Celtic Knot Conference 2024/Submissions/Empowering Low-Resourced and Minoritized Languages in Morocco
This is an open submission for the Celtic Knot Conference 2024. |
- Submission no.
About the submission
edit- Title of the submission
- Empowering Low-Resourced and Minoritized Languages in Morocco
- Type of submission
- Presentation
- Abstract (up to 300 words to describe your proposal)
- Over the last years, Wikimedia Morocco UG has placed support for language development at the center of its strategy and activities with the aim of reducing the knowledge gap. In the span of few years, three new Wikipedia versions in Moroccan languages have emerged, and other projects are at an advanced stage within the Incubator. Two versions are in Amazigh languages - one in the standardized form (adopted in 2011) and the other in the Tashelhit language (spoken by approximately 6 million people). The other Wikipedia project is that of Darija, which is a spoken language but does not have a linguistic standard, and considered by some to be vernacular Arabic. These projects have become the largest open datasets in these languages, and have enabled other applications by external stakeholders, notably in natural language processing, named-entity recognition and also in chatbots. However, while contributors and communities typically join to develop content, they often find themselves engaging in activities beyond their skills and knowledge to sustain and advance these projects. Consequently, the group's targeted efforts encompassed a wide range of actions, including attracting and retaining contributors, developing technical tools (such as automation and bots, etc.), leading and taking part of language standardization and advocacy initiatives. This presentation intends to shed light on the collaborative approaches led by the local affiliate to encourage the growth of small/low-resourced Wikipedias and overcome the challenges facing these projects.
- Theme of session
- Momentum Unleashed: Overcoming Barriers, Igniting Progress;
- What will attendees take away from this session?
- Understand the dynamics and challenges of supporting low-resourced languages in the Global South (case study of Morocco), and get inspired by affiliate activities that can be duplicated elsewhere.
- Language of presentation
- English
- If you intend to submit a poster, an you have an example of one you have used in the past please include a link below
About the author
edit- Author of the submission
- Reda Benkhadra
- E-mail address
- rbenkhadra1
gmail.com
- Country of origin
- Morocco
- Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)
- Wikimedia Morocco UG
- Slides or further information (optional)
- Special requests
- Is this Submission a Draft or Final?
- Final
Interested attendees
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