Submit Knowledge or Records

Contribute Responsibly to the Hodopathy Knowledge Archive

Hodopathy welcomes responsible contributions that can help preserve the indigenous knowledge, oral traditions, community histories, languages, native plants and ecological heritage associated particularly with the Ho community and other Adivasi communities of Jharkhand.

You may submit your own knowledge, recommend a knowledge holder, share a community story or contribute records that you are authorised to share.

Every submission will be reviewed for consent, relevance, authenticity, cultural sensitivity, privacy, botanical accuracy, public safety and conservation risk.

Submitting material does not guarantee publication. Some records may be suitable only for restricted preservation, further verification or return to the contributor for clarification.

Who Can Submit?

Contributions are welcome from:

• Adivasi elders
• Traditional practitioners
• Community knowledge holders
• Farmers and seed custodians
• Forest-resource collectors
• Food knowledge holders
• Indigenous-language speakers
• Storytellers and cultural custodians
• Community conservation leaders
• Young knowledge documentarians
• Researchers and students
• Universities and research institutions
• Libraries and archives
• Biodiversity organisations
• Families holding relevant historical records

You should submit only information or materials that you have the right and community authority to share.

What Can Be Submitted?

The archive may consider the following types of contributions.

Knowledge Holder Information

• Personal profile
• Learning journey
• Area of knowledge
• Community contribution
• Practitioner experience
• Message for future generations
• Nomination of another knowledge holder with their awareness

Oral Histories and Community Stories

• Elder interviews
• Practitioner journeys
• Village histories
• Family memories
• Forest experiences
• Cultural narratives
• Folklore
• Stories of intergenerational learning

Indigenous-Language Records

• Local plant names
• Pronunciation recordings
• Words related to forests and seasons
• Cultural expressions
• Transcriptions
• Translations
• Stories in the original language

Plant and Botanical Records

• Indigenous and local plant names
• Clear photographs
• General habitat information
• Seasonal observations
• Plant parts
• Cultural significance
• Existing botanical identification
• Conservation concerns
• Relevant scientific references

Traditional Foods and Agriculture

• Seasonal foods
• Local grains and crops
• Traditional recipes
• Food-preservation methods
• Seed varieties
• Farming practices
• Soil and rainfall knowledge
• Agricultural biodiversity

Forest and Environmental Records

• Changes in plant availability
• Water and soil observations
• Seasonal calendars
• Community conservation practices
• General landscape photographs
• Historical environmental information

Research and Historical Materials

• Research papers
• Field reports
• Old photographs
• Audio or video recordings
• Newspaper articles
• Books or bibliographic references
• Herbarium references
• Community reports
• Institutional records

Please do not upload copyrighted material unless you own it, have permission to share it or are providing only a lawful citation or link.

Before You Submit

Please consider the following questions:

• Is this your own knowledge or someone else’s?
• Does the original knowledge holder know that it is being submitted?
• Do you have permission to share photographs or recordings?
• Is any part sacred, confidential or family-restricted?
• Does the material reveal a rare plant location?
• Does it contain personal medical information?
• Could publication encourage unsafe self-medication?
• Is the botanical identity confirmed or uncertain?
• Are any children identifiable?
• Does another person or institution own the material?

If you are uncertain, submit only a brief non-sensitive description and request guidance before sharing the complete record.

Do Not Submit Confidential Knowledge Through an Open Form

A general website submission form may not be appropriate for sacred, confidential or highly sensitive material.

Do not upload:

• Secret community practices
• Family-restricted knowledge
• Sacred ceremonial information
• Exact locations of rare plants
• Confidential research data
• Private medical records
• Identity documents
• Personal financial information
• Material received under a confidentiality agreement

Instead, use the Contact page to request a private discussion about whether a protected documentation process is available.

Required Submission Information

A useful submission should include as much of the following information as possible.

Contributor Details

• Full name or preferred identification
• Community
• Village or general location
• Preferred language
• Email or telephone number
• Organisation or institution where applicable
• Relationship with the knowledge being submitted

Contact details will be used for communication and should not be displayed publicly without permission.

