Make the Ageless Wisdom of Tibet Available to All

As we wrapped up 2021 and entered 2022, we looked back at a successful year where we celebrated not only 5 years since the relaunch of the Berzin Archives website as Study Buddhism, but 20 years since the first version of the Berzin Archives launched on the web. From its humble beginnings in 2001, the Study Buddhism website now boasts over 12,700 articles in 32 languages, reaching all corners of the planet.

The work, of course, never stops! Over the last three months, our translators, editors, and assistants have prepared over 400 new articles and over 240 new subtitle files, working out to seven completed every single day. As part of the ongoing process to make the website ever more user-friendly, our English editors have copyedited more than 110 articles, making them more concise and easier to read.

On social media, we saw impressive results over the winter. On our YouTube channel, we are soon about to reach 40,000 subscribers, and in the last 90 days, we had 272,000 views of our videos, a 40% increase compared to the previous three months. Engagement on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram has also been increasing steadily as we post more specific content, in formats suited to each platform. All in all, over the last three months, our content has been seen more than 3 million times on the social media platforms we use.

Here are some of our accomplishments over these last three months:

• Preparation and publication of 408 translations into our various languages
• Preparation and addition of 20 new English articles
• Creation and addition of 248 subtitle files
• Copyediting of 111 English transcripts and files
• Preparation and addition of 437 descriptions and 109 abstracts in English
• Preparation and addition of 20 biographies for the newly expanded Spiritual Teachers section 
• Commenced editing of videos of our interview with the Nechung Oracle, the state oracle of Tibet.
• Commenced editing of videos of our interview with Jhado Rinpoche, the retired abbot of Namgyal Monastery and one of the most highly esteemed masters of the Gelug tradition today.
• Preparation of 8 different video clips and uploading them to social media channels. Each video was prepared for posting on Facebook with 32 language subtitles, on Twitter with embedded English subtitles and a maximum length of 2 minutes and 20 seconds, on Instagram at 9:16 format with embedded English subtitles, and on TikTok at 9:16 format with embedded English subtitles and a maximum length of 3 minutes.
• Preparation of 8 quotes taken from our video interviews, accompanied with graphics, and the uploading of these to social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter).
• Using Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, preparation of a test program for improving the selection of related terms for the Glossary.
• Investigation into how the above program can be integrated into the website code is underway.
• Redesign and reprogramming for the newly expanded Spiritual Teachers section.
• Preparation of a draft plan for user accounts for the website. 
• Updating of all embedded Youtube videos on the website with an application to speed their loading. 
• Improvement of various features in the data base and content management system for locating and deleting duplicates, making more frequent backups, and filtering and sorting article tags.

All of this hard work is made possible by your continuing generous support. Together, we shall “Make the Ageless Wisdom of Tibet Available to All.”

Links:

• Study Buddhism website of the Berzin Archives
• Study Buddhism on Facebook
• Study Buddhism on YouTube