---
# System prepended metadata

title: 'SummitShare: Bridging Tradition and Technology'
tags: [Documentation, Public]

---


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    SummitShare: Bridging Tradion and Technology - Operations Report
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*Reflecting on Our Journey and Envisioning the Future*

# Introduction

*Since its inception, SummitShare has aimed to bridge tradition and technology by building a platform that would act as digital infrastructure that would be that bridge, connecting experiences to preservation and to accessibility. This Operations Report offers a high-level overview of the platform’s evolution, insights into project implementation, and a breakdown of how resources were allocated across development, exhibitions, and partnerships.*

In December 2024, we launched the **Leading Ladies Exhibit**, our first fully virtual showcase that combined narrative, rich artifacts with interactive digital infrastructure. This marked a transition from proof-of-concept to a live operational model, with features such as decentralized revenue distribution and on-chain artifact metadata. Now, in 2025, we carry out the final leg of that exhibit and prepare for SummitShare’s next chapter.

The following sections reflect on key developments to date, provide insights on funding and expenditures, and outline the next phase of SummitShare’s growth. Our work in the Gwembe Valley and partnerships with national institutions have not only validated our model but have also informed critical improvements as we move toward a more modular, accessible, and collaborative future.*


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# Exhibit Highlights
![5767128287041144521](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/H1PY6ICA1l.jpg)

The artifacts showcased were meticulously selected for their rich cultural contexts, each telling the story of women who were leaders and pillars within their communities. This collection held personal significance for our team, as our initial proof of concept for a virtual museum using **non-fungible tokens (NFTs)** featured these very pieces. More details about the exhibit can be [found here.](https://summitshare.co/blog/rkAQd7hB1l)

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# Development and Funding

The platform's development unfolded over approximately one year and six months, but the **$18,000** budget reflects **nearly three years** of cumulative work, including initial research, early-stage design, mockups, and the full realization of the current SummitShare platform. The majority of expenditures occurred in **2024**, coinciding with the public launch of the platform and its debut exhibit.

Approximately **88%** of the total budget was secured through grant funding, with the remaining **12%** coming from individual donations and participation in open funding rounds. This lean but strategic financial model enabled us to bootstrap across multiple phases while maintaining a strong commitment to the platform’s core tenets: accessibility, transparency, and community empowerment.

```mermaid
pie title Project Expenditure Summary 
   "Operational" : 25
    "Team" : 29.9
    "Exhibition Costs" : 11.9
    "Treasury" : 15.6
    "Development" : 17.6
```


# Strategic Partnerships

Our journey was enriched by new collaborations with key partners who supported the exhibit and related processes:

- Octant: An early supporter of our mission, Octant provided invaluable backing, further propelling our initiatives via their accelerator and support via one of the first Streaming Quadratic Funding Rounds(SQF).

- Yellow Card: As one of Africa's largest cryptocurrency exchanges and a primary on-and-off ramp in Zambia, Yellow Card played a crucial role in our project's financial ecosystem.

# Exhibit Engagement and Revenue Distribution

The Leading Ladies Exhibit attracted between **150 to 200 viewers**, with 30 ticket sales. Initially, access required purchasing a ticket via a web3 wallet, granting users a digital ticket. Funds were stored in an escrow account, benefiting both the **heritage community(80%)** and the **project (20%)**. This experimental "Revenue Distribution" system was enabled by our set of Ethereum Smart Contracts, which you can read more [on here.](https://github.com/SummitShare/SummitShare-Contracts/tree/v1) 

# Learning: Gwembe Valley
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Our recent field visit marked a pivotal milestone for SummitShare’s transition from prototype to operational model. In partnership with the Choma Museum and newly initiated collaboration with the Livingstone Museum, we engaged in a series of structured community visits and institutional dialogues. Together, these engagements highlighted both the urgency and feasibility of decentralized financial repatriation.

We held interviews with four active community clubs, engaging a total of **59 participants**. These conversations provided critical qualitative context, including artifact recognition, oral histories, and detailed insight into governance models. This work directly informs the design of our **"Contributions"** feature, which aims to support structured, peer-reviewed input into artifact metadata by those most connected to their histories.