Knowledge Source

Please explain:

• Who originally shared the knowledge
• How it was learned
• Whether it belongs to an individual, family or community
• Whether the original contributor is living
• Whether the contributor has agreed to submission
• Whether other people should be acknowledged
• Whether any restrictions apply

Submission Description

Include:

• Title
• Type of record
• Short summary
• Community and general region
• Language
• Date or approximate period
• Cultural context
• Why the record should be preserved
• Any research or historical references
• Information requiring verification

Access Preference

Indicate whether the material may be considered for:

• Public access
• Community-only access
• Approved research access
• Restricted access
• Confidential preservation

The requested access level will be reviewed before acceptance. Highly sensitive information may not be accepted through standard submission channels.

Submitting Plant Information

A plant submission should include, where possible:

• Indigenous or local name
• Language
• Alternative names
• Community and general region
• Date and season observed
• Habitat
• Plant part shown or described
• Clear photographs
• Cultural or traditional context
• Name of the knowledge holder
• Existing botanical name if known
• Source of botanical identification
• Conservation concerns
• Permission and access restrictions

Do not guess a scientific name.

If the identity has not been reviewed by a qualified botanist, mark it clearly as “unverified” or “provisional.”

Plant Photography Guidelines

Useful plant photographs may show:

• Entire plant
• Growth form
• Leaf arrangement
• Upper and lower leaf surfaces
• Stem or bark
• Flowers
• Fruits
• Seeds
• General habitat
• Scale reference

Do not uproot a plant merely to photograph it.

Before uploading, remove exact location data if the plant is rare, vulnerable, sacred or commercially valuable.

Submitting an Oral History

An oral-history submission should identify:

• Speaker’s name or approved anonymity
• Community
• General location
• Language
• Interviewer
• Date
• Relationship between interviewer and speaker
• Whether audio or video was recorded
• Whether the speaker approved recording
• Whether the material may be transcribed
• Whether it may be translated
• Whether it may be published
• Any sections that must remain private

If the story was translated, submit the original-language record where possible.

Nominating a Knowledge Holder

You may recommend an elder, practitioner, farmer, forest expert, language custodian or other community contributor for a Knowledge Holder Profile.

A nomination should include:

• Name of the proposed knowledge holder
• Community and general location
• Area of knowledge
• Reason for nomination
• Your relationship with the person
• Confirmation that the person knows about the nomination
• Preferred language
• Available supporting information
• Privacy or cultural restrictions

A profile will not be published solely on the basis of a third-party nomination. Direct participation and permission from the proposed knowledge holder will be required.

Acceptable File Types

Depending on the submission system, records may include:

• Written documents
• Photographs
• Audio recordings
• Video recordings
• Scanned historical materials
• Research references
• Spreadsheets
• Maps using non-sensitive data
• Botanical records
• Consent documentation

Files should be clearly named and connected with the relevant contributor or record.

Large files may require a separate secure transfer method.

File-Quality Guidelines

For easier review:

• Use clear and descriptive filenames
• Provide the date where known
• Identify the photographer or recorder
• Avoid editing that changes meaning
• Submit the highest practical quality
• Keep original files
• Include captions
• Explain any unclear content
• Identify translations
• List all contributors
• State any publication restrictions

Do not remove information from an original record merely to make it appear more conclusive.

What Should Not Be Submitted?

Please do not submit:

• Unsupported claims of guaranteed cures
• Instructions encouraging self-medication
• Exact quantities or formulas intended for public treatment use
• Personal medical records
• Images of people without appropriate permission
• Identifiable images of children without proper safeguards
• Sacred or restricted information without authorisation
• Exact locations of rare or threatened species
• Plants collected illegally or destructively
• Copyrighted books or papers without permission
• Material copied from another website without attribution
• False or misleading information
• Commercial advertisements
• Abusive or discriminatory content
• Identity or financial documents

Submissions that create safety, privacy, legal, cultural or environmental risks may be rejected or restricted.

Traditional Knowledge Is Not Medical Proof

A submitted traditional account may be valuable for cultural or ethnobotanical documentation. It is not automatically proof that a plant or preparation is medically safe or effective.

Health-related submissions should be identified as:

• Oral tradition
• Community practice
• Personal experience
• Practitioner testimony
• Ethnobotanical record
• Scientific research

The review team may edit or decline material containing unsupported medical claims or unsafe public instructions.

