Day 0 Event #259 Motorolas Digital Inclusion Initiative

Summary

This discussion focused on Lenovo Foundation and Motorola’s Digital Inclusion of Endangered Indigenous Languages Initiative, presented by Santiago Mendez Galvis, Gianluca Diana, and Delaney Gomez-Jackson. The Lenovo Foundation, part of the global Lenovo Group operating in over 180 countries, aims to impact 15 million people through technology access and education programs. The organization has developed six major digital inclusion initiatives, including solutions for hearing impairment, ALS support, and cultural heritage preservation.

Gianluca Diana outlined Lenovo’s commitment to responsible AI development, emphasizing their comprehensive AI policy framework and participation in global governance initiatives like the EU AI Pact and UNESCO AI Business Council. The main focus shifted to their Indigenous Language Support program, which addresses the critical gap in endangered language representation on mobile devices. Delaney Gomez-Jackson explained that approximately 40% of the world’s 6,700 languages are endangered, with UNESCO estimating one indigenous language is lost every two weeks.

The initiative has successfully localized several endangered languages onto smartphone interfaces since 2021, including Kaingang and Nheengatu from South America, Cherokee from the United States, Konkani and Kuvi from India, Maori from New Zealand, and Ladin from Italy. Most recently, they launched Zapotec keyboards supporting five script layouts for communities in Oaxaca, Mexico. Their selection criteria include UNESCO endangerment classification, digital inclusion status, community input, and availability of subject matter experts.

The presentation detailed their collaborative approach with Professor Ambrosio Gutierrez Lorenzo for the Zapotec project and Professor Paul Vitasot for the Ladin localization, emphasizing community leadership and acceptance throughout the process. During the Q&A session, representatives from Ghana, Benin, and Mauritius inquired about expanding the program to African languages and replication processes. The team confirmed they welcome requests from NGOs and communities, not just governments, and have made over one million translated words available as open source resources. The initiative aligns with UNESCO’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032) and demonstrates how technology companies can contribute to cultural preservation and digital inclusion.

Keypoints

## Major Discussion Points:

– **Lenovo Foundation’s Digital Inclusion Mission**: The presentation outlined Lenovo Foundation’s broader charitable mission to empower communities through technology access and education, targeting 15 million people globally through various digital inclusion initiatives including sign language translation, ALS avatar solutions, and cultural heritage preservation.

– **Indigenous Language Endangerment Crisis**: The speakers highlighted the urgent need for language preservation, noting that approximately 40% of the world’s 6,700 languages are endangered, with UNESCO estimating one indigenous language is lost every two weeks, potentially resulting in 3,000 extinct languages by century’s end.

– **Motorola’s Indigenous Language Support Initiative**: The core focus was on Motorola’s specific program to digitize endangered languages on smartphones, including detailed case studies of their work with languages like Zapotec (Mexico), Latin (Italy), Cherokee (US), Kaingang and Nheengatu (Brazil), and others, involving community workshops and collaborative keyboard development.

– **Community-Centered Approach and Selection Criteria**: The discussion emphasized their four-pillar selection process based on UNESCO endangerment classification, digital inclusion status, community consent and input, and availability of subject matter experts, with strong emphasis on respecting indigenous communities’ wishes and leadership in the digitization process.

– **Replication and Future Expansion**: Audience questions from representatives of Ghana, Benin, and Mauritius led to discussions about how other regions, particularly Africa, could access or replicate this initiative, with speakers explaining their open approach to working with NGOs, universities, and community leaders rather than requiring government channels.

## Overall Purpose:

The discussion aimed to present Motorola and Lenovo Foundation’s Indigenous Language Support Initiative as part of their broader digital inclusion efforts, demonstrating how technology companies can contribute to cultural preservation while making technology more accessible to underrepresented communities. The presentation served both as a showcase of their work and an invitation for other communities to engage with their program.

## Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained a consistently professional, collaborative, and respectful tone throughout. The presenters demonstrated cultural sensitivity when discussing indigenous communities and emphasized partnership rather than top-down implementation. The tone became more interactive and encouraging during the Q&A session, with speakers showing genuine interest in expanding their work to new regions and communities. There was an underlying sense of urgency about language preservation balanced with optimism about technology’s potential to help address this crisis.

Speakers

– **Santiago Mendez Galvis**: Representative of the Lenovo Foundation (Lenovo’s Charitable Arm), focuses on empowering communities with access to technology and education through digital inclusion initiatives

– **Gianluca Diana**: Colleague at Lenovo, specializes in policy and AI, works on responsible AI development and global policy engagement

– **Delaney Gomez-Jackson**: Works with Lenovo Foundation and Motorola, leads the Digital Inclusion of Endangered Indigenous Languages Initiative, specializes in language localization and community engagement

– **Audience**: Multiple audience members including representatives from Ghana (West African youth IGF coordinator) and Benin (youth IGF Benin representative)

– **Dharam Gokhool**: President of the Republic of Mauritius

– **Juliana Rebelatto**: Team member participating remotely via Zoom, works on the indigenous languages initiative and community partnerships

Additional speakers:

– **Osei Keja**: From Ghana, West African youth IGF coordinator, interested in language preservation initiatives in Africa

– **Yao Senou**: From Benin, represents youth IGF Benin, interested in replicating language digitization processes in Africa

# Comprehensive Summary: Lenovo Foundation’s Digital Inclusion of Endangered Indigenous Languages Initiative

## Introduction and Participants

The discussion centered on Lenovo Foundation and Motorola’s Digital Inclusion of Endangered Indigenous Languages Initiative, presented by three main speakers: Santiago Mendez Galvis (Lenovo Foundation representative), Gianluca Diana (Lenovo policy and AI specialist), and Delaney Gomez-Jackson (Digital Inclusion of Endangered Indigenous Languages Initiative lead). The session also featured remote participation from Juliana Rebelatto, a team member working on indigenous languages initiatives and community partnerships.

