As part of this social media campaign, we have been inviting African language digital activists to help manage @DigiAfricanLang, a Twitter account highlighting the role technology and the internet can play in the promotion and the revitalization of languages on the African continent. A key aim of the Twitter campaign will be to recognize the commitment of Africans who are leveraging all types of digital and online media to raise the profile of their languages and cultures online and attract a new generation of speakers.
As Twitter hosts, campaign participants will share their insights and perspectives on African languages, including their history, current use in online and offline contexts, challenges and new strategies of revitalization. While technology can play an important role, it is only part of a larger contemporary context that affect the vitality of indigenous languages.
This campaign follows a similar, successful initiative currently underway in Latin America with the Twitter account @ActLenguas.
Among the hosts scheduled to take part in the campaign are individuals working with the Yoruba, Igbo, Swahili, and Twi languages through platforms such as Wikipedia, learning apps and games, translation projects, online dictionaries, localization of digital security apps, and other social media campaigns. See here for the initial list of participants.
Please see the schedule below for those who have signed up to share their own stories. We hope to have short profile blog posts on each “host”.
@DigiAfricanLang 2021
Follow the Twitter account @DigiAfricanLang throughout 2019 to read perspectives from African language digital activists about their work revitalizing their language
@DigiAfricanLang 2019
Follow the Twitter account @DigiAfricanLang throughout 2019 to read perspectives from African language digital activists about their work revitalizing their language.
