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Cited by 5Natural Language Processing TechniquesEthics and Social Impacts of AIAustralian Indigenous Culture and History

”It’s how you do things that matters”: Attending to Process to Better Serve Indigenous Communities with Language Technologies

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Ned Cooper, Courtney M. Heldreth, Ben Hutchinson·2024·Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics
DOI 10.18653/v1/2024.eacl-short.19
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Abstract

Indigenous languages are historically underserved by Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies, but this is changing for some languages with the recent scaling of large multilingual models and an increased focus by the NLP community on endangered languages.This position paper explores ethical considerations in building NLP technologies for Indigenous languages, based on the premise that such projects should primarily serve Indigenous communities.We report on interviews with 17 researchers working in or with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities on language technology projects in Australia.Drawing on insights from the interviews, we recommend practices for NLP researchers to increase attention to the process of engagements with Indigenous communities, rather than focusing only on decontextualised artefacts.

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Cooper, N., Heldreth, C. M., & Hutchinson, B.
Affiliations
  • Australian National University (AU)
  • Google (United States) (US)
  • Google (Australia) (AU)
ORCID
Venue
Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics
Publisher
Association for Computational Linguistics
Published
2024
Pages
204-211
DOI
10.18653/v1/2024.eacl-short.19
OpenAlex
W4411638754
Cited by
5
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 2
FWCI
1.44
Type
conference paper
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (cc-by)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Natural Language Processing Techniques
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Australian Indigenous Culture and History
Keywords
indigenous languages, natural language processing, endangered languages, ethical considerations, community participation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, language technology, research practices

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