## Organizational Context and Broader Initiatives

Santiago Mendez Galvis opened the presentation by establishing the context of Lenovo Foundation’s charitable mission. As the charitable arm of the global Lenovo Group, which operates across more than 180 countries with 70,000 employees, the Foundation aims to empower communities in need through technology access and education. The organization has set a target of impacting 15 million people globally through various digital inclusion initiatives, maintaining partnerships with over 100 organizations worldwide.

Santiago briefly outlined six major digital inclusion initiatives, including the LIBRAS project for hearing impairment in Brazil, partnership with the Scott Morgan Foundation for ALS avatar solutions, collaboration with Tech to the Rescue for nonprofit empowerment, work with universities in China on cultural heritage, mental well-being support for Gen Z, and the indigenous languages initiative being discussed.

## Responsible AI Development Framework

Gianluca Diana provided context regarding Lenovo’s commitment to responsible AI development, though his presentation was interrupted by President Gokhool. Diana outlined Lenovo’s comprehensive internal policy frameworks and governance structures for ethical AI implementation. He highlighted Lenovo’s engagement in the global AI policy landscape, including their role as a signatory of the EU AI Pact, membership in the UNESCO AI Business Council, and support for the Canadian Voluntary Code on responsible AI.

Diana explained that Lenovo regularly hosts panel discussions and workshops on responsible AI with government officials and industry experts worldwide, ensuring their indigenous language initiatives are developed within an ethical framework that prioritizes community benefit.

## The Indigenous Language Endangerment Crisis

Delaney Gomez-Jackson presented statistics contextualizing the urgency of their initiative. Approximately 40% of the world’s 6,700 currently spoken languages are classified as endangered, with UNESCO estimating that one indigenous language is lost every two weeks. This could potentially result in 3,000 extinct languages by the end of the century.

The initiative specifically addresses the gap in endangered indigenous language representation on mobile devices. As Delaney explained when discussing Professor Paul Vitasat’s perspective: “Mobile phones are like the pencil of the 21st century, and having minority languages and having Ladin in them has the same importance of having a language in a book in the centuries before.”

## Community-Centered Selection Process and Implementation

The program employs a four-pillar selection process: UNESCO endangerment classification, digital inclusion status, community consent and input, and availability of subject matter experts. Community acceptance and leadership serve as guiding principles throughout the entire process, with decisions made by communities themselves while the technical team provides support.

The program welcomes requests from NGOs and communities, partnering with universities and nonprofit organizations rather than requiring government channels. This accessibility removes bureaucratic barriers that might prevent communities from accessing technological support for language preservation.

## Successful Projects and Technical Implementation

Since 2021, the initiative has successfully localized several endangered languages onto smartphone interfaces. The implemented languages include Kaingang and Nheengatu from South America (2021), Cherokee from the United States (2022), Konkani and Kuvi from India (2023), Maori from New Zealand and Ladin from Italy (2024), and Zapotec keyboards supporting five script layouts for communities in Oaxaca, Mexico (2024).

The technical work involves addressing challenges with Unicode, Gboard, and CLDR support. The Zapotec keyboard project involved workshops across five communities in Oaxaca, with community-led decision making determining keyboard layouts. The Ladin localization required creating new terminology for modern technology concepts, involving extensive collaboration with cultural institutes and language experts, including Professor Paul Vitasat.

## Open Source Commitment

The initiative has made over one million translated words available as open source resources at Motorola.com for educators, researchers, and industry experts. Juliana Rebelatto emphasized that the program aims to inspire other companies and organizations to support minority languages and engage with communities, representing a collaborative rather than competitive approach to cultural preservation.

## Global Interest and African Expansion

The discussion revealed significant interest from African representatives. Osei Keja, representing Ghana as the West African youth IGF coordinator, highlighted critical situations facing African languages, noting that some dialects have only two remaining speakers according to BBC reports. Yao Senou, representing youth IGF Benin, expressed interest in replicating the initiative across different regions, noting that Benin alone has approximately 60 different dialects requiring revitalization support.

The team confirmed their openness to working with African communities and organizations, emphasizing that official government channels are not required for participation. When President Gokhool asked about working through NGOs versus government channels, the team clarified their preference for direct community engagement.

## Questions and Responses

During the Q&A session, three main questions were addressed:

1. **Osei Keja** asked about addressing deeper challenges beyond interface translation, specifically ensuring that digitized languages evolve and remain culturally relevant over time.

2. **Yao Senou** inquired about replicating the initiative across different regions, particularly in Benin with its 60 dialects.

3. **President Gokhool** questioned whether the program works through NGOs or government channels.

The presenters responded by emphasizing their community-first approach, willingness to work globally, and preference for direct community engagement. They offered to share contact information for follow-up discussions.

## Future Commitment and Timeline

The initiative operates within the framework of UNESCO’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032). The team employs ongoing community-needs assessment to guide future implementations rather than following a predetermined roadmap.

Juliana Rebelatto articulated the program’s philosophy: “We truly believe that small steps, like the creation of a keyboard, can change lives, and we hope this will trigger others to follow our path.” The sustainability model relies on continued corporate commitment combined with community engagement and academic partnerships.

## Conclusion

The presentation demonstrated a comprehensive, community-centered approach to addressing indigenous language endangerment through technological innovation. The Lenovo Foundation and Motorola initiative shows how corporate resources can support cultural preservation while maintaining community agency and academic rigor.

The strong interest from African representatives and the team’s openness to global expansion suggest significant potential for scaling these efforts. The initiative’s commitment to open-source principles and industry collaboration, combined with their community-first methodology, provides a model for how technology companies can meaningfully contribute to cultural preservation while respecting indigenous communities’ sovereignty over their cultural heritage.

The program’s alignment with UNESCO’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages provides an international framework for their continued efforts through 2032, with the potential to inspire broader industry engagement in cultural preservation initiatives.

