Inspiration
Preserving Ghana's oral history before it fades. Many family stories are lost when elders pass away; Ti Dini ("We tell it" in Dagbani) uses AI to turn spoken memories into a digital living legacy.
What it does
A Digital Griot platform. Users record short voice clips of family stories. Our AI (Gemini 2.5) transforms those raw clips into beautifully narrated prose, categorized into a public Community Wall or a private Family Vault.
How we built it
Frontend: HTML5, CSS3 (Earth-toned UI), and Vanilla JavaScript. AI Engine: Google Gemini 2.5 Flash for high-speed, culturally nuanced storytelling. Storage: LocalStorage and Base64 audio encoding for a serverless, lightweight demo.
Challenges we ran into
API Optimization: Fine-tuning prompts to ensure the AI sounded like a Ghanaian elder, not a textbook. Resource Management: Handling large audio files within browser storage limits. UI/UX: Creating a "Vault" experience that felt secure yet accessible for all ages.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
- Successfully integrating Gemini 2.5 to generate stories with authentic local proverbs.
- Building a fully functional recording-to-transcription pipeline in 48 hours.
- Designing a "Family Vault" that effectively protects private heritage.
## What we learned
- The power of Prompt Engineering in maintaining cultural identity in AI.
- How to handle asynchronous API calls and manage rate limits (
429 errors) under pressure. - The importance of "Digital Preservation" as a tool for social impact.
## What's next for Ti Dini - Claiming our stories
Scaling to a mobile app with Firebase for permanent cloud storage, adding support for more local languages (Ga, Ewe, Fante), and allowing families to print physical "Legacy Books" directly from the app.
