Introduction

The Syriac community, also known as Syrian Christians and sometimes conceived as St. Thomas Christians, is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. The community is said to have been founded by St. Thomas in 52 CE, introducing Christianity long before it even reached many parts of Europe and was fortified by waves of emigrations to Kerala from the Middle East and West Asia. The Syriac language is an integral part of the community, perhaps the vestiges of its Judeo-Assyrian origin. The language served as the liturgical language of the Syriac Christian community from the beginning. The identity of the community faced many questions after the arrival of the Portuguese in 1498 who saw the Syriac Christians as strange and wanted to bring them under Rome.

The Portuguese labelled the literature of the Syriac people of Kerala as heresy and burnt all these documents in the Synod of Diamper in 1599, because of which no Syriac literature remains preserved in Kerala that was before the 16th century. The real impact of the events was visible after 1653 after the “Coonan Cross Oath” where a section of the community renounced their allegiance with the Portuguese and since then the community has only divided themselves based on religious beliefs and practices to this day.

A demographic study on the community suggests that the community is facing a decline and one of the solutions for the problem is the unity of the community members. It is assumed that the common and cultural heritage of the community can be a factor in uniting the highly divided community. Although the Syriac community of Kerala is a small minority forming less than 25% of the Kerala society and divided by religious beliefs, the community plays a very important role in the social, economic, and cultural role in the Kerala society. The Syrian Christians of Kerala form a big diaspora which spread across the Middle East, Europe, and North America.

This work explores the role of the Syriac language in the community, and the cultural awareness among its members through user research methods and looks at the different reasons why the language has also declined among the community members and to see if the revival of the language and awareness of cultural heritage can unite the community members. The dissertation aims to find solutions and create guidelines for the revival of the Syriac language in Kerala using technology.

The Project

The design thinking framework was used to implement the project. The aims of the project were to:

• To investigate if and why there is a lack of interest in the Syriac language in Kerala’s Syriac community.
• To investigate how the members of the Syriac community of Kerala could be encouraged to learn and use the Syriac language.
• To investigate what measures can help the Syriac community of Kerala members to master the language using technology and other factors.

The phases of the project included:

• Empathise: Methods such as interviews and focus groups were implemented to empathise and understand the sentiments, needs and problems of the members of the Kerala Syrian Christian community in regards to linguistic identity and about the revival of the Syriac language in Kerala. Persona of the target users based on the insights from the primary research methods was created.
• Define: The problems of the target users are identified and defined.
• Ideate: Possibilities of solving the problem was looked for and discovered through secondary research methods like literature review and competitive analysis. Certain solutions were shortlisted.
• Prototype: Low fidelity and high fidelity prototypes were created based on the final list of features and flow.
• Test: The prototypes were tested and also evaluated and relevant insights were gathered and considered at different stages of implementation.

The above-listed phases did not happen linearly. Each element was implemented at times of requirement, sometimes going back and forth multiple times until the desired outcomes were received.

Empathise: The Research

Very little to few documents were found on the present status of the Syriac linguistic identity of the Syrian Christians in Kerala. Therefore, research was planned to understand what the community members thought about the linguistic and cultural identity of the Syrian Christians as opposed to a religious identity based on the churches they belonged to. The research was planned in three parts:

• Interviews with community members
• Interview with a community leader
• A focus group with community members who belonged to different denominations to discuss the importance of linguistic identity.

Interviews with Community Members

Interviews offer the ability to navigate through different aspects of the matter from a more personal perspective of each potential user. Community members of the Kerala Syrian Christians from different denominational beliefs were interviewed to understand how they see the Syriac language, their knowledge about important historic events and their opinion on the future of the language among them.

The interviews were planned to be semi-structured, adding room for anything more the participant wanted to say. Open-ended questions were framed.

1. What are the factors that connect you to your Syriac heritage?
2. In what ways do you think the Syriac language connects to your cultural identity within the Keralite society?
3. What are your thoughts on the decline of the Syriac language in Kerala since 1599 (Synod of Diamper)?
4. What are the hindrances to the daily use of the Syriac language in the community?
5. How do you think the revival of the language would affect the Syriac community?
6. What are ways in which you envision the revival of the Syriac language in Kerala?
7. How do you see the role of technology in the process of reviving the Syriac language in Kerala?

Insights

The interviews were recorded and transcripts were created. An affinity map was created using the quotes of the participants. These were rearranged based on their themes.