Santiago Mendez Galvis: Hello, everybody. My name is Santiago Mendez, and I’m here with my colleagues Gianluca Diana and Delaney Gomez-Jackson, and we’re going to talk to you about digital inclusion and the Motorola initiative that we have called Indigenous Language Support. First of all, let us talk a little bit about who we are. We’re part of the Lenovo Group, which covers over 180 countries. We have 70,000 employees, and with more than 30 manufacturing sites spread all across the world. On top of that, we have our research and development labs spread out in 18 different countries. So we are a total global organization, and I’m here representing the Lenovo Foundation. The Lenovo Foundation is the Lenovo Charitable Arm, and we focus on empowering the ones who need it with access to technology and education. As you will see later on from the project that my colleague Delany is going to talk to you, digital inclusion is very close to our heart, and it’s completely aligned to our mission. On top of that, we are targeting to impact through our programs 15 million people, and we’re on target to achieve that during this year. And just to show you a little bit about the outreach of our community impact. So as you can see on the map above us, we have over 100 partners spread out all over the world. We have different layers, and I’m not going to take you through all of them because it will take us a lot of time. However, today we’re going to focus on one very, very specific, which is very also innovative, which is the indigenous language support, which you will see later on. But on top of that, we have created another, we have a full set of digital inclusion initiatives. Here I’m going to share with you six of them that you can review. I mean, one of them will go in deep in the next slides. However, you know, I just wanted to very quickly highlight what we’re doing in the field. So let’s start with, we have converted, we create a solution for people with hearing impairment in Brazil that translate sign language, which is called the LIBRAS project. It’s the one you can see. We’ll have also partnered with Scott Morgan Foundation in the creation of an avatar solution with people with ALS. We empower nonprofits with digital solutions, thanks to our partnership with Tech to the Rescue. On the cultural side, we have partnered with universities in China to utilize cultural heritage moments. Of course, you know, like the multi-indigenous program you’ll hear in a minute. And we have also worked to support the mental well-being of Gen Z in different places, all to make sure they find ways to communicate better. So having said that, I’ll hand over to my colleague, Gianluca Diana, who is going to talk a little bit about our digital engagement.

Gianluca Diana: Thank you, Santi. And before I hand over to Delany, I just want to give you a very brief overview of what we’re doing in terms of policy and AI. Because at Lenovo, we are strongly committed to responsible AI development, both through how we design our technology and how we engage globally with policymakers. And our mission is really to have advanced, trustworthy, human-centric AI, and to contribute helping shaping ethical transparency, transparent policy through international cooperation. And we really believe in that innovation and AI can only thrive when supported by strong governance aligned with key principles like fairness, accountability, transparency, and human oversight. Internally, we have a comprehensive AI policy framework that guides the way we build and deploy AI systems, ensuring legal compliance, privacy, data protection, and ethical standards across the entire AI life cycles. And this is enforced through a strong internal governance led by our responsible AI committee and our chief AI officer. Also, we engage externally, and Lenovo is very active in contributing to the AI global policy landscapes. We are indeed very proud to be one of the first signatories of the European Union AI Pact.

Audience: I am Mauritius, the president. It’s all right. All right. Oh, thank you very much. Just to say hello to you. Nice to meet you. I’m going to listen to you. Thank you. I’m going to talk about what we realize.

Gianluca Diana: Yes, in a minute. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thanks. We are also a member of the UNESCO AI Business Council, and we are a supporter of the Canadian Voluntary Code on Responsible AI. And we are also engaging in terms of AI policy around the world. We host several panel discussions and workshops on responsible AI, gathering government officials, EU institutions, and industry experts to have open discussions on responsible AI. Just recently, we hosted one in the Italian Senate in Spain, but also more at the global level outside of Europe, in Tokyo, Sao Paolo. And through these initiatives, we really want to promote cross-sectoral collaboration to ensure that AI serves society in positive, human-centered ways. And now I will just hand over to Beleni that will focus on the Motorola Intelligent Language Program.

