Category Archives: MODULE 3

M3 P5 Indigenous People of Brazil Map Heritage with Google Earth

When I saw this it had confirmed an idea in my head of what could be possible with technology, language learning and connecting that to place based knowledge. The work that was done with the Surui people of Brazil in mapping their territory and even creating a virtual representation of their territory that a virtual character could navigate could have so many uses for Indigenous people across the globe. Being able to teach lessons to Indigenous students about their traditional territory could be incredibly beneficial. In the future I envision students having the ability to put on a VR headset and be immersed into that environment and speak in their Indigenous language while exploring their own territory from wherever they are in the world. Nothing will beat being there in person, but this can be a way to explore the territory and gain familiarity in between times of being able to visit in person.

M3 P4 Indigenous AI

This video goes further in depth into the work of Michael Running Wolf, from my Module 3 Post 3, as well as the work of his wife Caroline Running Wolf, who is pursuing a PhD in Anthropology at UBC, studying the potential application of XR technologies in the revitalization of Indigenous languages. This video is filled with valuable information regarding the challenges and potential solutions with technology and Indigenous languages.

One of the highlights that I found particularly interesting was that Michael Running Wolf and his colleagues had found a way to “fork” the coding of open source AI technologies to incorporate Indigenous languages. They had found that most AI technologies were incredibly biased to the western world and specifically California, where google headquarters is located. They had to find a way to use the existing technology and adapt it to the different Indigenous languages they were working with. Furthermore, the complexity of polysynthetic languages in how they have no finite dictionary, as there are virtually an infinite combination of root words, prefixes, suffixes etc.

M3 P3 The Race to Save Indigenous Languages, Using Automatic Speech Recognition

This article is about the work being done by Michael Running Wolf, who is a clinical instructor of computer science at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences, on developing methods for documenting and maintaining Indigenous languages through automatic speech recognition software. This work is a precursor to his long term goal of providing a way for Indigenous youth to learn their language by way of technological immersion, using technologies such as virtual reality or augmented reality.

Part of the difficulty of developing automatic speech recognition for Indigenous languages is that in the field of computational linguistics, relatively little research has been devoted to Indigenous languages. An additional challenge is that many Indigenous languages are “polysynthetic” meaning that they have words that contain many morphemes, or units of language that cannot be further divided. As Michael Running Wolf points out, “polysynthetic languages often have very long words – words that can mean an entire sentence, or denote a sentence’s worth of meaning.”

https://news.northeastern.edu/2021/10/08/protecting-indigenous-languages-using-automatic-speech-recognition/

M3 P2 A Computer-Animated Tutor for Spoken and Written Language Learning

I was unsure about the copyright as the article indicated the following: Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee.

However, the article can be found via the UBC library by searching the title in bold below.

A Computer-Animated Tutor for Spoken and Written Language Learning

Dominic W. Massaro Department of Psychology University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA 95060 U.S.A. 1-831-459-2330 Massaro@fuzzy.ucsc.edu

The computer-animated tutor for spoken and written language learning that is referred to in the article is called Baldi. The ability for people to hear the language and to see the language being spoken by the computer-animated tutor has shown great benefits in second language learning, for people with hearing loss and for autistic children. One of the reasons is that the skin on the animated-tutor’s face can be made transparent, thus allowing the learner to see how the vocal tract moves when saying the word they are learning.

References

Massaro, D. (2003). A computer-animated tutor for spoken and written language learning. Paper presented at the 172-175. 10.1145/958432.958466 https://go.exlibris.link/kGJBkvfW

Below is an example of Baldi being used to help an autistic boy with language learning.

Module 3 Post 1 – Indigenous Language Speech Recognition

Te reo Maori Speech Recognition: A Story of Community, Trust and Sovereignty

The work that the Maori people have done over the years to preserve their language is truly an inspiration. The Maori along with Hawaiians have been leading the way in Indigenous language revitalization for a very long time. This is another example of how they are leading the way and continue to be an inspiration for many people working in Indigenous language revitalization.

Speech recognition software

Te Hiku Media which is a charitable media organization, collectively belonging to the Far North iwi of Ngāti Kuri, Te Aupouri, Ngai Takoto, Te Rārawa and Ngāti Kahu has adapted existing open sourced speech recognition software to understand the Maori language Te Reo Maori. This type of work is essential to developing virtual worlds where people can learn Indigenous languages. For example, if a virtual person in a metaverse type of environment was programmed to understand an Indigenous language with the speech recognition software, and could in turn speak back in said Indigenous language, a person could practice speaking in a virtual world as much as they wanted.

Data Sovereignty

Data sovereignty is another very important topic that is touched on in this video. Kaitiakitanga License is a license that Te Hiku Media is working on in order to protect their data. Their goal is to have only Maori led organizations and initiatives have access to their data, at least initially. They would also return a portion of profits made from the data back to the communities from which the data came.

M3P5: How Technology Helps Preserve Endangered Indigenous Languages

Similar to other articles, this article begins with a quick overview of the impacts of language loss specifically on Indigenous communities. I enjoyed reading this article because it provides information by telling a story of how there was a barrier in technology and how that problem would be potentially solved. Hearing “voice” while reading this story made it more impactful than my previous post which sounded more like a researcher or reporter speaking. It also provided a really clear example of a basic fundamental problem of access to technology. The story explored how keyboards can greatly affect access to a language. Specifically, it explores the Ichishkiin language which has a 39-character alphabet and a gentleman who created a keyboard to “honoring the actual alphabet of the language”. In particular, this quote really stood out to me “Lack of font support is one way Native languages are being forced into the past”. The article continues to explain other stories of technology use including apps to practice language as well as “FirstVoices” which is a web-based tool to document and record language information.