Hodopathy.com does not provide medical advice or encourage self-treatment.

What Happens After Submission?

A submission may pass through the following stages:

1. Receipt

The contribution is logged and assigned a reference number where available.

2. Initial Review

The material is checked for relevance, completeness and obvious safety or privacy concerns.

3. Permission Review

Consent, ownership, acknowledgement and access restrictions are examined.

4. Clarification

The contributor may be contacted for additional information, better files or confirmation of details.

5. Cultural Review

Where appropriate, community members or language speakers may review context and terminology.

6. Botanical or Research Review

Plant identification and scientific references may be examined by suitable experts.

7. Access Classification

The record may be classified as public, community access, research access, restricted or confidential.

8. Contributor Review

The contributor may be asked to review the edited profile, translation, caption or summary.

9. Publication or Archiving

Approved material may be published, stored under restricted access or held for further verification.

The review period may vary according to the complexity of the material.

Reasons a Submission May Not Be Published

A submission may remain unpublished when:

• Permission is unclear
• The source cannot be identified
• The information is incomplete
• Botanical identity is uncertain
• The material is culturally sensitive
• Privacy risks are present
• It contains unsafe instructions
• It makes misleading medical claims
• It reveals vulnerable plant locations
• Copyright or ownership is disputed
• Verification is still in progress
• It falls outside the archive’s scope

Non-publication does not necessarily mean the contribution has no value. It may require additional documentation or a different access category.

Acknowledgement

Contributors may choose how they are acknowledged.

Options may include:

• Full name
• Preferred name
• Initials
• Community acknowledgement
• Family acknowledgement
• Anonymous contribution
• Institution name
• Photographer or interviewer credit
• Translator credit

Acknowledgement should not disclose private information or create risk for the contributor.

Rights and Responsible Use

Submitting information does not automatically make Hodopathy.com the owner of the underlying community knowledge.

However, publication, archiving, editing, translation and preservation require clear permission concerning the submitted files and their intended use.

Before final acceptance, the contributor may be asked to confirm:

• They have the right to submit the material
• Relevant people have agreed to its use
• The selected access level is correct
• The material may be stored
• Approved editing or translation is permitted
• Required acknowledgements are accurate
• Restrictions have been disclosed

Any formal submission terms displayed with the upload form should be read carefully.

Corrections and Withdrawal Requests

Contributors may contact Hodopathy to request:

• Correction of factual errors
• Improved translation
• Updated identification
• Replacement of a photograph
• Addition of missing acknowledgement
• Restriction of sensitive information
• Review of access classification
• Withdrawal from public display

Requests will be reviewed according to the nature of the record, existing permissions, archive integrity and any legal or institutional obligations.

Suggested Submission Form

The website form should include the following fields:

Contributor Information

• Full name
• Community
• Village or district
• State
• Country
• Preferred language
• Email
• Telephone
• Organisation
• Relationship to the knowledge

Submission Type

• Knowledge Holder Profile
• Community Story
• Oral History
• Plant Record
• Traditional Food
• Agricultural Knowledge
• Language Record
• Forest or Conservation Record
• Research Paper
• Photograph
• Audio
• Video
• Other

Record Details

• Title
• Description
• Original knowledge holder
• Community of origin
• Language
• General location
• Date or period
• Cultural context
• Existing references
• Verification status

Permission and Access

• I am authorised to submit this material
• The original contributor knows about this submission
• Public access permitted
• Community access only
• Approved research access
• Restricted access requested
• Contact me before any publication
• Name may be displayed
• Photograph may be displayed

File Upload

• Images
• Documents
• Audio
• Video
• Supporting references
• Consent record where available

Declaration

“I confirm that the information provided is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I have disclosed the source of the material and any restrictions known to me. I understand that submission does not guarantee publication and that the material may require verification before acceptance.”

Help Preserve Knowledge Responsibly

Every responsible contribution can help preserve a voice, plant name, community memory, food tradition or ecological observation that might otherwise be lost.

The value of a submission depends not only on the information it contains, but also on whether it respects the people, communities and environments connected with it.

Information on Hodopathy.com is intended for cultural preservation, education and research awareness. It is not medical advice and should not be used for self-treatment.

Submit knowledge with permission. Preserve records with context. Protect community heritage for future generations.