Delaney Gomez-Jackson: Great. Thank you, Gianluca. Today, I’ll be introducing Lenovo Foundation and Motorola’s Digital Inclusion of Endangered Indigenous Languages Initiative. Motorola and Lenovo Foundation’s Digital Inclusion Initiative has the main goal of serving communities through raising awareness of endangered indigenous languages. The Digital Inclusion Initiative also aims to address the needs of indigenous people through easier access to technology, as well as bring action toward the revitalization of endangered languages. Finally, it aims to help empower future generations of indigenous communities to use technology in their native language. In 2020, we discovered a gap in the representation of endangered indigenous languages on mobile phones. While smartphones are becoming more globally available and used, they are not fully accessible to many indigenous communities since they lack indigenous language representation. We took the first step to address this gap by launching the first user interface in two South American languages, Kaingang and Ningatu, in 2021. In 2022, we joined UNESCO in the kickoff of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages from 2022 to 2032. We hope that this Digital Inclusion Initiative will help to promote the written usage, as well as the overall daily usage, of indigenous languages so that technology can become accessible for all, in alignment with Lenovo’s mission of smarter technology for all. The Digital Inclusion Initiative aims to bring awareness to the language revitalization cause. Approximately 40% of the 6,700 languages that are currently spoken are in danger of becoming extinct. UNESCO estimates that one indigenous language is lost every two weeks, meaning that by the end of the century, almost 3,000 languages will no longer be in use. In addition to this, oftentimes indigenous languages are not well supported by governments and therefore do not have many educational or media programs centered around them. It is important to highlight the revitalization of endangered indigenous languages. As language is an important part of culture, consider the histories, stories, and traditions which are shared through such languages. By joining in this language revitalization effort, languages and cultures can be uplifted and preserved. The criteria for selecting languages for a Digital Inclusion Initiative is based on four main pillars. First is the classification. regarding how endangered a language is based on factors such as intergenerational transfer. The UNESCO language endangerment classifications have five levels, excluding a non-endangered status, which are vulnerable or endangered, definitely endangered, severely endangered, critically endangered, and extinct. We also assess the language’s digital inclusion status. For example, whether the language has received support from Unicode or Gboard. Community input and feeling regarding the digitization of a language is paramount to the success of the initiative. We understand the importance of respecting indigenous languages and cultures, and the fact that not every community wants their language digitized the same way, if at all. We must respect all decisions and not push our goals ahead of their needs. Finally, we assess the availability of subject matter experts to guide the project in the direction of the community’s needs. Subject matter experts, such as professors or scholars, are also often the bridge which helps connect us to these indigenous communities. Over the past five years, we have collaborated with subject matter experts, scholars, community leaders, and community members across the world to include indigenous languages onto our smartphones. In 2021, we collaborated with Ningatu and Kaingang speaking communities to localize these languages into the user interface of our smartphones. Ningatu, considered to be severely endangered by UNESCO’s classification system, is spoken by indigenous communities in the Amazon regions of Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. Kaingang, a definitely endangered language, is spoken in Southern Brazil. Likewise, in 2022, we became the first phone manufacturer to fully support Cherokee, spoken in the United States, on the user interface of our smartphones. Cherokee is considered to be endangered by UNESCO. In 2023, we localized Congaree, spoken in Northern India, onto our mobile phones. Additionally, we collaborated with the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences to create a writing system that was then made into a smartphone keyboard for the Kuvi language, spoken in Eastern India. For the first time, the Kuvi community could type in their native language on their smartphones. In 2024, we localized Maori, spoken in New Zealand, as well as Latin, spoken in Italy, onto our phones. And last week, we launched our newest addition to the Digital Inclusion Initiative, a Zapotec keyboard supporting five script layouts. I’ll now speak on some details of our localization and keyboard creation processes for two particular communities. Zapotec is an endangered language spoken by about 490,000 people in Oaxaca, Mexico. There are more than 50 Zapotec languages, some of which are mutually intelligible with one another. This means that sometimes, speakers of different Zapotec languages can understand each other. UNESCO categorizes the Zapotec languages as definitely endangered, since younger generations are becoming increasingly monolingual in Spanish. Zapotec languages can be divided into four main groups, Northern Zapotec, Southern Zapotec, Isthmus Zapotec, and Valley Zapotec. The focus of this project was Valley Zapotec, because our SME for this phase of the initiative is connected with this region. For this phase of the initiative, we worked with Professor Ambrosio Gutierrez Lorenzo, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and he is also a native speaker of Teotitlan Zapotec, spoken in the Central Valley of Oaxaca. Through this project, he helped us understand the landscape of the Zapotec languages, as well as connect us to the five communities that were involved in this phase. And these five communities were San Pablo Guila, Teotitlan del Valle, Santa Ynez Yatzeche, San Bartolome Cuiolana, and San Miguel del Valle. With Ambrosio’s leadership, we helped to host workshops in these communities for the development of the keyboard. Each community had a workshop that covered topics such as the sound system of the language, the alphabet, keyboard layout discussions, and keyboard testing. The guiding principle throughout the workshops was community acceptance and leadership. It was crucial that these communities made the decisions about the keyboards, while our team could provide technical advice when needed. Between the days of each workshop, the globalization team at Motorola worked with Professor Ambrosio and the community to develop multiple iterations of the keyboards according to the layouts that they had devised during the workshop. Decisions that were considered by our team and the communities included how many rows the keyboard should have, how to include characters that are specific to Zapotec languages, and the layout of the entire keyboard, including numbers, symbols, and special characters. Our team wanted the keyboards to be representative of the communities. Some of the communities requested images to be on the space bar. For example, the Teotitlan community requested a symbol of a cloud with a lightning going through it to appear on the space bar since it is symbolic of their community. As the first Zapotec keyboard on a smartphone, this project has made it possible for these communities to write in Zapotec on their smartphones for the very first time. In Oaxaca City, we hosted a large workshop in which participants from all five communities were invited to discuss the project at large. Members of the different communities were able to see each other’s work and discussions were had about the importance of language revitalization for the Zapotec community. Overall, community feedback was positive. People remarked that the keyboard was important for the revitalization of the language as well as very practical for daily use. And now I’ll talk about one of our localization projects for the Latin language. Latin is categorized as definitely endangered and is spoken by about 32,000 people in the Dolomite region of Italy. It is an autochthonous language, meaning that it is native to the region. Since it is a minority language that does not have a kin state or an associated political entity supporting it, the impact of this project is powerful and highlights the importance of helping to promote minority languages. While Latin is taught in schools in some areas, there are not many protective measures for the language in other areas. In these areas, Latin is not used in administrative scenarios, nor in the media, nor at public events, and nor in education. With the increase in globalization in the Dolomite region, it is important to ensure that a minority language such as Latin is preserved. Thus, our team collaborated with Professor Paul Vitasot, who is a professor of Romance Philology at the Free University of Bozan-Bolzano, as well as a team of Latin translators to localize over 200,000 words that now appear in the user interface of our smartphones when a user selects Latin as the device language. To make important decisions towards the digitization of the language, Professor Paul Vitasot had several meetings among translators and representatives of three Latin cultural institutes, Badia, Fassa, and Fodon. In some cases, and even in an entire domain of a language, Latin had never been used before. For example, the terminology related to the use of different functions of the camera. One case was the term bokeh effect, and this was crafted by Latin translators and linguists who created a word in Latin which roughly translates to the equivalent of an effect with undefined contours. Another difficult aspect of an initiative like this was the choice on which of the written dialects to use. There is essentially one Latin dialect per valley, but the team decided to use the variety of Valbadia, which is the most widely spoken and used. However, the team made a concerted effort to use words and forms that are as comprehensible as possible throughout the entire Latin territory. Thank you. Laudan speakers can now use their smartphones with a Laudan user interface, thus helping to highlight the importance of including endangered indigenous languages in this technology. Professor Paul Vitasat believes that having Laudan in these mobile phones shows not only for the Laudans, but to all users of smaller languages in the world, that their language was not only useful for the 20 centuries before our time, but will be useful also in the future. Definitively, this project will help Laudan and other minority languages to be more visible. Mobile phones are like the pencil of the 21st century, and having minority languages and having Laudan in them has the same importance of having a language in a book in the centuries before. As leaders of technology, Lenovo Foundation and Motorola recognize our responsibility to positively influence society through environmental and social governance. We are committed to the international decade of indigenous languages from 2022 to 2032 and look toward community feedback to improve our process. We also value sharing our process with the public We also value sharing our process with the public so that others can join the language revitalization and digitization causes. Through this digital inclusion initiative and the communities that we have collaborated with, we have translated and open sourced over 1 million words that are available at Motorola.com so that they can be downloaded by educators, researchers, and industry experts aiming to promote the revitalization of endangered indigenous and minority languages. With the core tenets of passionate employee experts, a commitment to respect for diverse and underrepresented cultures, commitment to quality through collaboration of scholars and institutions, and a vision for an impact broader than Motorola devices, the digital inclusion of indigenous languages initiative will continue. We will now take questions for our Q&A session.

