IGF 2020 WS #20 Exploring the future of endangered languages in cyberspace

Description:

As the Internet gains widespread adoption, there are thousands of languages being endangered, with some going to extinction. According to a study by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), around 50% of endangered languages will disappear by 2100. This exponential growth calls for a deviation from traditional approaches to language safeguarding because of emerging issues such as digital endangerment. In this internet age, cyberspace should be a virtual world where every community and ethnic group has equal rights of identity and presence. Therefore, there is a need to promote multilingualism and universal access to cyberspace. The aim of this session is to bring this issue of language endangerment to the IGF and highlight how the Internet can be used to help preserve endangered languages. While at a high-level the workshop will consist of a panel discussion between speakers with academic interests in the topic, it is hoped that the panel also has practical utility as speakers share their methods of helping preserve endangered languages. As youth can be active agents for language shift and victims of negative impacts of globalization, chiefly because of growing use of the internet, this session will strive to highlight the unique challenges faced by youth when considering endangered languages. With this in mind, while initially the session will consist of a panel discussion, most of the session will be dedicated to whole-of-session discussion and questions where attendees will be encouraged to share their thoughts and reflect on it. This session specially aims to relate the two seemingly inevitable processes (exponential growth of the Internet and language endangerment) and to raise awareness on the digital divide and issues such as linguistic identity in cyberspace. It will reflect and find the relation between endangered languages and cultures and technology in cyberspace from the youth perspective. The intended agenda will be to highlight issues such as the impact of the internet on endangered and marginalized speech communities and linguistic and cultural diversity in cyberspace. Agenda 1) Introduction: 10 mins The moderator will start the session by introducing the issue of language endangerment and giving a broad overview as to how the internet can be used to reduce that risk. 2) Panel Discussion: 25 mins The moderator will then invite speakers from different stakeholder groups, including the technical community, the private sector, government/ intergovernmental organization, and civil society, to share their opinions and views on the topic, and invite them to share what they see as the actual and future solutions to the issue. Sharing from each speaker will be set to 4-5 minutes. 3) Open Floor Discussion: 35 mins To further expand and deepen the discussion, the floor will be opened for comments, questions, and suggestions for further actions of different communities and stakeholder groups. By setting up an open-floor discussion, it allows and empowers attendees to advocate their opinions and points of view of the communities they are representing. Particularly, the organizers would be interested in hearing from individuals coming from linguistically diverse communities. This session is expected to be dynamic and interactive, in which the moderator will queue up the audience and speakers for questions, responses or comments upon requests. The discussion will also be sought from remote participants, who will be welcome to engage and be involved in the open floor discussion. 4) Session Summary: 10 mins Based on the collective experiences in the session, the moderator(s) will summarize the discussions in the previous section and move forward to explore any potential actions, activities or collaborations for regional initiatives and other stakeholder groups.