The Choma Museum proved instrumental as a coordinating body and trusted intermediary, while the Livingstone Museum expressed formal interest in co-developing digital infrastructure for community-informed cataloguing. These strengthened institutional ties mark a new chapter for SummitShare, anchoring its second version in public institutional partnerships, community data stewardship, and transparent, scalable financial flows.

A comprehensive two-part report outlines our methods, findings, and practical recommendations for others exploring community-linked digital heritage models. [You can read the first part here.](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28855799.v1)


# The Importance of Context and Knowledge Systems

From the outset, we've recognized that the context surrounding artifacts is paramount. Displacement has resulted in significant information loss, evident in catalogs like the Swedish Ethnography Museum’s Database. This reality directly informed our selection of objects and shaped our emphasis on restoring context through active dialogue with heritage communities. Even within national institutions, such as the Livingstone and Choma museums, we learned that important contextual knowledge is often lost, especially in cases involving object transfers or informal donations.

Traditional knowledge systems, especially oral traditions, are crucial for preserving and transmitting information about cultural objects. In **2020**, the **Women's History Museum of Zambia** collaborated with the **Swedish Ethnography Museum** to conduct metadata-enriching workshops in the Gwembe Valley. Our recent return to this region provided continuity and validation: participants across the valley contributed valuable insight on artifact materials, usage, and symbolic meaning.

This fieldwork directly informs the development of SummitShare’s upcoming **"Contributions"** feature, a community-led, peer-reviewed mechanism that enables individuals and institutions to submit, verify, and update knowledge about African material heritage. This tool will make it possible to crowdsource context and correct institutional records, offering holding museums a structured means to integrate oral and community-sourced knowledge.


# Reflections and Future Directions

As we contemplate the future of SummitShare, a retrospective offers valuable insights. Notably, a significant portion of views occurred after the exhibit became freely accessible, highlighting accessibility’s critical importance, central to our mission.

**Our foundational principles remain steadfast:**

1. Accessibility: Leveraging technology to democratize access to cultural heritage.

2. Digital Repository: Creating a globally accessible platform for artifact information and display.



## What is SummitShare V2?

As we enter the next phase of development, **SummitShare’s focus is shifting from direct implementation(*for some areas*) to infrastructure stewardship**. Our goal is not to repeat the Gwembe Valley model at scale ourselves, but to empower others to do so.

SummitShare is evolving into a **modular, open-access protocol for hosting digital heritage collections**, offering tools to facilitate transparent funding, metadata enrichment, and community participation.

**Institutions, cooperatives, and individual custodians** will be able to use SummitShare to launch their own exhibits, submit contributions, and experiment with governance models—while benefiting from our technical backbone. This includes features like on-chain artifact metadata, contribution records, and optional revenue-sharing mechanics.

But we are not stepping away from the heart of this work:  
We aim to deepen the repatriation effort—not only economically, but narratively.

We are committed to **building bridges between communities and the objects long removed from their contexts**. Through new thematic exhibits, storytelling layers, and interactive media, we’ll support connection, conversation, and rediscovery. Awareness must come before return—and return must include the stories we tell.

> The future of repatriation is shared, plural, and participatory.

The Gwembe experience proved that economic repatriation cannot run on rails alone. It requires **a trusted intermediary**—a museum, a cultural association, a local council. SummitShare can provide the infrastructure, but **local knowledge drives the vehicle**.

We believe the Gwembe pilot proved the thesis. Now, **rather than repeating implementation ourselves, we invite others to adopt, adapt, and build**. V2 is designed to support that ecosystem—not by centralizing control, but by **opening the house**.

SummitShare’s future is plural:  
**A digital home where many custodians can curate, connect, and contribute.**

---
**Q:** What does that look like?

