Introduction
The “Grassroots Innovation for Linguistic Advocacy” module examines forms of advocacy and Grassroots Innovation through the lens of digital technologies, showcasing successful actions and real-life scenarios for Linguistic Advocacy.
The module comprises three units:
Unit 1. The Art of Advocacy
Uncovers the subtleties of effective advocacy and the art and strategies driving successful Language Advocacy initiatives.
Unit 2. Grassroots Innovation
Explores how digital technologies can fuel innovative approaches in Language Advocacy.
Unit 3. Grassroots Innovation for Linguistic Advocacy: Examples of successful actions
Highlights real-world success stories, examples of impactful actions, and showcases how Grassroots Innovation has played a crucial role in advancing Linguistic Advocacy.
This module explores how new technologies and Digital Mobilization have enhanced advocacy and Grassroots Innovation, aligning with the BOLD’s project call for Social Action. Technology-mediated advocacy, commonly referred to as Digital Advocacy, provides a low-cost, open-source platform that fosters ideas and facilitates collective action in support of social welfare objectives.
These advancements allow advocates to directly communicate with policy stakeholders, political authorities, and the general public. The convergence of advocacy and Grassroots Innovation is crucial for fostering awareness about social issues and active citizenship, especially in the context of globalisation. The efficacy of actions undertaken for Linguistic Advocacy can be attributed to the foundational role of Grassroots Innovation, fulfilling a defined social purpose, and empowering the individuals and communities actively engaged in the process.
This module intends to explore and expand existing insights into the concepts of advocacy and Grassroots Innovation, with a specific focus on digitally enhanced innovation cases for Linguistic Advocacy. Through a comprehensive overview of the operational dynamics of Digital Advocacy and Grassroots Innovation projects, this module aims to enhance the understanding of users in this domain.
Sofia Papatsimpa, Stefania Oikonomou, Katerina Zourou
Upon completion, participants will be able to:
- Enhance their understanding of advocacy and its significance in supporting citizen participation
- Gain insight into methods employed in Digital Advocacy
- Familiarise themselves with the principles underlying Grassroots Innovation
- Explore successful Grassroots Innovation initiatives tailored for linguistic advocacy.
This module is suitable for any individual with an interest in deepening their understanding of Grassroots Innovation for Linguistic Advocacy. It is designed specifically to cater to the educational needs of:
- University students in Education and the Learning Sciences: The module may contribute significantly to the academic pursuits of students enrolled in Bachelor’s and/or Master’s programs in any field related to Education. It aids students in navigating the elements of advocacy and Grassroots Innovation while cultivating an appreciation for their social relevance and value.
- Civil Society Organisations (CSOs): Individuals working in the Civil Society sector will be equipped with a concrete understanding of advocacy and Grassroots Innovation highlighting the interconnection of these concepts and their potential to amplify citizen engagement.
- Unit 1 intricately explores the landscape of advocacy in the era of mass media and technology. Its objective is to highlight the social significance of Advocacy in fostering Linguistic Pluralism and Language Preservation.
- Unit 2 illuminates the principles of Grassroots Activism and Grassroots Innovation, thus highlighting their strong influence and significance in effecting social transformation.
- Unit 3 showcases examples of successful Grassroots Innovation actions undertaken for Linguistic Advocacy, aiming to educate readers on the added value of Grassroots Innovation to shared societal objectives.
2 hours
Learning in this module is built upon a diverse range of sources that include:
- Scientific studies and reports authored by scholars and policymakers
- Examples of successful Grassroots Innovation initiatives
- Educational videos
- Visual aids such as charts and graphs to enhance conceptualizations
Unit 1: The art of advocacy
Citizen involvement in shaping policy and decision-making has gained increasing popularity in recent years (Roberts, 2004). In democratic societies, this trend is regarded as a significant achievement for civil society, fostering active citizen engagement in democratic processes and the exercise of the rights of citizenship. This enhanced participation increases the sense of belonging in the community but a crucial inquiry remains: In what specific ways has citizen participation increased in contemporary times?
The proliferation of digital technologies and the widespread use of social media have profoundly influenced societal engagement in decision-making, transforming citizens into significant agents of change, now more than ever. The directness and immediacy of social media have spurred active participation, leading to the emergence of numerous citizen initiatives. Consequently, digitally mediated civic engagement has exerted a noticeable influence on the conceptualization and perception of advocacy.
While we can conceptualise and operationalise advocacy in different ways the context in which it occurs can significantly alter its comprehension and practice by the involved actors, depending on the cause it serves (Gladkikh, Francis, and Scotia, 2010). Nevertheless, there is a consensus that advocacy transcends individual efforts. Instead, it encompasses a series of processes, including distinct categories of actions and anticipating specific outcomes (Bochenek, 2019).
1.1 What is advocacy
Advocacy incorporates a multitude of definitions and conceptualizations, depending on the context it is used.