The insights from the interviews with 10 participants were drawn from the themes identified. The insights are:

• More education regarding the Syriac language and heritage needs to be provided to the community members.
• The language must be promoted through educational means.
• The revival of the language can enhance the unity of the Syriac community in Kerala.
• Religious bodies must take responsibility and take the initiative to teach the language to their members.
• Technology can be used to teach the language through courses and other training methods.

Interview with a Community Leader

Community leaders such as bishops, priests and deacons were approached for an interview. Many of them declined the interview stating that they were not able to give a perspective on the cultural side of the Syriac identity of their community. A deacon agreed to an interview and the following questions were asked of him:

1. How would you describe the connection of the Syriac language to the Syriac community in Kerala?
2. How would you evaluate the importance of the Syriac language in protecting the cultural identity of the community
3. How would you describe the current situation of the cultural identity of the community and the role of the Syriac language?
4. In what ways do you think the community would benefit from the revival of the language or other garshuni (Malayalam and Sanskrit written using Syriac script with the addition of a few other letters)?
5. What measures do you think would be reliable in reviving the language in the community?
6. What technological methods do you envision in helping the community revive the lost language?

The following insights were obtained from the semi-structured interview:

• Practical uses for the language must be found to make it relevant for daily usage.
• Cultural awareness must be introduced to inform the community members about their rich heritage.
• The leadership must take responsibility for improving the quality of Syriac knowledge in the community.
• More programmes focused on the younger generation must be introduced.
• Technology must be utilised to improve the literacy rate in the Syriac language.

Focus Group

This method was chosen with other research methods to track any blind spots or problems that were not identified when spoken to individual participants. To conduct the focus group, 4 participants of different religious backgrounds from the Syriac community in Kerala were chosen, all of whom were based in Edinburgh. Different aspects regarding the role of the Syriac language in Kerala, its history and the present state of the Syriac identity were discussed in the group. The discussion was held online using Microsoft Teams.

The following insights were obtained from the focus group:

• The Syriac language was considered to be not popular.
  • Participant 4: “I think it’s not that much popular because I never heard other than you said it. So I don’t think it is so popular.”
• The only usage for Syriac language known to the group was for religious purposes.
  • Participant 1: “Like you said, I think is used for worship more than anything else…”
• The group did not see any reason to revive the language as the language is not found to be beneficial in daily life.
  • Participant 3: “everyone is all happy to learn a new language like English or German or French if they are travelling to some some places I’m gonna try to settle down there so that makes a benefit to the future, whereas if we are trying to revive Syriac language, you could cling on to your heritage …but what benefit that puts forth is one question…If you try to adapt that to revive that, what benefit?”
• Promotions through scholarships and other incentives must be introduced to revive the language.
  • Participant 3: “You put scholarships or you put incentives to anyone who learns this language and you make some sort of achievement in that language; you give them some good amount of prize so that people will do it.”
• The group suggested the use of technology in developing new experiences like the use of extended reality experiences that would promote the learning of the language.
  • Participant 2: “Probably you could incorporate AR VR setups in where you can only talk in these languages. Probably not in not only talk in these languages, make it more interactive for people or students or kids you know…”

Persona

Based on the findings of the user research conducted, the persona of Eapen Mathai was created. Eapen is a young adult who is not so religious but wants to learn more about his culture and history. He wants to learn Syriac and faces many frustrations. Eapen embodies the many individuals from the Syriac community of Kerala who want to connect to their heritage but don’t have many resources to do it.

Define: The Problem

The findings of the user research suggest that education regarding the history, cultural heritage and language must be given to the Syriac people in Kerala to make them aware of their heritage and to protect and preserve the same. Utility must be found for the language and religious or external bodies must make initiatives to promote and revive the language by introducing programmes for the younger generation, scholarships and other incentives must be provided to promote the learning of the language. Technology can play a significant role in the promotion and teaching of the language and it needs to be done in an accessible and interactive way.

Ideate: Finding Solutions

While some of the insights found are beyond my power to implement, there are certain things within my power as a designer. Much academic literature was referred to understand how similar problems were tackled in different parts of the world. Topics such as technology in documentation, interaction with culture and in language learning were explored. The idea of using ChatGPT to practice language was chosen as a key feature in the final product.

E

Competitive Analysis

The purpose of the competitive analysis in this research is to understand the functionalities provided by different applications that were created to bring the Syriac communities closer and to teach the Syriac language to individuals of different backgrounds including the Syriac communities in the indigenous lands of Iraq and Syria. The applications compared in this competitive analysis are:

1. Suryat Application:
          The application is an online version of the book “Shlomo Suryat – An Introductory Course to Suryat-Aramaic (Turoyo)”
2. Suryoyo Application:
          An application that provides relevant and current information for Syriac people.
3. SuryoyoTalk Application:
          A language learning application for the Turoyo dialect of Syriac.
4. Beth Gazo Application:
          An application to learn Syrian Orthodox Christian prayers and chants.
5. Mango languages Application:
          An application that supports language learning which has a free Chaldean Aramaic course.