**A:** The chart below outlines the core pillars of our V2 priorities. We’ll be unpacking each of these areas in more detail in upcoming posts and design briefs.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    title[<strong>SummitShare V2 Roadmap</strong>]
    subtitle[<em>Strategic Vision and Implementation Path</em>]
    
    subgraph Stewardship ["1. Platform Stewardship & Exhibit Autonomy"]
        A[<strong>Exhibit Builder & Curator Roles</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Empowering creators to build personalized, meaningful exhibits with flexible governance</font>]
        B[<strong>SummitShare & Community Exhibits</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Hosting both platform-curated and community-driven experiences with tiered access options</font>]
        C[<strong>Institutional User Support</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Dedicated tools and services for museums, universities, and cultural organizations</font>]
    end

    subgraph Revenue ["2. Revenue & Participation Models"]
        D[<strong>Atomic Revenue Contracts</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Real-time, transparent distribution of funds between creators, communities, and platform</font>]
        E[<strong>Fiat & Crypto Payments</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Seamless integration of traditional and blockchain currencies for inclusive participation</font>]
        F[<strong>Sponsored Tickets & Donations</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Community-funded access ensuring knowledge equity across economic boundaries</font>]
    end

    subgraph Contributions ["3. Data Contributions & Knowledge Formalization"]
        G[<strong>Open Contributions Forum</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Democratic space for community members to enrich artifact context and provenance</font>]
        H[<strong>Community-Verified Metadata</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Collaborative authentication of cultural data through oral histories and collective memory</font>]
        I[<strong>Metadata Bug Bounties</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Incentivized research program rewarding quality contributions and historical accuracy</font>]
    end

    subgraph Tools ["4. Tools, Engines & Interfaces"]
        J[<strong>Revenue Distribution Repository</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Open-source codebase for equitable financial routing with customizable conditions</font>]
        K[<strong>Thematic Exhibits Engine</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Modular system for building immersive digital collections with narrative capabilities</font>]
        L[<strong>AR Experience Viewer</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Augmented reality interface bringing artifacts to life in physical and digital spaces</font>]
    end

    subgraph Archive ["5. Institutional Support & Knowledge Repository"]
        M[<strong>Publication Repository</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Permanent, citable home for research, field notes, and community contributions</font>]
        N[<strong>Report Linking & Context Anchors</strong><br><font size=1 face="cursive">Web of interconnected knowledge building deeper understanding across disciplines</font>]
    end

    title --> subtitle
    subtitle --> Stewardship
    Stewardship --> Revenue --> Contributions --> Tools --> Archive

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    classDef stewardship fill:#d6f5e3,stroke:#1c3c2a,stroke-width:2px,color:#1c3c2a,font-family:cursive;
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```
---

# More News

We are proud to share that this work has been recognized internationally. SummitShare, in collaboration with the Women's History Museum of Zambia, has been invited to present at an upcoming exhibition and conference hosted by the Swedish National Museums of World Culture. Our presentation will contribute to the third major curatorial provocation, focused on **"Repatriation, Colonialism, and Reconciliation."** This exhibition marks a paradigm shift, rethinking the role of museums in post-colonial contexts and exploring models for shared custodianship and restitution.

The timing of this opportunity aligns with SummitShare’s broader strategic direction: expanding into a formal, persistent platform that supports community-contributed knowledge, co-governance of metadata, and a publicly auditable record of heritage information. We see this as a moment to demonstrate not only our technology but our philosoph, one that centers lived memory, historical justice, and the distributed future of cultural preservation.



# Closing Remarks

SummitShare's journey continues to affirm that decentralized digital tools can meaningfully complement traditional forms of heritage preservation and repatriation. Our pilot in Gwembe established a working model of community-led funding and validated the necessity of intermediaries who possess deep contextual knowledge.

As we pivot toward a more open infrastructure model in SummitShare v2, we relinquish the role of implementers and take on that of facilitators. The platform will support institutions, communities, and independent curators to enact economic repatriation on their terms, while relying on trusted local actors to anchor that effort.

The precedent has been set. The documentation is here. The tools exist. The invitation now is for others to build, improve, and adapt.

If you’d like to learn more, collaborate, or support our ongoing work, reach us at [**info@summitshare.co**](mailto:info@summitshare.co).
