Practical Insights on Language

Giving Thanks to ChatGPT: 4 Ways to Use GenAI Today in Digital Development

Giving Thanks to ChatGPT: 4 Ways to Use GenAI Today in Digital Development

Published on: Nov 28 2024 by Wayan Vota - Leave a Comment
There are many Generative AI tools that are revolutionizing digital development. A recent World Bank report found that ChatGPT is by far the most popular. USAID...
How InkubaLM is Revolutionizing Locally-Led Development in Africa

How InkubaLM is Revolutionizing Locally-Led Development in Africa

Published on: Sep 26 2024 by Wayan Vota - Leave a Comment
Language diversity on the African continent is both a cultural strength and a technological challenge. With over 2,000 spoken languages, mainstream artificial intelligence...
How to Include Marginalized Language Speakers in Development Programs

How to Include Marginalized Language Speakers in Development Programs

Published on: Aug 13 2024 by Sponsored Post - 1 Comment
There are more than 7,000 human languages, yet only those few used by the world’s economically and politically powerful nations have a strong online presence...
Who Needs Human Interpreters When You Have Google Translate – Instant Artificial Intelligence Translation?

Who Needs Human Interpreters When You Have Google Translate – Instant Artificial Intelligence Translation?

Published on: Jun 25 2024 by Wayan Vota - Comments Off on Who Needs Human Interpreters When You Have Google Translate – Instant Artificial Intelligence Translation?
Esperanto is a constructed international language created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 as a universal second language for international communication. It’s aim...
6 Reasons Why We Keep Failing at Digital Development Interventions

6 Reasons Why We Keep Failing at Digital Development Interventions

Published on: Feb 03 2022 by Guest Writer - 10 Comments
Clearing out boxes of old books and reports recently, I was struck by how many ICT4D initiatives there have been over the last 20 years, many of which have simply...
Help Bridge the Language Translation Technology Digital Divide

Help Bridge the Language Translation Technology Digital Divide

Published on: Sep 18 2019 by Guest Writer - 4 Comments
In the digital age, when we face a language barrier, there are a host of internet resources to overcome it. We often rely on translation platforms, dictionary apps,...
BASAbali: How the Internet Can Save Local Languages

BASAbali: How the Internet Can Save Local Languages

Published on: May 28 2018 by Guest Writer - 4 Comments
The Balinese Cultural Agency estimates that less than a fourth of Balinese can still speak the Balinese language.  Worldwide it is believed that “by the end...
It’s 2017, You Should be Localizing Your ICT4D Solutions Already

It’s 2017, You Should be Localizing Your ICT4D Solutions Already

Published on: Mar 30 2017 by Guest Writer - Comments Off on It’s 2017, You Should be Localizing Your ICT4D Solutions Already
Many ICT4D projects have a major strike against them before they even begin: they use international languages instead of local ones. The intended audience not only...
Translating Technology Terms Into Burmese

Translating Technology Terms Into Burmese

Published on: Oct 09 2015 by Gennie Gebhart - 2 Comments
Earlier this summer, Thomas Fuller of the New York Times published a memo from Yangon lamenting the lack of political vocabulary in the Burmese language, in which...
How Digital Tools Can Support Reading Culture in Laos

How Digital Tools Can Support Reading Culture in Laos

Published on: Nov 05 2014 by Guest Writer - Comments Off on How Digital Tools Can Support Reading Culture in Laos
In the course of a six-month, one-woman survey of public Internet access venues in Vientiane, I spent most of my time in Laos’s capital city in libraries and...