RISE UP at the LITHME Training School

Earlier this year, RISE UP members Kingsley Ugwuanyi (SOAS) and Stefanie Cajka (University of Vienna) took part in the LITHME Training School 2024, representing the RISE UP project. LITHME stands for “Language in the Human-Machine Era” and is a COST Action Network that focuses on the emergence of new language technologies, marking the shift to the human-machine era. It has eight working groups (WGs) that target different research areas:

● WG 1: Computational linguistics

● WG 2: Language and law

● WG 3: Language rights

● WG 4: Language diversity, vitality and endangerment

● WG 5: Language learning and teaching

● WG 6: Ideologies, beliefs, attitudes

● WG 7: Language work, language professionals

● WG 8: Language variation

The Training School took place at the University of Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic from 27th to 31st May 2024. The rich programme included showcases of innovators from international companies (such as Microsoft and Sign Time GmbH) working in the field of language technologies, particularly regarding aspects of the radically evolving deployment of AI tools in different aspects of human life. Moreover, all eight Working Groups made presentations, discussing relevant aspects of their respective fields, most of which intersecting with the RISE UP work. Finally, attendees also delivered Pecha Kucha presentations in which they presented their work. In these presentations, Kingsley Ugwuanyi and Stefanie Cajka had the opportunity to present their own research, highlighting their role in the RISE UP project. Following our presentations, many participants expressed interest in RISE UP, with some offering to link us up with important contacts in some of the RISE UP language communities.

The insights gained during this LITHME Training School have been valuable for RISE UP in a number of ways. For instance, there were general reflections on minoritised languages in the human-machine era, which are of high relevance to RISE UP, especially with regard to the development of the RISE UP digital toolkit. In addition, some of the WG presentations were of particular relevance to our work in RISE UP. For example, aspects of digital language vitality and language support in the digital era were discussed during the WG4 presentation. Moreover, the WG5 presentation, focusing on the potential of AI in language teaching, highlighted the possibilities as well as the challenges of wider adoption of AI technologies in the language classroom,. We gained useful insights from these presentations, which will help us in formulating ideas concerning the role of AI for future research with regards to minoritised languages. The LITHME Training School also provided us with an excellent platform for networking with international colleagues. Some of the connections we established during the Training School have already begun to develop into more meaningful collaborations. For instance, a scholar we met at the School who obtained LITHME’s short-term scientific mission grant was hosted by Kingsley Ugwuanyi and Julia Sallabank at SOAS in between 20th July and 3rd August 2024.

LITHME organises various programmes, such as roadshows, training schools, short-term scientific missions, and conferences. Its next conference will take place on 2-3 September 2024 on the topic “Exploring the Dark Side of Future Language Technologies: Linguistic (In)security, Ethics, and Privacy in the Human-Machine Era” at Maison des Langues, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.

Authors: Stefanie Cajka and Kingsley Ugwuanyi