In this module, we define advocacy as:
“Taking action to create change” (Theirworld, 2022). Simply put, advocacy provides groups of people and communities with a platform to voice concerns and problems that affect them, urging them to convey these issues to the broader public. From a historical perspective, one could argue that advocacy is an intentional effort to challenge power structures and relations within a society, rendering it a profound political endeavour. (Gladkikh, Francis, and Scotia, 2010).
Defining advocacy types has proven to be a challenging task. Bochenek (2019) provides a thorough and succinct categorisation of advocacy types, namely:
– External advocacy, refers to a comprehensive set of activities designed to influence external actors and connect with external audiences to garner support for a specific idea or socio-political situation. This may include actions such as distributing leaflets targeting a specific audience in support of a social cause.”
– Public advocacy, engages the general public, raising awareness for a specific issue by employing a variety of strategies such as open event talks in public spaces).
– Digital advocacy, includes employing digital technologies and online spaces, such as social media, to engage external audiences in specific issues.
Admittedly, advancements in new technologies and digital mobilization have had a profound impact on advocacy, establishing technology-enhanced advocacy as one of the most effective and efficient forms of participation in advocacy activities. (Figenschou and Fredheim, 2020).
But how has technology reinforced and enabled breakthroughs in advocacy? Arguably, technology-enhanced advocacy strategies offer a low-cost, open-source, effective opportunity to promote specific ideas and campaign for specific causes. This allows advocates to communicate directly with policy stakeholders, political authorities, and the general public (Figenschou and Fredheim, 2020).
The rapid evolution, dynamic nature, and advancement of media and technology have necessitated adaptations in advocacy to align with developments. Also, the rapid dissemination of information through media platforms can both facilitate and accelerate the implementation of advocacy activities, since it reaches wider audiences, faster and more interactively. The immediacy of knowledge and information empowers citizens to stay informed and to connect for shared causes across borders. Digital platforms play a crucial role in keeping community members informed about urgent issues within their local or global communities, fostering a sense of participation and collaboration towards common objectives. In this context , it can be argued that advocacy in itself, further enhances citizen engagement and participation, and promotes active citizenship, with community members being actively included. (Sanfelici and Bilotti, 2022). Thus, media platforms can foster community-building and create a sense of belonging, on a local, transnational, and global scale.
Ultimately, advocacy can also be perceived as communication (Thackeray and Hunter, 2010). Similar to how communication entails the transmission of messages from sender to receiver, advocacy and advocates work towards conveying their messages to the intended audience effectively and powerfully. Moreover, digitally enhanced advocacy initiatives empower underrepresented communities and individuals, providing them with a platform to express their needs and concerns on their terms while also using their preferred language. This approach promotes active engagement in civil affairs and nurtures both direct action and digital activism.
Can anyone be an advocate?
Yes! Everybody can become an advocate. An individual can advocate not only for a political or social collective issue but also for individual challenges they have been facing in everyday life. Mass media evolution can amplify their voices and help individuals be part of a greater community where they can be heard but also find global allies in spaces they have never imagined they could.
1.2 The wide spectrum of digitally-enhanced advocacy actions
Digital advocacy is not only about conveying messages about specific topics on a selected platform. In recent years, extensive research has been done on the use of technology and mass media-mediated advocacy, offering a wide range of frameworks and case studies employed by advocacy practitioners using digital platforms (Johansson & Scaramuzzino, 2019).
Let’s find out the most popular among them together!
Advocacy campaigns through social media
Social media venues are the most prominent and widely used communication strategy for advocacy among user groups. Based on different case studies, social media are proving to be a valuable advocacy tool, due to their immediacy and outreach (Figenschou & Fredheim, 2020). Users of advocacy platforms can vary, from individuals to community groups and NGOs who use these platforms extensively to communicate developments in their activities, showcase their media content, and inform audiences about their strategies and advocacy goals. In some cases, social media may even replace official websites since they offer an interactive space where audience questions can be shared and answered.
Moreover, dedicated social media groups, such as Facebook groups, allow users to communicate with each other, nurture community-building activities in a more controlled way, and facilitate a private exchange of opinions. Other platforms, such as Twitter, may foster more politically-oriented advocacy, since several politicians and governmental stakeholders hold profiles in the platform, granting direct access to public authorities and decision-makers (Figenschou & Fredheim, 2020).
Paul et.al (2021) explains how the term “hashtag activism” has emerged in the context described above. She elaborately showcases the role played by the media in the development of the “MeToo” movement, raising awareness of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Similarly, social media played a crucial role in the unrolling of the “BlackLivesMatter” hashtag (#BlackLivesMatter), bringing unprecedented attention to its objectives.
Other digital platforms that we have all heard of are Change.org, Avaaz, and GetUp! These platforms consistently support socio-political causes and foster web-based activism by enabling the public to engage in advocacy activities and by allowing them to join a larger, transnational advocacy network.
