In a world where the digital divide is not only about access to technology but also about representation within it, minority languages face the threat of digital extinction. The preservation and promotion of minority languages has become crucial as the number of endangered languages continues to grow. Open communities such as Wikipedia are of the essence to preserve linguistic diversity through collective wisdom.

Furthermore, language technology has the capacity to play a significant role in supporting these languages. By developing tools for under-resourced languages, we are prolonging their life in the digital era by enabling users to actively use that language online. Machine Translation (MT), in particular, has the potential to greatly benefit these languages by increasing access to information and resources, as well as facilitating communication between speakers. In fact, MT is a central tool within the Wikiverse.

In this session, we will bridge the gap between Wikimedians and language technology research, by exploring how Wikipedia is used in current state-of-the-art approaches and by focusing on open-source initiatives, as opposed to proprietary systems. The outcome of this merge will hopefully lead to a fully open-source powered Wikipedia.

Session recording: https://youtu.be/BbGrkYK8FEk?list=PLhV3K_DS5YfJ1xyY0LNDNX3RKyRQEXOdB&t=8587