Link to article: https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2020/04/15/technology-indigenous-languages

M3P4: Using technology to help revitalize indigenous languages

This article provides a clear overview of the Indigenous language loss and revitalization on a global scale. It is a helpful resource while I am preparing for my paper because it provides a “big picture” overview of the larger trends that have and are occurring. It discusses global action that is being taken, including steps by the UN to “promote and protect Indigenous languages” as well as references the recognition of “community goals of self-determination” . In regards to technology, it mostly focuses on radio and TV. I also like this article because throughout the text it provides hyperlinks to other articles and topics. For example, I explored a hyperlink to an article titled “The world’s languages, in 7 maps and charts”. I like this feature because it allows the reader to follow their interests and curiosities and there seems to be quite a few hyperlinks available.

https://blog.oup.com/2019/06/using-technology-help-revitalize-indigenous-languages/

M3P3: Indigenous language learning impacts, challenges and opportunities in COVID 19 times

The COVID 19 pandemic impacted communities and groups of people in very different ways. As a teacher, I was forced into a learning curve where I worked from home and was then very quickly brought back into the classroom by June of 2020. I felt as though I was being pushed around from place to place and I was unsure of the circumstances. During this time, I tried to remain thankful that I was privileged enough to work from home when necessary, and I had a job to return to. During this time, I had access to technology and the many benefits it easily provided me including communication with loved ones, media, education sites, etc. Other than the need and hope for people and my loved ones to remain safe and healthy, I was generally alright.

This article was a nice place to pause and reflect on the impact that technology had on Indigneous communities including their culture and methods of communication. McIvor et. al. (2020) argue that the “pandemic crisis that hit in the first part of 2020 had the potential to silence and deprioritize language work, reducing it to non-critical activity” (p. 409). The article explores the impacts and challenges as well as the language opportunities that were provided in consequence of or in tandem with the pandemic. The authors argue that Indigenous communities demonstrated resilience through collective strength, rather than individual strength, which was “carried through by language”. They argue language is deeply connected to wellness, and that when the “pandemic threatened individual and community wellness, we had to consider how we sustain our languages” (McIvor et. al., 2020).

The article describes the need for “digital connection” in order to “strengthen and shift [their] movement to continue Indigneous languages into time immemorial” (McIvor et. al., 2020).

McIvor, O., Chew, K. A., & Stacey, K. I. (2020). Indigenous language learning impacts, challenges and opportunities in COVID-19 times. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 16(4), 409–412.

M3 P2: Indigenous Resistance and Renewal: From Colonizing Practices to Self-Determination

This is an interesting resource because it connects patterns of colonization across the world to different Indigneous communities but then focuses specifically on North American rights to self-determination and the principles that that describes. The article explores how globalization has affected the overall commentary as Indigneous groups become represented as homogenous groups of people. This resource does not take a victim-based approach and aims to create a vision that “emphasizes the resilience, determination, and successes of Indigenous peoples in (re) claiming and (re)creating their lives, languages and futures” (Dehyle et. al., 2008, p.3). This article argues that self-determination is a vital part of this process of reclamation. As a teacher, this resource provides a critical lens on the educational patterns and trends that have both colonized and can decolonize curriculum and teaching practices. A main strategy is through using language as a pillar and foundation to bind pieces of a culture and Indigenous ways of being. Further, that language could be used as a way of exploring the diverse identities of each community compared to the homogeneity of the global representation. Dehyle et. al. (2008), explore the meaning of language and argue that “meaning is more important than words” (p. 9).

While I continue to explore the relationship of colonization, language and revitalization this article gave me pause to think about what language really means and how these values may be different across cultures.

A boom pow point for me was when Dehyle et. al (2008) argue that there is a need for a “epistemological reorientation” that would see a change in education thinking and focus from:

Ways of teaching to ways of knowing and being

Deyhle, D., Swisher, K., Stevens, T., & Galván, R. (2008). Indigenous resistance and renewal: from colonizing practices to self-determination. In D. Deyhle K. Swisher, & T. Stevens Indigenous resistance and renewal: From colonizing practices to self-determination (pp. 329-348). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412976572

M3P1: Decolonizing the Digital Landscape: The Role of Technology in Indigenous Language Revitalization

As I continue to narrow my focus for my final project, my goal this module was to continue to explore stories of language loss while shifting towards revitalization, empowerment and preservation. I have also started to think about how technology can be used to support these processes.

This article is written by an author who has a desire for “equitable education and language revitalization” and recognizes the colonial impact to Indigenous peoples, communities, customs and languages in Canada. In particular, I enjoy how this article reviews the different stages of technology, from facilitation (including pots, tools, etc.) all the way to “semantic technologies” (including technologies in the future, such as AI). I find these stages so compelling because Meighan (2021) identifies the stages but also describes the purpose and relationships it creates between the users and technology. For example, the initial stage of facilitation was a relationship based between individuals, groups and their local environments in order to survive, thrive and meet basic needs. We see this quickly evolve into a need for communication, digital information, to negotiation, creation and all the way to digital simulation (future technologies).

I like this approach because as we have evolved, the need or purpose of technology has changed on a wider global scale. We have learned through this course that although globalization is relevant, so is local, place-based learning and contexts. If you look at the table and analyze where specific communities are in their “evolution”, it is easy to recognize the conflict in current technology use. Not all communities are in the same state of “technological evolution”. This could be from a variety of factors including access and opportunities (or lack thereof), the Western framework of the internet and various perspectives on what information is, who can or has the right to access it and what should and should not be shared.

Meighan, P. J. (2021). Decolonizing the digital landscape: the role of technology in Indigenous language revitalization. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 17(3), 397–405.