DSI Distinguished Speaker Series highlights senior researchers who are applying data science to a broader scientific or academic expertise.
Hosted by DSI Postdoctoral Researchers.
Guest Speakers
This event will include lightning talks from representatives of Masakhane, a grassroots organisation whose mission is to strengthen and spur NLP research in African languages, for Africans, by Africans. Learn more here.
Speakers Included:
- Host/Lead: Jade Abbott, NLP Researcher for African Languages, Masakhane
- Host/Lead: Dr. Mohamed Ahmed
- Moderator: Isabelle Zaugg, DSI Postdoctoral Researcher
- Gilles Hacheme, Masakhane Group
- Wilhelmina Onyothi Nekoto, Masakhane Group
- Perez Ogayo, Masakhane Group
- Bonaventure Dossou, Masakhane Group
Details & Recording
Tuesday, October 12 (10:00 AM – 11:00 AM ET) – Virtual
About Masakhane
Masakhane is a grassroots organisation whose mission is to strengthen and spur NLP research in African languages, for Africans, by Africans. Despite the fact that 2000 of the world’s languages are African, African languages are barely represented in technology. The tragic past of colonialism has been devastating for African languages in terms of their support, preservation and integration. This has resulted in technological space that does not understand our names, our cultures, our places, our history.
Masakhane roughly translates to “We build together” in isiZulu. Our goal is for Africans to shape and own these technological advances towards human dignity, well-being and equity, through inclusive community building, open participatory research and multidisciplinarity.