Greetings all,
The digital divide between SA languages remains huge; fortunately new
technologies offer cheaper and faster ways of levelling the playing fields.
Here's a good example.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Vukosi Marivate <vukosi.marivate(a)cs.up.ac.za>
Date: Wed, Sep 14, 2022 at 10:51 AM
Subject: #DS4SocietySeminar DS@UP🚀 - Mukondleteri Dumela - Why language
technologies for African languages are important. <> 23 September 2022
To: <graaf.michael(a)gmail.com>
Seminars @ DS@UP🚀 - 2022 Data Science for Society Seminar Series
#DS4SocietySeminar
Our next seminar for 2022
*Topic:* Why language technologies for African languages are important.
*Speaker:* Mukondleteri Dumela
*Sign Up:* RSVP
<http://mail01.tinyletterapp.com/datascience-up/ds4societyseminar-ds-up-mukondleteri-dumela-why-language-technologies-for-african-languages-are-important-23-september-2022/21451293-docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1faipqlsculysimayz2povay4djx2kotzek62ejgxc0fk7miptivduiq/viewform?c=6ea82c5a-4ac3-495a-b532-65f8f998f569>
*Date:* 23 September 2022
*Time: * 9:00AM-10:00AM SAST
*Abstract*
The world is a diverse place with thousands of languages and cultural
traditions. Africa alone has over 2,000 languages spoken amongst its 1,2
billion people. However, only a few African languages benefit from emerging
human language technologies, and the gap continues to grow as new human
language technologies are developed. Perhaps it is time to reflect on why
it is critical that emerging human language technologies be inclusive of
African languages and what we risk losing if we do not change course.
*Author Bio*
Mukondleteri Dumela is a Software Developer with a keen focus on African
languages. Hebegan my career in the University of Pretoria in 2009 while
studying towards a Bachelor of Information Science in Multimedia.
Mukondleteri has since then been working on various projects to advance the
status of technology for African languages.
He is the founder of the two projects:
*Angula*
Angula teaches people African languages using the voices of native
speakers.
- Angula is in BETA and is set for release in September 2022
- The link is
https://angula.app
<http://mail01.tinyletterapp.com/datascience-up/ds4societyseminar-ds-up-mukondleteri-dumela-why-language-technologies-for-african-languages-are-important-23-september-2022/21451297-angula.app/?c=6ea82c5a-4ac3-495a-b532-65f8f998f569>
*Xitsonga.org*
Xitsonga.org is a non profit organisation that is focused on digitising the
Xitsonga language.
- The website has been accessed by over a million people.
- Our apps have downloads of over 200 000.
- Xitsonga Dictionary app won the 2020 Best Educational Solution at the MTN
App Awards
- The link is
https://xitsonga.org
<http://mail01.tinyletterapp.com/datascience-up/ds4societyseminar-ds-up-mukondleteri-dumela-why-language-technologies-for-african-languages-are-important-23-september-2022/21451301-xitsonga.org/?c=6ea82c5a-4ac3-495a-b532-65f8f998f569>
This years schedule is below.
Date
Time [SAST]
Speaker
Organisation
21/07/2022
17:00
Rediet Abebe
UC Berkeley
12/08/2022
09:00
William Bird
Real 411 + MMA
02/09/2022
09:00
Sekou L Remy
IBM Research Nairobi
23/09/2022
09:00
Mukondleteri Dumela
Angula
21/10/2022
09:00
Skyler Wang
UC Berkeley Sociology Department/Meta
04/11/2022
15:00
TBA
25/11/2022
09:00
TBA
If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, feel free to contact
Neo Mokono neo.mokono(a)tuks.co.za
DS@UP 🚀 <https://tinyletter.com/datascience-up> by Vukosi Marivate
Lynnwood Road Pretoria, Gauteng South Africa
Sent to graaf.michael(a)gmail.com <#m_5071571953272626675_> — Unsubscribe
<https://tinyletter.com/datascience-up/unsub?c=6ea82c5a-4ac3-495a-b532-65f8f998f569&m=ds4societyseminar-ds-up-mukondleteri-dumela-why-language-technologies-for-african-languages-are-important-23-september-2022>
*Delivered by*
[image: TinyLetter] <http://www.tinyletter.com>
--
Michael Graaf, M.Phil (UCT)
Researcher, Editor &
Community Informatics Practitioner
Mob +27795487242
WhatsApp/ Signal/ Telegram +27647754342
ORCID 0000-0002-1951-5739