The competitive analysis compared the different aspects of each application and helped in finding the gaps in the applications used to learn the Syriac language and to connect with the resources in the language. It was found that Suryat, SuryoyoTalk and Mango Languages provided facilities for learning and only Suryat and Mango Languages had enough content to teach the language to a complete beginner and of these two, only the Mango Languages application had an interactive interface which engaged with the users. Of the three, only Mango Languages is available on both iOS and Android devices, the others are available only in iOS.

The Suryoyo application provided political, secular and religious content that would help an intermediate learner or a person who knows the Syriac language engage with the language and find utility for the language other than for just religious purposes. The Beth Gazo application is solely used for learning religious text, the application has no styling or interactive elements except for a button that would help play the audio of the chant and stop playing the audio. Only Suryoyo is available in both iOS and Android, Beth Gazo is available only in iOS.

It was found that there were no learning applications targeted at Kerala Syriac people, and there is a lack of applications that teach the language effectively using interactive methods.

Prioritising Features

Different ideas were collected from the literature review, interviews and focus groups and from the competitive analysis. These were prioritised using the MoSCoW analysis method.

Must Have	Should Have	Could Have	Will Not Have
Language Learning Courses	Language learning games	Chat Messaging System	Social Media feature
VisionChat	History & Culture Courses	Event Alerts and Tickets	Metaverse experiences
Writing Practice Guide	Tradition Database	Audio Books	Augmented Reality experiences
Usability	Accessibility
Enjoyability

The requirements that are classified using the MoSCoW prioritization method are used to decide what features would be included in the final prototype. The main constraint considered while deciding the final requirements is time. The chosen requirements are divided into functional and non-functional requirements.

Functional Requirements	Non Functional Requirements
Language Learning Courses	Usability
VisionChat	Enjoyability
Writing Practice Guide
Language learning games
History & Culture Courses
Tradition Database

Design & Prototyping

This phase is the most exciting phase where the actual application takes shape. Based on the requirements finalised, a sitemap was created. A sitemap was used to represent the structure of the screens of the prototype that is to be designed. The aspects of the final prototype were finalized into 3 broad categories which are (i) to learn Syriac, (iii) to learn about the history and culture of the Syriac people in Kerala and (iii) a social interaction feature to help users connect with likeminded people who would also use the Syriac language, which would be step essential in reviving the language to the spoken form easily. Based on these, the pages of the sitemap were set as below:

Sketches & Lo-Fi Prototype

Sketching is one of the first steps of envisionment where abstract ideas are brought into a visual form. The pages from the sitemap were sketched by hand. This stage could also be called wireframing.

These sketches were then used to create a paper prototype. The screens were stuck together and inserted through a paper mobile phone frame. The screens are slidable, enabling navigation.

Usability Study

The low-fidelity prototype is used to implement a usability test to see if users would be able to understand the flow of the prototype and to see if there are any other changes to be made. The usability test for the paper prototype was performed by the researcher through two participants. The purpose of the application and each screen was explained to the participants. The participants were asked to perform the following tasks:

• Try to use the AI chat feature to practice speaking in Syriac.
• Access the Syriac lessons.
• Try to find out more about the history of the Syriac community.
• Access and play the hangman game.

It was found through the usability testing that both the participants were able to navigate to the required screens without much trouble. One of the main problems faced by the participants was that the prototype wasn’t labelled properly, and the text was represented using lines. One of the participants noted that some of the icons were not familiar and it took some to understand some new icons. It was decided that a high-fidelity design could be made based on the findings of the usability test.

High Fidelity Prototype

The processes involved in this section are the design of a graphic user interface (GUI), the creation of a high-fidelity prototype from the design, evaluation of the high-fidelity prototype and the finalized high-fidelity prototype design.

The graphic user interfaces for the product were created in Figma. The design of the screens was limited to the screens in the sitemap unlike with the sketches. A high-fidelity (hi-fi) prototype is created by adding interactions to each of the designed interface screens. A hi-fi prototype is made as close as possible to the final product that is to be developed, it is useful for evaluating and studying different aspects of the product and providing a real-like experience to the stakeholders.

The colours for the designs were inspired by the Aramean-Syriac flag, the flag of the Kingdom of Travancore and the flags of the Syrian Orthodox church and its derivate churches.

