Vision
DHAE helps communities digitize, describe, and responsibly license cultural archives—photos, recordings, ephemera—so they can be shared, taught, and monetized without exploitation. The vision is a community-led archive where local custodians set terms, and educators and media can discover authentic materials with consent. Sponsors help preserve memory while creating income for stewards and storytellers.
Problem
Heritage materials are fragile, scattered, and often leave communities without context or benefit. Metadata conventions are inconsistent; rights and consent live in oral histories or paper forms that are hard to search. Educators and media teams can’t locate trustworthy, rights-cleared content, so demand is underserved while communities miss out on revenue and narrative control.
Solution
Cosolvent standardizes digitization and licensing templates, with community-controlled permissions. LLM+RAG lets custodians and buyers upload unstructured items—scans, transcripts, consent forms, grant PDFs—and ask natural questions like “does this recording allow classroom use and derivative works?” The system cites the relevant rights language. ClientSynth simulates school and media demand to show sponsors where training and small grants unlock the most contribution and fair licensing income.
Business Model
Revenue arises from licensing transactions, curation subscriptions for institutions, and sponsorship of digitization cohorts. Over time, a governed marketplace of consented, rights-clear media builds predictable income for communities and measurable cultural education outcomes for sponsors.