# Contributing to the Zomi Raw Text Corpus

Thank you for your interest in contributing to the Zomi Language Corpora project.  
This dataset is a community-driven effort to build the largest open Zomi text corpus for NLP research, education, and technology development.

Your contributions help strengthen Zomi language resources for future generations.

---

## 📌 What You Can Contribute

You may upload **raw, unprocessed Zomi text**, including:

- Web text (public pages only)
- News articles
- Books or literature (public domain or with permission)
- Bible or religious texts (if legally allowed)
- Social media posts (public, non-private content)
- Speech transcripts
- Any other Zomi text that is legally shareable

Please **do not** upload:
- Private messages or private social media content
- Copyrighted material without permission
- Personally identifiable information (PII)
- Harmful, abusive, or illegal content

---

## 📁 Folder Structure

Upload your files into the appropriate folder:
```bash
data/
web/
news/
bible/
books/
social/
transcripts/
misc/
```


If unsure, place your file in `misc/`.

---

## 📝 File Naming Guidelines

Use descriptive, consistent filenames:

```text
web_2026_04_batch1.txt
news_mizzima_2025_12.txt
bible_kjv_zomi.txt
social_fb_public_2026_01.txt
books_publicdomain_zomi_story1.txt
```


Avoid spaces or special characters.

---

## 🧾 Required Metadata (Attribution)

Every contribution must include a small metadata block at the top of the file or in a separate `.meta` file.

Use this template:

```md
Contributor Name: <your name or organization>
Source: <where the text came from>
Domain: <web, news, bible, books, social, transcripts, misc>
License of Source Material: <if known>
Date Collected: <YYYY-MM-DD>
Notes (optional): <any relevant context>
```

Example:

```md
Contributor Name: ZomiLearner
Source: Public Facebook Page (non-private content)
Domain: social
License of Source Material: Unknown (assumed public text)
Date Collected: 2026-04-28
Notes: Contains informal conversational Zomi.
```


---

## 🔐 Legal Requirements

By contributing, you confirm that:

- You have the right to share the text.
- The text does not violate privacy or copyright laws.
- You agree that your contribution will be released under **CC‑BY‑SA 4.0**.

This ensures the dataset remains open and legally safe.

---

## 🔄 Versioning

This dataset grows over time.  
Major updates will be released as:

- `raw-text-corpus-v1`
- `raw-text-corpus-v2`
- `raw-text-corpus-v3`

Your contributions may be included in future versions.

---

## 🤝 How to Contribute

1. Prepare your text file(s)
2. Add metadata
3. Upload via the Hugging Face UI into the correct folder
4. Submit changes

A maintainer will review your contribution for:

- legality  
- correct placement  
- metadata completeness  
- formatting  

If approved, it will be merged into the dataset.

---

## 🛠 Submitting Changes via Pull Request
If you are not a member of the zomi-language-corpora organization, you can still contribute through a pull request. Follow these steps:

### 1. Fork the Repository
Use the **“Duplicate this repo”** button on the dataset page.
This creates your own editable copy.

### 2. Clone Your Fork
```bash
git clone https://huggingface.co/<your-username>/raw-text-corpus
cd raw-text-corpus
```
#### 3. Add the Upstream Repository
This lets you sync updates from the main project.
```bash
git remote add upstream https://huggingface.co/zomi-language-corpora/raw-text-corpus
```
#### 4. Create a New Branch
```bash
git checkout -b add-new-data
```
#### 5. Add Your Data
Place your .txt or .jsonl files inside the correct domain folder:
```bash
data/web/
data/news/
data/bible/
data/books/
data/social/
data/transcripts/
data/misc/
```
Each file must include contributor metadata at the top.

#### 6. Commit Your Changes
```bash
git add .
git commit -m "Add new Zomi text data for <domain>"
```
#### 7. Push to Your Fork
```bash
git push origin add-new-data
```
#### 8. Open a Pull Request
Open this URL in your browser, and open the comparison page:
```bash
https://huggingface.co/datasets/zomi-language-corpora/raw-text-corpus/compare/main...<your-username>:add-new-data
```
Fill out the PR template and submit.
A maintainer will review your contribution and merge it if everything looks good.

## 🧑‍💻 Contact

If you have questions, suggestions, or want to join the core team, please contact:

| Maintainer   | Profile |
|--------------|---------|
| ZomiLearner  | [https://huggingface.co/ZomiLearner](https://huggingface.co/ZomiLearner) |
| ZomiNLP      | [https://huggingface.co/ZomiNLP](https://huggingface.co/ZomiNLP) |
| Juna190825   | [https://huggingface.co/Juna190825](https://huggingface.co/Juna190825) |

Thank you for helping build the Zomi NLP ecosystem.