The screens were designed according to the sketches and proper texts and icons were used as signifiers to help users navigate through the prototype of the mobile application which was named “Suryani” which means Syriac.

Heuristic Evaluations

The hi-fi prototype is evaluated by experts for flaws in the design. Heuristic evaluation was chosen as the method for evaluating the hi-fi prototype. 7 of 10 heuristics suggested by Jakob Nielsen were considered for the evaluation which include (i) visibility of system status, (ii) match between system and the real world, (iii) user control and freedom, (iv) consistency and standards, (v) recognition rather than call, (vi) flexibility and efficiency of use and (vii) aesthetics. The experts were asked to point out the issues and provide recommendations based on the heuristics set.

The prototype was evaluated by 4 experts who are MSc User Experience Design graduates who have industry experience.

Feedback

H

The findings from the heuristic evaluation are prioritised based on the frequency of the concern and the feasibility of implementing the changes. The actionable findings are prioritised from a range of P0 to P3 where feedback labelled P0 is of utmost importance and P3 is of the least priority. The prioritised list of feedback is listed below:

P0:

• Lack of signifiers to indicate the location of the user.
• Lack of Home button.

P1:

• Lack of an introductory screen for features like the AI-based chat and the hangman game.
• Some of the icons used may not be understood by the users correctly and proper labelling must be provided.
• The hamburger icon is used for accessing a menu of hyperlinks and it could confuse users

P2:

• Lack of shortcuts.
• The text and button sizes are too small.
• The icon for the AI-based chat feature could be confusing.

P3:

• Difficulty in closing overlays like the menu and search.
• Inconsistency in title capitalization.
• Inconsistency with post layouts of different kinds.
• Some buttons are interactive to tap but do not help in navigation.
• Issues with page transitions.
• The writing pad for the practice guide is too small.
• The profile icon could be hidden except for certain pages.
• Some pages are text-heavy and cluttered.
• The colours might not be accessible to all users.

Revised Designs

The prioritized list of feedback was considered to make changes to the existing design. The suggestions prioritised in P0 and P1 were implemented. The icons for navigation were labelled and now, the icons are set to a different colour when the user is in the direct link of the icon or its sub-pages. The sizes of the buttons and texts have been checked and necessary changes were made. New splash screens were added for the AI-based chat (Anna) page, the hangman game and the writing guides to educate the user about what they are going to be using.

Final Prototype

The final prototype is capable of completing 12 tasks which are, (i) interacting with elements in the home screen, (ii) accessing a Syriac lesson, (iii) practising spoken Syriac with AI-based chatbot Anna, (iv) practising written Syriac using the practice guide, (v) accessing songs database, (vi) accessing articles on artforms of the community, (vii) accessing articles on the history of the community, (viii) accessing recipes from the community, (ix) contributing to the tradition database, (x) play the hangman game, (xi) access information about social communities and events and (xii) view the user’s profile. An interactive prototype is embedded below.

Conclusion

The Syriac community of Kerala is a unique and ancient community with a rich history and culture. The Syriac language can be revived in Kerala only by introducing strong policies that would favour the usage of the language among its community members. Educational programmes on the language should be promoted. The authorities in the Syriac community of Kerala must take actions which would give each community member the feeling of ownership of the culture and the awareness that each one of the Kerala Syriac community members is the life and future of the community. A third-party organisation would be an effective solution to unify the religiously diverse Kerala Syriac community.

Solutions to create utility for the Syriac language in Kerala can aid in boosting the process of reviving the Syriac language in Kerala. Technological solutions such as the proposed mobile application can help educate Kerala Syriac community members about the Syriac language and culture.  

This work is limited based on many factors. The prototype was created based on the features that were feasible for the scope of my MSc dissertation, many interactive features can be added to the proposed application like the use of AR technology in creating experiences that would help normal users understand things better. The language learning experience could also be improved by making Duolingo-style lesson plans that include various language learning exercises which are personalised for each user.

The work is also limited on the basis of usability research that is done after the design of a hi-fi prototype, due to the focus on investigating the user needs and understanding the possibilities it was not feasible to conduct further research on the users after the evaluation and revision of the hi-fi prototype. Some of the planned research methods like desirability study were not conducted and some of the research methods were adjusted to get results faster due to constraints in time.

The future areas of work on reviving the Syriac language in Kerala could investigate how different policies and strategies from different levels of authority can bring awareness about the problems in cultural aspects of the Syriac community of Kerala. Future work can involve more interactive technologies in educating the community members. Future works should also involve more research after the design of the hi-fi prototype.