COMPASS#1 Natural Language Processing for Southern African Languages
Wednesday, 16 August, 09:30-17:30 UTC+2
Thapelo Sindane, Everlyn Asiko Chimoto, Rooweither Mabuya, Febe de Wet, Vukosi Marivate
The inclusion of African languages in Natural Language Processing (NLP) research has become a matter of utmost importance. With over 2000 globally recognized African languages significantly underrepresented in the field and their marginalised status in major conferences, it is crucial to address this gap. This workshop aims to raise awareness about the opportunities, gaps, and challenges in NLP for low-resource languages (LRL). We will equip participants with the necessary tools to embark on their NLP journey for LRL by providing guidance on finding resources, technology, and mentorship during talks and panel sessions. Additionally, we will discuss data creation, governance, ethics, and policy in NLP to inform attendees. The workshop will also foster collaborative research and projects focused on community development and NLP in the context of low-resource languages via a pitching session where participants may share their ideas and get feedback.
Site:
https://sites.google.com/
Saturday, 19 August, 09:30-17:30 UTC+2
The provision of digital higher education hopes to meet the demand of quality higher education called for by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. You are invited to submit your papers under the theme of “Build Back Better”, where you discuss the building of higher educational capacity within Africa. Topics could be anything from the economic and social benefits derived from developing digital higher education capacity, to the ways this could be achieved. Alternatively, provide us with your critical perspectives under the theme of “critique of digital higher education capacity building”. For example, this could be a decolonised perspective to the cultural imperialism created through capacity building in higher education and consequently the usurping of indigenous knowledge systems.
Saturday, 19 August, 09:30-12:30 UTC+2 (Half-day, AM)
Hafeni Mthoko, Joy Ming, Rama Varanasi
In recent years, there has been a growing focus on HCI research in non-western contexts, attracting junior researchers from diverse backgrounds to actively engage in this global community. However, there are limited avenues for junior researchers to learn the unwritten practices and nuances of the research process. Our workshop addresses this need through a 3-hour coaching session where junior researchers are paired with experienced senior researchers to work on a concrete research task of the junior researcher’s choice, providing valuable mentorship and guidance.
Saturday, 19 August, 14:00-17:30 UTC+2 (Half-day, PM – Virtual Only)
Siddhant Shinde, Ndinelao Iitumba, Naveen Bagalkot, Melissa Densmore, Nicola J Bidwell
Community Networks (CNs) worldwide are promising low-resource communities new ways of connecting and interplaying with technology. The embedded infrastructures of the CNs are derived from the sociocultural, political, spatial, and economic practices of the people they are built with and the communities they are located in. CNs situated in an area are not only followed by the technical requirements and possibilities of making the networks alive and accessible but are also shaped and moulded by the people and their practices. Community members’ lived experience and awareness of the local knowledge and local practices materialize the network in the situated realities. Yet the knowledge and experiences of the communities are often invisible and not considered in future research agendas for infrastructure and technology developments. In this workshop, we aim to bring together community members from around the world working on the frontlines of CNs as experts to share their local knowledge and experiences of designing, developing, negotiating, and maintaining the network, while opening the space for early career researchers and students to listen and learn from the ground.