Audience: Hello everyone. Good morning. I hope I’m audible enough.

Santiago Mendez Galvis: Hello. We hear you.

Audience: Good. My name is Osei Keja. I’m from Ghana and very excited to be part of this conversation. I’m also the rep for West African youth IGF coordinator. This particular topic is of very great interest because in my country, Ghana, there are two dialects which are only one dialect which two people only speak is going to stand by BBC report last year. I didn’t see much of work being done in Africa and maybe more on that will help. Beyond interface translation, I would like to know how the Motorola intends to address the deeper challenges when it comes to ensuring that digitized languages evolve and remain culturally relevant. Also, about co-creation of local communities. If you can just provide clarity on that, I would be grateful. Thank you very much.

Santiago Mendez Galvis: Thank you.

Delaney Gomez-Jackson: As you know, we have done localization and keyboard projects. If I understand your question correctly, it’s how can we expand beyond that beyond the digitization to really impact communities? And what I can say on that is we when we look to initiate new phases of the project, we make sure that we work very closely with the community to ensure that something like localization or keyboard creation is part of their needs. As I mentioned before, community acceptance and feedback is one of our primary parameters for when we decide to include and work with the community into our phones. And so when it comes to other sorts of initiatives that expand beyond localization and keyboard projects, we really want to collaborate with the community to ensure that another sort of project fits that. So it really is a case by case basis, depending on what the community wants and how they feel that their language can best be preserved and represented.

Santiago Mendez Galvis: Thank you, Delany. And so just to reinform that, then when we partner with organizations in the regions that the language are developed, then we’re pulling resources also into their own, let’s say, ecosystem. So at the same time, we’re kind of revitalizing the community around the language. Do we have any other questions? Yes, please.

Audience: Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Hello, everybody. My name is Yao Senou. I’m from Benin. I represent the youth IGF Benin. Thank you for your presentation. I just have one quick one. I was a bit late, so I didn’t follow all the slides you presented. I want to understand how do you actually select the language you work on? And also the second question is, at the current stage of the process you’ve developed, how we can replicate it into other regions like Africa? You know, mostly we are one tiny country and we have 60 different dialects that people want to revitalize. And since we’re also looking at how to include people, everybody, into the digital inclusion sphere, so how we can replicate what you already developed in those contexts? Thank you very much.

Santiago Mendez Galvis: Thank you.

Delaney Gomez-Jackson: I can take this question. I have put back onto the slides our parameters for language selection. And so these parameters include various things such as the official UNESCO endangerment status of the language. So we work with languages that are endangered. So this can include the vulnerable slash endangered category, the definitely endangered category, severely endangered, and critically endangered categories. We also assess whether the language has been supported by Unicode, for example, or Gboard or CLDR. So we look at all of these technical aspects of digital inclusion to see where the language falls in that. And then, as I mentioned before, community input and feeling regarding the digitization. So as Motorola and Lenovo Foundation, we want to ensure that the community is respectfully involved from the beginning to the end of the process. So we work with the community to figure out what sort of digitization process will best suit their language preservation needs. And then, finally, the availability of subject matter experts to guide the project in the direction that the community wants. So these can be community leaders. These can be professors or scholars, basically anyone who can help us bridge that gap between us to the community to ensure that everyone can respectfully communicate their needs with one another. And then I’ll pass it over to my colleague, Juliana Rebelatto, who is here over Zoom to answer the second part of the question, which is how something like this project can be replicated or how other communities can go through this process.

Juliana Rebelatto: Thank you so much, Delaney. Can you hear me all right?

Santiago Mendez Galvis: Yes, we can hear you.

Juliana Rebelatto: Well, thank you for your question. And I’m sorry to hear about the language of your community that only has two speakers. We understand the importance of those actions. And I would say that there are a couple of ways that one community could replicate the work that we’re doing. I’ll give an example of what’s happening with the Kaingang community in the south of Brazil. They’re using our smartphones to bring the technology and the language into classrooms. So, of course, that is an expansion of what we’re doing. The actual replication, I would say, fits into the second example I will give. Based on the language, Latin in Italy that we speak. supported. There have been continuity studies that researchers used our corpus, the data, the data set, the language set that we made available in Motorola.com web page, and they’re working on building machine translation models for their communities to be able to further use the language, for example. I would say that for languages such as the ones that have not been part of our program yet, one thing that could be possible to be done is for us to initiate a conversation, because like Delaney mentioned earlier, we’re always looking at how else we can contribute to communities, so we’ll be happy to share our email addresses, and hearing out what the community’s needs are helps us define the next steps of our journey. Motorola and Lenovo Foundation are fully committed to digital inclusion. Lenovo’s mission is smarter technology for all, so we take real respect on any type of needs that the community has. Of course, we cannot make promises, but we can, of course, be committed to listening to your needs and understanding how else we could be collaborating with the language.

Santiago Mendez Galvis: Thank you very much, Juliana. Do we have any other questions in the audience, or do we have any questions online? No questions online. Anyone else?

