2025 IEEE Conference on Information Communications Technology and Society (ICTAS)
Pre-Conference Symposium
DataScientia: Empowering African Languages in the Age of AI
Despite the vast linguistic diversity of Africa, with over 2,000 languages spoken across the continent, African languages remain significantly underrepresented in digital spaces and large language models (LLMs). As of today, over 95% of online content is in just 10 languages, with less than 1% representing all African languages combined. This lack of digital presence limits speakers’ ability to access information, participate in technological advancements, and preserve their linguistic heritage. This lack also limits the capacity of Africans to socio-economically benefit from the over US$50 billion language services global market, with Africa presently having only a 0.05% share.
This 3-hour symposium/workshop will explore practical strategies and inspiring initiatives aimed at reversing this trend. We will examine collaborative approaches to language data creation, ranging from expert-led projects and crowdsourced initiatives to well-funded, community-rooted programs. Participants will learn how diverse actors are collaborating to develop inclusive digital language resources that accurately reflect local cultures and needs. At the heart of this movement is the DataScientia Foundation, a growing community committed to advancing artificial intelligence that respects linguistic diversity, of which DUT is a member. Guided by the principles of Share, Learn, Research, and Innovate, the foundation not only supports new projects for African languages but also fosters local ownership and sustainability.
Join us to connect with others working at the intersection of AI and local language development and discover how you or your organization/institution can contribute to this vital effort.
DataScientia Symposium Program
Program Details | ||||||
Talk | Time | Description | Presenter(s) | Duration (min) | Institute | Joining |
| T1 | 10:00 | Welcome and Agenda | Prof. Oludayo Olugbara | 10 | DUT, South Africa | In presence |
| T2 | 10:10 | DataScientia: The Global Vision | Prof. Fausto Giunchiglia | 10 | UNITN, Italy | In presence |
| T3 | 10:20 | DataScientia: The African Perspective | Prof. Sunday Olusegun Ojo | 10 | DUT, South Africa | In presence |
| T4 | 10:30 | Vision on lexicon development & Crowdsourcing Lexical Diversity | Dr. Hadi Khalilia | 30 | PTUK, West Bank | Online |
| T5 | 11:00 | The South African experience: On Developing Bilingual English- Setswana Datasets for Word Sense Disambiguation-enhanced Machine Translation | Dr. Tebatso Gorgina Moape | 10 | UNISA-DUT, South Africa | In presence |
| T6 | 11:10 | GenAI EU-Africa Project: African Languages GenAI Models for Education Applications | Ms. Margherita Trestini | 5 | APODISSI, Nigeria | Online |
| 11:15 | Q/A + Break | 15 | ALL | |||
| T7 | 11:30 | Fostering sharing, learning, research and innovation at local level: the DataScientia ecosystem | Dr. Matteo Busso | 30 | UNITN | In presence |
| 12:00 | LunchBreak | 1h | ALL | |||
| T8 | 13:00 | The DataScientia Community: Online Research Platform, Partnerships, Dissemination, and Events | Mr. Ali Hamza | 15 | UNITN | Online |
| T9 | 13:15 | Wrap up towards South African Projects | Prof. Sunday Olusegun Ojo | 15 | DUT | In presence |
| T10 | 13:30 | Conclusion and call for action | Prof. Fausto Giunchiglia | 15 | UNITN | In presence |
| 13:45 | Closing Q & A | |||||
| 14:00 | Tour of Computational Laboratory Facilities | |||||
Practical information
Event Location:
The event will take place at the Ritson Campus, Durban University Of Technology. The event will be held in a hybrid format, with some sessions taking place in person and others online.
Time & Date: 10:00 – 13:00 (SAST) on 22nd July 2025
Physical Venue: Ritson Campus, Block C1, 1st Floor, ICM Lab DC1110, Durban University Of Technology
Virtual Link to Join: Join by MS Teams
