rajan integrated various web tools to the site.
• N. Selvarajah gave permission to add details about books from his Nooltheddam volumes at the wiki, and extracted the relevant information and sent them to volunteers.
• In July 2007, the Co-founder and Project Coordinator T. Kopinath gave his role of coordinating to G. Shaseevan. Since then Shaseevan started revamping project Noolaham.
• The approach of Project Noolaham was transformed from volunteer-centered to project-centered, to increase the efficiency by G. Shaseevan.
• The first collaborative digitization began when Project Noolaham digitized the entire publication of the Women's Education and Research Center (WERC) in 2007.
• The digitizing method was also modified by Shaseevan to include editing. Scanning impurities were removed and readers presented with a cleaned version of the scanned images. Completeness of the documents was emphasized and digitizing all documents related to each other was given priority.
• Project Noolaham was transformed to incorporate all printed materials, including magazines, newspapers, research papers and souvenirs.
• In the end of 2007 the number of total books digitized were 1618.

2008

• In January 2008, T. Kopinath produced the third year annual report of project Noolaham.
• G. Shaseevan formed an institutional model to transform Project Noolaham into Noolaham Foundation. The foundation started functioning with R. Pathmanaba Iyer (Chairperson), G. Shaseevan (Coordinator), T. Kopinath, P. Piratheepan, M. Mauran, L. Natkeeran and P. Eelanathan.
• In October 2008, PollachiNasan of www.thamizham.net started digitizing his vast collection and giving priority to the digitization of Sri Lankan Tamil documents. He shared the digitized documents with Noolaham.
• Mr. Mugunth from Thamizha organization donated another server to Project Noolaham, since the existing server was insufficient to meet the increasing demands.
• Projects implemented in 2008: Muhappu Seyattiddam (Front Page Project); Ithazhagam Project; Colombo Scanning Project, 2008; Trincomalee Scanning Project, 2008; Thamizham Pollachi Nasan Project.
• In the end of 2008 the number of total books digitized were 2888.

2009

• In January 2009, G. Shaseevan produced the fourth year annual report of project Noolaham.
• In later part of 2009 G. Shaseevan produced the first Annual report of year 2008 for Noolaham Foundation
• Noolaham Foundation reconfigured itself as an independent organization separated from Project Noolaham. Significant factors that contributed to this divergence: the difficulties associated with designating responsibilities to the numerous volunteers involved in Project Noolaham within certain time frames or deadlines was considered counter-productive to the assigning of organizational responsibilities; and as an organisation, the assumption of responsibility is not viable without direct communication with each individual contributor.
• The foundation decided to function separately from Project Noolaham, while continuing to provide financial assistance to Project Noolaham volunteers for the digitisation projects.
• The Foundation is no longer responsible for the technical infrastructure and server maintenance of Project Noolaham.
• The organizational objectives of the foundation were broadened to include: Promoting open access to information sources; Maintaining an online Tamil digital library; Supporting digital preservation initiatives and promote efficient strategies for enhanced digital content creation and diffusion; Engaging in awareness-raising campaigns on various issues such as digital preservation, information literacy and knowledge management; Facilitating knowledge transfer and foster research and development activities.
• The foundation assumed the responsibility of developing Tamil Digital Library which provides indexing services to Project Noolaham, cataloguing their collection.
• For the first time since the organization was founded, money has been utilized to carry out necessary administrative and website development activities.
• In 2009, two papers were presented by G. Shaseevan on issues related to Noolaham. The first was submitted at the '37th Literary Meeting' held in Oslo, Norway, the second, titled “Local Language Content Preservation through digitisation and Archiving” at the 'Symposium on Localised Systems and Applications 2009' conference hosted by the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
• Until the end of 2009, there was no systemized fund raising activity that continuously brings in revenues. The projects were dependent on unpredictable random monetary contributions, thus getting delayed and taking longer periods to be completed, and the administrative tasks of the foundation were also interrupted.
• The detrimental effects of unpredictable monetary flow were identified by the end of 2009, and a systematic financial planning was implemented. As a result, total monthly expense of the foundation was defined as 100,000 Sri Lankan rupees, and 12 sponsors for each month were also identified.
• During 2009, a total of 72 donors together contributed more than one million Rupees. This amount singlehandedly exceeds the money raised by the organisation over the first four years. R. Pathmanaba Iyer has continued to be the leading donor and has been instrumental in raising funds from several others. Ilankai Tamil Sangam of WA contributed significantly by hosting a fund-raiser, collecting circa 3,000 Australian dollars. Details of these donations are included elsewhere in this report
• For the first time in the history of the organisation, money has been utilized to carry out necessary administrative and website development activities. Grants were provided to select individuals and tasks assigned to them. Mr. Satkunarajah and Mr. Sajeev Edward spent a few months on administrative tasks. Sajeev Edward continues to contribute as a volunteer, while Ms. Valarmathy serves as programme officer.
• The Foundation collaborates with various initiatives and organisations in knowledge-related activities. Such collaborations include, but are not limited to, the following: Project Noolaham, Womens' Education and Research Centre, Colombo Tamil Sangam, Thesiya Kalai Ilakkiya Peravai, Chinthanai Vaddam, European Tamil Documentation and Research Centre, Thamizham, Suvadi Digital Library, Viluthu, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, International Institute for Research and Analytical Activities
• In the end of 2009 the number of total books digitized were 5178.

2010

• The Noolaham Foundation was legally registered (GA 2390) in May 2010.
• The foundation’s Board of Trustees, Members, Associate members were assigned and, Project Task Force, Regional Task Force, and Global Task Force were created.
• As a result of systemized fund raising efforts, the foundation achieved 83% of its targeted monetary inflow in 2010.
• The total financial contribution received in 2010 exceeded the 2009 amount by 55%, and the number of donors had also doubled.
• The first digitizing project of the foundation -Vaasikasaalai 2010, digitizing more than 1000 newspapers, was implemented
• Eight awareness raising sessions, two volunteer meetings,a digitization training workshop, and a number of other meetings were organized. A leaflet was printed and distributed at various meetings.
• A pilot project was carried out by late 2010 to publish a monthly newsletter. The newsletter will cover news about the Foundation's activities and related articles. The first issue was published in January 2011.
• The foundation extended financial assistance to Keetru website and Aayvakam (IIRAA).
• As of 2010, publishers such as Tamiliyal, Kalachuvadu, Gnanam, Kaalam, Thai Veedu, London

ThamilarThakaval, Vaikarai, ChinthanaiVaddam, Anpuneri, and Oodaru archive digital versions of their publications at Noolaham.

• As of 2010, the following organizations collaborate with Noolaham Foundation: Project Noolaham, Thamizham, Suvadi Digital Library, Tamil National Archive, Keetru, Foundation for Library Awareness, International Institute for Research and Analytical Activities (IIRAA), Womens' Education and Research Centre, Viluthu, Colombo Tamil Sangam, International Tamil Small Magazines Association, Cintanaikoodam.
• In the end of 2010 the number of total books digitized were 8187.