Dharam Gokhool: Good morning. Good morning. Myself, the President of the Republic of Mauritius. I’ve traveled a long distance to come to this conference, and I must congratulate the speaker and other speakers, because it has to do deal with cultural heritage, and I find it very interesting that Motorola is partnering with UNESCO for the preservation of indigenous languages. I have a very simple question, that is, in terms of requests that are channeled to UNESCO and the Motorola Foundation, could NGOs also forward requests based on the criteria that you have mentioned, or should it be channeled officially by governments?

Delaney Gomez-Jackson: Juliana, would you like to take that question?

Juliana Rebelatto: I can, yes. Thank you. Nice meeting you virtually. So, yes, I’ll be happy to share my email address in chat, and you’re welcome to share requests. We’re open to listening to what the community’s needs are. It does not need to come through government official requests. We have been partnering up with professors from universities, from local universities, as well as nonprofit organizations, and this is normally the model of work we do. We partner up with nonprofit organizations to make payments to the translators that are going to be working with us, and to the researchers that are going to be onboarded in our initiative phase. We want to make sure everyone works in the initiative. It’s treated the same way as any translator or linguist of any other widely spoken language is. That’s why it is important that we also have a contact of a nonprofit organization. But, yes, short answer is feasibilities of that that we would be happy to hear out what your requests would be. We’ll be glad to assess the

Gianluca Diana: . Just to summarize, so it doesn’t have to be an NGO. It’s mostly about the subject matter experts for the specific language, and how they can help us to build the program. So, we can share later our contacts, and we can actually follow up. Okay. Thank you very much.

Santiago Mendez Galvis: Do we have something online?

Delaney Gomez-Jackson: Um, just a request to share email addresses.

Santiago Mendez Galvis: Any other comments? Maybe, Juliana, would you like to add something?

Juliana Rebelatto: Yeah. I think one piece of information that has always helped for adding here is one curiosity that normally comes to us. A question is how this program initiated, and what motivated Motorola and Lenovo Foundation to look into languages that are normally not seen in technology. I would say that the reason the three of you are there speaking, and the reason that we’re doing the work since 2019 when we initiated the research is precisely the gap that we have identified. We identified that digital, that endangered indigenous languages are not fully well represented, and certainly not represented well enough in technology. We hope this speech and this initiative that we have been delivering to the globe will inspire others, will inspire other companies, other groups to look into minority languages, and to, you know, talk to the community and hear out what they have to say, what is important for them. We truly believe that small steps, like the creation of a keyboard, can change lives, and we hope this will trigger others to follow our path.

Santiago Mendez Galvis: And just a little bit, like, would you mind to share any roadmap? You know, we don’t have to formalize, but is there anything we could share with the audience about, like, future languages? Because there’s still a few years to come.

Juliana Rebelatto: Yes, we normally do not fully cover a stiff roadmap. Like, I answered two questions before, we’re always looking out to the current community needs, and the actual goals that we have are aligned with the community needs, first and most important of all. What I can say, Santi, is that we have been at UNESCO’s kickoff event for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, and that was in 2022. The decade is declared from 2022 to 2032, so although there is no defined cadence for us to announce new languages, we are fully committed to the UNESCO decade, and we’re going to be constantly looking at what else could be done, what other languages in the globe could be part of our initiative, so that we announce them, and we work closely with expert matters, subject to expert matters, the community, translators, professors, leaders of the community, and government parties to make sure that we are onboarding more. So, there is no predefined roadmap, but there is certainly one that we’re very excited to keep on working on, and we are committed up until the end of the UNESCO’s International Indigenous Languages.

Santiago Mendez Galvis: Thank you, Juliana. I think then we are good to go. Any last questions for the audience before we finish? Then, on behalf of Mott and the Lenovo Foundation, we thank you for taking your time to listen to us, and wish you a very nice day. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you.

Agreement points

Community-centered approach to language preservation

Speakers

– Delaney Gomez-Jackson
– Juliana Rebelatto

Arguments

Community acceptance and leadership are guiding principles, with decisions made by communities while technical advice is provided by the team

The program welcomes requests from NGOs and communities, partnering with universities and nonprofit organizations rather than requiring government channels

Summary

Both speakers emphasize that successful language preservation requires community leadership and decision-making, with technology companies providing support rather than imposing solutions. They agree that communities should drive the process while receiving technical assistance.

Topics

Sociocultural | Human rights | Development

Digital inclusion as a fundamental mission

Speakers

– Santiago Mendez Galvis
– Delaney Gomez-Jackson
– Juliana Rebelatto

Arguments

Lenovo Foundation’s Digital Inclusion Mission and Global Impact

Indigenous Language Digital Inclusion Initiative Overview

The program aims to inspire other companies and organizations to support minority languages and engage with communities

Summary

All Lenovo/Motorola speakers share a unified commitment to digital inclusion as a core organizational mission, specifically targeting underserved communities and endangered languages to ensure technology accessibility for all.

Topics

Development | Sociocultural

Urgency of language preservation crisis

Speakers

– Delaney Gomez-Jackson
– Audience

Arguments

Indigenous Language Digital Inclusion Initiative Overview

African communities face significant language endangerment challenges, with some dialects having only two remaining speakers

Summary

Both the presenter and audience members acknowledge the critical nature of language endangerment globally, with specific recognition that many languages are on the verge of extinction and require immediate intervention.

Topics

Sociocultural | Development

Need for global expansion of language preservation initiatives

Speakers

– Delaney Gomez-Jackson
– Juliana Rebelatto
– Audience

Arguments

Over 1 million translated words have been open-sourced and made available for educators, researchers, and industry experts

The initiative is committed to UNESCO’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032) without a predefined roadmap but with ongoing community-needs assessment

There is interest in replicating the initiative across different regions, particularly in Africa where countries have numerous dialects needing revitalization

Summary

All parties agree on the need to scale language preservation efforts globally, with the company committed to expanding their initiative and audience members expressing strong interest in replication across different regions, particularly Africa.

