Project Saved

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Our name explanation
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Inspiration

Cultures do not simply disappear, they are often silenced. Throughout history, genocide, forced displacement, and cultural suppression have erased entire ways of speaking, remembering, and identifying. Today, globalization and digital dominance accelerate this loss, leaving smaller communities without technological representation. We were inspired by the idea that technology, which has contributed to homogenization, can also be used as a tool of preservation. If culture is disappearing in the physical world, it must not disappear from the digital one.

What it does

Project Saved is a platform designed to preserve and amplify endangered languages and cultural narratives. Our project: Highlights endangered languages and their histories. Provides an interactive way to explore linguistic and cultural data. Raises awareness about how violence and systemic marginalization contribute to cultural erasure. Creates a digital space where underrepresented identities can be archived and remembered. Rather than framing extinction as inevitable, we frame preservation as possible.

How we built it

We built Project Saved using: Frontend: [React Vite, Dash, Python, Leaflet, Node.js, HTML-CSS] Backend: [Node.js, Flask, Python] Data handling: Structured datasets of endangered languages organized through MySQL. Visualization tools like MapBox-GL to make cultural loss tangible and interactive We focused on building a clean, accessible interface that communicates urgency without overwhelming the user. Our architecture was designed to be scalable so additional languages and datasets can be added over time.

Challenges we ran into

One major challenge was ensuring we handled the topic ethically. Representing cultural trauma requires care we wanted to center preservation. Another challenge was data availability. Many endangered languages are under-documented, which ironically reflects the very problem we are addressing. From a technical standpoint, integrating real-time data visualization and ensuring performance under limited hackathon time constraints required rapid iteration and debugging.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud to say we have built a functional prototype within limited time, creating a scalable framework for future cultural preservation tools and balancing emotional weight with technical execution

What's next for Project Saved

We are expanding the database to include more endangered languages, partnering with cultural organizations and communities, adding AI-powered language documentation tools, implementing audio archives and pronunciation libraries, and developing community contribution features.