Illustration by Taiwo Temiloluwa John for Rising Voices

Rising Voices note: Our monthly newsletter provides a summary of our recent blog posts about all aspects of digital inclusion including access to and adoption of digital tools, as well as different ways and opportunities for communities to fully participate online. Read here for previous editions of this newsletter.

Dear readers, how’s your October?

Now that we are entering the last quarter of the year, it feels to us a good time to sit down and revisit an earlier project of ours: Digital Security + Language. This particular project curated perspectives of language activists across the world on the same topic, reflecting challenges as faced by their community as well as potential solutions in addressing related issues, in their own words.

For those who prefer an overview on this project, you can also check out this miniseries by the Open Technology Fund, which nicely summarizes the stories as included in this project:

→ “Participatory research as strategy towards sustainable and responsive impact”
→ “Creative strategies among language activists in Africa and Asia to counter digital safety threats and the risks to language survival”
→ “Language activism through a politics of care”
→ “The politics of language marginalisation and its impact on language communities in Latin America, Africa And Asia”

Let us know if any thoughts come to you, will you?

Interested in learning first hand about how the internet and technology play a role in the promotion and revitalization of Indigenous, minority, endangered, or under-resourced languages? Rising Voices and partners are now bringing to you a new round of our rotating Twitter campaigns for 2023, featuring language digital activists around the world each week. Come follow us and hear what they have to share!

@ActLenguas (Latin America)

• Andrés ta Chikinib [es]: a Tsotsil language digital activist based in Mexico, who aspires to ensure a future for the language
• José Koyoc [es]: a historian and the founder of the K'ajlay project, a digital history platform of the peninsular Mayan peoples

@DigiAfricanLang (Africa)

• Ijemma Onwuzulike: a language activist based in the US, aiming to make Igbo learning easier for the Nigerian diaspora and beyond via an open-source Igbo API project

Along these lines, we want to invite you to join us in celebrating the legacy of Ignacio Tomichá Chuvé, a Bolivian language digital activist who passed away unexpected this September and had devoted himself in the revitalization of his native tongue — Bésɨro — via the internet.

Every day, language activists across the world are leveraging the power of technology in the revitalization of their languages, in the assertion of their cultural/linguistic rights, and in the struggle to sustain their language in today's world. Meanwhile, there are also those who refuse to let language become a barrier to knowledge access and steer to bridge the digital gap.

We wish for their stories to be heard.

For Canada-based Indigenous youth, aged 13 to 30, who are looking to organize an event/project for their own community: We Matter wants to support you in this endeavor with another round of their #IndigenousYouthRise Support Fund. For guidelines and application details, you can visit the official site here. Application due: October 15, 2023

Hoping to bring the stories of your community to a wider audience with an independent film but are in need of some support to navigate through your project? Sundance Institute will soon start taking applications for prospective fellow members for their 2024 Producers Track. Application open: October 11, 2023 (Feature Film Producers Track)/October 25, 2023 (Documentary Film Producers Track)

This year, the #VisibleWikiWomen campaign has a theme on #BodyPlurality and Whose Knowledge? is calling for submissions of “photos, illustrations, and other forms of art depicting womxn and non-binary people” participating in sports in the roles from athletes, referees, to fans or journalists. Want to join them in challenging the idea of gender binary? Find out more here. Submission due: October 23, 2023

Trust Conference, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s flagship event, is taking place soon in London. During this particular event, you will not only have the opportunity to celebrate their great work with the 2023 Kurt Schork Awards winners but also to hear from field experts on media freedom, digital rights, and climate justice. Sounds like your cup of tea? Be sure to register for free here! Date: October 19–20, 2023

• Digital technologies and the right to education in Africa via Paradigm Initiative
• From Ajegunle.org to LIFE Legacy: How we are transforming lives, multiple communities at a time via Paradigm Initiative

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