Topics

Development | Sociocultural

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers represent Lenovo’s commitment to responsible technology development with strong ethical frameworks, emphasizing the company’s global reach and responsibility to serve underrepresented communities through technology access and responsible AI governance.

Speakers

– Santiago Mendez Galvis
– Gianluca Diana

Arguments

Lenovo Foundation’s Digital Inclusion Mission and Global Impact

Responsible AI Development and Policy Framework

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory | Human rights

Both speakers emphasize that meaningful technology solutions for language preservation require deep community engagement and that seemingly small technological interventions can have profound cultural and social impacts when implemented respectfully.

Speakers

– Delaney Gomez-Jackson
– Juliana Rebelatto

Arguments

Community acceptance and leadership are guiding principles, with decisions made by communities while technical advice is provided by the team

Small technological steps like keyboard creation can significantly impact lives and language preservation efforts

Topics

Sociocultural | Infrastructure | Development

Both audience representatives express interest in accessing the program for their regions and seek clarification on how communities can engage directly with the initiative, showing shared concern for practical implementation pathways.

Speakers

– Audience
– Dharam Gokhool

Arguments

There is interest in replicating the initiative across different regions, particularly in Africa where countries have numerous dialects needing revitalization

Official government channels are not required for requests, as the program works directly with subject matter experts and community organizations

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory | Sociocultural

Unexpected consensus

Open-source approach to proprietary technology solutions

Speakers

– Delaney Gomez-Jackson
– Juliana Rebelatto

Arguments

Over 1 million translated words have been open-sourced and made available for educators, researchers, and industry experts

The program aims to inspire other companies and organizations to support minority languages and engage with communities

Explanation

It is unexpected for a commercial technology company to open-source over 1 million translated words and actively encourage competitors and other organizations to replicate their work. This demonstrates unusual corporate altruism in prioritizing social impact over competitive advantage in the language preservation space.

Topics

Sociocultural | Development

Direct community engagement bypassing government channels

Speakers

– Juliana Rebelatto
– Dharam Gokhool

Arguments

The program welcomes requests from NGOs and communities, partnering with universities and nonprofit organizations rather than requiring government channels

Official government channels are not required for requests, as the program works directly with subject matter experts and community organizations

Explanation

The consensus that a major corporate initiative can and should bypass official government channels for cultural preservation work is unexpected, especially when discussed with a sitting president. This represents agreement on grassroots empowerment over traditional diplomatic protocols.

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development | Sociocultural

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion demonstrates strong consensus across all participants on the critical importance of language preservation, the need for community-centered approaches, and the urgency of scaling digital inclusion initiatives globally. Key areas of agreement include the crisis of language endangerment, the effectiveness of community-led technology solutions, and the need for direct engagement with communities rather than government intermediaries.

Consensus level

Very high consensus level with significant implications for the future of indigenous language preservation. The alignment between corporate commitment, academic support, and community needs creates a strong foundation for expanding these initiatives. The unexpected willingness of a commercial entity to open-source resources and encourage replication suggests a paradigm shift toward collaborative rather than competitive approaches to cultural preservation technology.

Different viewpoints

Unexpected differences

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion showed remarkable consensus among all speakers on the importance of indigenous language preservation, digital inclusion, and community-centered approaches. The only tension emerged around implementation pace and scale.

Disagreement level

Very low disagreement level. This was primarily a presentation format rather than a debate, with speakers from Lenovo/Motorola presenting their initiative and audience members asking clarifying questions. The minimal disagreement around implementation approaches reflects different regional urgencies rather than fundamental philosophical differences, which actually strengthens the overall consensus on the importance of the work while highlighting the need for adaptive strategies based on local contexts.

Partial agreements

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers represent Lenovo’s commitment to responsible technology development with strong ethical frameworks, emphasizing the company’s global reach and responsibility to serve underrepresented communities through technology access and responsible AI governance.

Speakers

– Santiago Mendez Galvis
– Gianluca Diana

Arguments

Lenovo Foundation’s Digital Inclusion Mission and Global Impact

Responsible AI Development and Policy Framework

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory | Human rights

Both speakers emphasize that meaningful technology solutions for language preservation require deep community engagement and that seemingly small technological interventions can have profound cultural and social impacts when implemented respectfully.

Speakers

– Delaney Gomez-Jackson
– Juliana Rebelatto

Arguments

Community acceptance and leadership are guiding principles, with decisions made by communities while technical advice is provided by the team

Small technological steps like keyboard creation can significantly impact lives and language preservation efforts

Topics

Sociocultural | Infrastructure | Development

Both audience representatives express interest in accessing the program for their regions and seek clarification on how communities can engage directly with the initiative, showing shared concern for practical implementation pathways.

Speakers

– Audience
– Dharam Gokhool

Arguments

There is interest in replicating the initiative across different regions, particularly in Africa where countries have numerous dialects needing revitalization

Official government channels are not required for requests, as the program works directly with subject matter experts and community organizations

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory | Sociocultural

Key takeaways

Lenovo Foundation’s Indigenous Language Support initiative addresses a critical gap in digital inclusion by bringing endangered languages to smartphone interfaces and keyboards

The program has successfully implemented 8+ languages across multiple continents since 2021, with community-led decision making as the core principle

Approximately 40% of world languages are endangered with one lost every two weeks, making technological preservation efforts urgent

The initiative has open-sourced over 1 million translated words for broader educational and research use

Community acceptance and collaboration with subject matter experts are essential prerequisites for language digitization projects

The program operates through partnerships with universities, NGOs, and cultural institutes rather than requiring government channels

Small technological interventions like keyboard creation can have significant impact on language preservation and community empowerment

Resolutions and action items

Team committed to sharing contact information with interested communities and organizations for potential collaboration

Ongoing commitment to UNESCO’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032) with continued language assessment and implementation

Open invitation for NGOs and communities to submit requests based on established criteria without requiring government approval

Continued collaboration with existing communities to expand beyond basic digitization based on their specific needs

