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SUMMARY:SADiLaR's repository as a cyber-infrastructure: Improving data acc
 essibility for South African languages
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20251203T140500Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20251203T142000Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260711T093148Z
UID:indico-contribution-2963@events.chpc.ac.za
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Menno van Zaanen (South African Centre for Digital L
 anguage Resources)\nComputing processes typically require input data to pe
 rform actions\nthat generate output data. While input data can sometimes b
 e generated\ncomputationally\, it often originates from external sources. 
 In Natural\nLanguage Processing and Digital Humanities\, this input is typ
 ically\nsourced from human activities\, including spoken or written langua
 ge\nand music.\n\nIn the current era of Large Language Models (LLMs) that 
 provide\npractically usable tools\, access to appropriate training data is
 \nessential. These models generally perform better when larger data\ncolle
 ctions are available for training\, making data accessibility\ncrucial.\n\
 nFor most South African languages\, only limited amounts of digitally\nacc
 essible data are available. Many existing data collections are\nsourced fr
 om government websites\, providing texts in highly specific\ngenres. Texts
  from diverse genres --- including newspaper articles\,\nliterary works\, 
 and social media data --- are not openly accessible in\ndigital formats.\n
 \nThe SADiLaR (South African Centre for Digital Language Resources)\nrepos
 itory hosts data collections that are as openly accessible as\npossible. T
 he repository currently contains 357 directly downloadable\nitems and 56 m
 etadata-only items (indicating the existence of data\ncollections).\n\nThe
  underlying principle of SADiLaR's repository is that providing a\ncentral
 ized space for data collections makes them more easily findable\nand acces
 sible.  (Additionally\, submitted data collections are\nrequested to be as
  interoperable and reusable as possible to ensure\nadherence to FAIR princ
 iples.)\n\nThis abstract serves as a call for action with two main objecti
 ves.\nFirst\, we encourage researchers to submit their digital language da
 ta\nto the SADiLaR repository. Contributing to the repository increases\nt
 he availability of South African language data\, making it more easily\nfi
 ndable and accessible. This data can then be used for training models\,\nu
 ltimately benefiting language users\, for example\, through the\ndevelopme
 nt of LLMs for these languages. (Note: copyright remains with\nthe origina
 l copyright owner\; contributing to the repository does not\ntransfer copy
 right ownership.)\n\nEach contribution to SADiLaR's repository receives a 
 persistent\nidentifier\, enabling consistent referencing of data collectio
 ns. These\nidentifiers can be used as citations in publications\, ultimate
 ly\nbenefiting researchers associated with the data collections.\n\nSecond
 \, we encourage researchers to utilize the data collections\navailable in 
 SADiLaR's repository. The repository contains a wealth of\nuseful data col
 lections\, and searching there first can streamline\nresearch processes. S
 ADiLaR's repository exists to facilitate work in\nNatural Language Process
 ing and Digital Humanities\; collectively\, we\ncan leverage this cyber-in
 frastructure to advance our fields.\n\nhttps://events.chpc.ac.za/event/155
 /contributions/2963/
LOCATION:Century City Conference Centre 1/1-7 - Room 7
URL:https://events.chpc.ac.za/event/155/contributions/2963/
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