Panel: Overcoming Challenges in African Language Digitisation (Audio)

Listen to the core panel discussion from the workshop "Building Language Technologies that Work: A Community Engagement Workshop for African Language Digitisation," recorded live at the University of Pretoria. While the video file for this segment was unusable, the complete audio discussion has been preserved. This session brings together a multi-disciplinary group of top computer science researchers, language practitioners, and AI developers to tackle the technical, ethical, and institutional bottlenecks facing African language technologies today. The panel unpacks how to transition the ecosystem past the "low-resource" label by addressing historical and institutional financial neglect, and how to safely process oral data without exploiting local communities. 👥 *Moderator:* *Dr Seani Rananga* (University of Pretoria) 👥 *Panellists:* *Dr Olubayo Adekanmbi* (Data Science Nigeria) *Dr Tsosheletso Chidi* (University of Pretoria) *Dr Abebe Tegene* (University of Pretoria) 📌 *Key Discussion Themes:* Moving past extractive research toward sustainable, publicly available language infrastructure. Balancing complex machine learning requirements with localized cultural and linguistic context. Addressing data sovereignty and creating equitable licensing models that center native speakers. *About the Workshop:* This research-driven community engagement initiative focuses on practical, community-centred approaches to African language digitisation, creating space for collaboration and inclusive AI design. 📖 *Explore the Playbook:* The frameworks discussed by this panel are part of a broader research initiative. Review the Playbook for Best Practices in African Language Digitisation here: https://data.org/reports/digitisation...