Unresolved issues

No specific roadmap or timeline provided for future language implementations beyond the 2032 UNESCO commitment

Limited discussion of how to scale the initiative to address the vast number of endangered languages globally, particularly in Africa

Unclear resource allocation or capacity limitations for handling multiple simultaneous requests from communities

No detailed explanation of technical requirements or infrastructure needed for communities to participate

Insufficient detail on how the program measures long-term impact on actual language revitalization beyond technological implementation

Suggested compromises

Case-by-case assessment approach for expanding beyond localization and keyboard projects based on individual community needs

Flexible partnership models working with various types of organizations (universities, NGOs, cultural institutes) rather than requiring specific institutional structures

Community-driven decision making process that respects cultural preferences about digitization while providing technical guidance

Open-source approach to translated materials allowing broader access while maintaining community ownership of their languages

Beyond interface translation, I would like to know how the Motorola intends to address the deeper challenges when it comes to ensuring that digitized languages evolve and remain culturally relevant. Also, about co-creation of local communities.

Speaker

Osei Keja (Ghana, West African youth IGF coordinator)

Reason

This comment was insightful because it pushed beyond the technical aspects of the presentation to address fundamental questions about cultural authenticity and community ownership. It challenged the presenters to think about sustainability and evolution of languages rather than just preservation, and highlighted the critical distinction between digitization and genuine cultural relevance.

Impact

This question shifted the discussion from a showcase of technical achievements to a more nuanced conversation about community empowerment and long-term cultural impact. It forced the presenters to clarify their community-centered approach and led to deeper explanations about how they ensure community acceptance and leadership in their projects.

Mobile phones are like the pencil of the 21st century, and having minority languages and having Laudan in them has the same importance of having a language in a book in the centuries before.

Speaker

Professor Paul Vitasat (quoted by Delaney Gomez-Jackson)

Reason

This metaphor was particularly thought-provoking because it reframed the entire initiative in historical context, drawing a powerful parallel between traditional literacy tools and modern digital devices. It elevated the discussion from technical implementation to cultural and historical significance, emphasizing how fundamental communication tools shape language preservation across centuries.

Impact

This comment provided a philosophical anchor for the entire initiative, helping to contextualize why digital inclusion of indigenous languages matters beyond mere technological advancement. It reinforced the historical importance of the work and likely influenced how audience members understood the broader cultural implications of the project.

We truly believe that small steps, like the creation of a keyboard, can change lives, and we hope this will trigger others to follow our path.

Speaker

Juliana Rebelatto

Reason

This comment was insightful because it acknowledged the seemingly modest nature of their technical interventions while asserting their transformative potential. It demonstrated humility about the scale of individual actions while maintaining conviction about their cumulative impact, and explicitly called for industry-wide adoption of similar practices.

Impact

This statement served as both a philosophical summary of their approach and a call to action for other organizations. It shifted the conversation from describing their specific work to inspiring broader industry engagement, potentially influencing how other participants might approach similar initiatives in their own contexts.

In my country, Ghana, there are two dialects which are only one dialect which two people only speak is going to stand by BBC report last year. I didn’t see much of work being done in Africa and maybe more on that will help.

Speaker

Osei Keja

Reason

This comment was particularly impactful because it brought urgent, real-world context to the discussion with specific data about language extinction. It highlighted geographical gaps in current efforts and personalized the crisis by referencing a language with only two remaining speakers, making the abstract concept of language endangerment concrete and immediate.

Impact

This comment introduced a sense of urgency and geographical awareness to the discussion, prompting the presenters to address how their model could be replicated in underserved regions. It shifted focus from celebrating achievements to acknowledging gaps and considering scalability and global equity in language preservation efforts.

Overall assessment

These key comments transformed what could have been a straightforward corporate presentation into a more substantive dialogue about cultural preservation, community empowerment, and global equity. The questions from the African participants particularly elevated the discussion by introducing critical perspectives about geographical representation, community agency, and the deeper cultural implications of digitization efforts. The philosophical framing provided by Professor Vitasat’s metaphor helped contextualize the work within broader historical patterns of language preservation. Together, these comments pushed the presenters to articulate not just what they were doing, but why it mattered and how it could be expanded, resulting in a more nuanced and actionable conversation about digital inclusion and indigenous language preservation.

How can Motorola expand beyond interface translation and keyboard creation to address deeper challenges in ensuring digitized languages evolve and remain culturally relevant?

Speaker

Osei Keja (Ghana, West African youth IGF coordinator)

Explanation

This question addresses the need for more comprehensive language preservation strategies beyond basic digitization, focusing on long-term cultural relevance and evolution of endangered languages.

How can the Motorola indigenous language support process be replicated in other regions like Africa, particularly in countries with many dialects (e.g., 60 different dialects in Benin)?

Speaker

Yao Senou (Benin, youth IGF Benin representative)

Explanation

This question seeks practical guidance on scaling and adapting the initiative to regions with high linguistic diversity and limited resources.

Can NGOs forward requests for language inclusion based on Motorola’s criteria, or must requests be channeled officially through governments?

Speaker

Dharam Gokhool (President of the Republic of Mauritius)

Explanation

This question clarifies the formal process and requirements for communities or organizations to participate in the indigenous language support initiative.

What is the future roadmap for additional languages to be included in the initiative?

Speaker

Santiago Mendez Galvis (Lenovo Foundation representative)

Explanation

This question seeks information about planned expansion and timeline for including more endangered languages in the program through 2032.

How can other companies and organizations be inspired to follow Motorola’s path in supporting minority languages?

Speaker

Juliana Rebelatto (Motorola team member)

Explanation

This represents an area for further research on scaling industry-wide adoption of indigenous language support initiatives and creating broader impact beyond a single company’s efforts.

What specific work is being done in Africa for endangered language preservation, given the gap identified by the questioner?

Speaker

Osei Keja (Ghana, West African youth IGF coordinator)

Explanation

This highlights a research gap in understanding and addressing endangered language preservation efforts specifically in African contexts.