Multimedia advocacy
Several organisations as well as community-led groups, have used diverse media tools to engage the public in advocacy for various causes (i.e videos and images). From large corporations to voluntary, bottom-up activist groups, media representation of an objective has been proven to be a very successful advocacy tool in the digital realm.
Multimedia Advocacy utilises user-friendly media creation tools to challenge prevailing cultural beliefs and actively advocate for the interests and preferences of individuals (Watts, Kwiatkowska & Minnion, 2023). These tools offer an opportunity for individuals to document, and share their own narratives, empowering them to articulate their identity and aspirations.
For instance, consider the images captured in conflict zones. These pictures, with their symbolic power and diverse associations, have the potential to evoke distinct interpretations among individuals. Individuals attribute varying significance to images, often influenced by their cognitive memory mechanisms, personal experiences, traumas, upbringing, and cultural and social backgrounds. When seeing an image, we are essentially making a choice; a choice concerning what deserves representation – this choice carries political undertones.
The symbolic potency of an image or audiovisual medium can serve as a compelling tool for advocacy, as it has the ability to sensitize and inform viewers about a socio-political situation without relying on words.
Final notes on digital advocacy
While contemporary digital platforms have effectively bridged global distances, uniting individuals worldwide in the pursuit of social justice, and fostering civic participation for social change, it is essential to recognize that the impact of such initiatives may not solely rest in social movements or social justice causes. Since digital activism and digital advocacy are still in their infancy and are subject to ongoing transformational changes and re-definitions, it is imperative to acknowledge that such efforts may not consistently lead to substantial social change (Zohouri et al., 2020). A critical examination of their efficacy is necessary, particularly in light of emerging challenges, like misinformation, lack of substantiation or the reinforcement of counter-narratives (Chen & Pain, 2018).
In this context, the term “slackctivism” , a combination of “slacker” and “activism”, showcases the potential drawbacks of digitally enhanced actions being perceived as idle or lacking a genuine foundation in activism premises (Madison & Klang, 2020).
Without taking a definitive stance, it remains crucial for the public and those advocating for social causes to comprehensively understand the spectrum of opportunities, challenges, and weaknesses of digitally enhanced advocacy actions. This enables individuals to engage with the causes they defend more efficiently, responsibly and actively in the socio-political landscape.
1.3 Linguistic advocacy
While the field of advocacy is vast and can manifest in various ways, this module will tackle a specific form of advocacy, namely linguistic advocacy. But what does linguistic advocacy mean?
Positioned within the realm of language activism, Linguistic Advocacy encompasses diverse activist initiatives primarily dedicated to preserving and disseminating minority languages or learning minority languages. By connecting the notions of advocacy, citizen engagement, and belonging, it can be maintained that the endeavours of language activist groups prioritise cultural identity (Walters & Lüthi, 2016).
It seems that despite the institutional efforts of the European Union to safeguard languages and promote linguistic pluralism, tangible results may not be readily apparent. As we delve deeper into this module, we will discover numerous grassroots initiatives, reinforcing our argument about the significance of advocacy and its correlation with citizen engagement and participation. By intertwining linguistic advocacy with digital media and resources, the representation of communities and the amplification of voices through online action opens new avenues for exploration.
Unit 2: Grassroots innovation
Connecting the concepts of advocacy and bottom-up, citizen-led initiatives may help us enhance our understanding of the concept of Grassroots Innovation. To elucidate this connection, we will unravel the meaning of Grassroots Innovation and attempt to identify why it plays such a pivotal role in citizen participation and engagement.
First, let us examine the terms “grassroots” and “innovation” separately. In this module, we look at innovation that takes place as a result of an organised “grassroots” effort, which, for the sake of our discussion, we can refer to as a grassroots movement. But what does this mean in simpler terms?
2.1 Origins and nuances
There is a plethora of resources providing definitions of grassroots movements, outlining their fundamental characteristics and frameworks, and explaining how they manifest within distinct global, social, and political contexts. One of the central definitions is:
“A grassroots movement is an organized effort undertaken by groups of individuals in a given geographic area to bring about changes in social policy or influence an outcome, often of a political issue. By harnessing spontaneous support at local levels to bring about policy changes at local, regional, national, or international levels, grassroots movements are considered bottom-up, rather than top-down efforts—much in the way grass grows. Today, grassroots movements work to influence social issues such as racial injustice, reproductive rights, climate change, income inequality, or affordable housing” (Longley, 2020).
From the definition above, we can induce the key features of a grassroots movement:
- It constitutes a bottom-up approach, in that the movement originates from individuals or communities identifying and addressing challenges and/or opportunities, and progresses towards authorities and institutions.
- It tackles issues ranging from small-scale initiatives at local level to broader global issues.
- Apart from raising awareness and providing visibility to the specific issues, transnational grassroots movements attempt to influence governmental and institutional stakeholders. In doing so, they aim to bring about social change in their respective fields of action.
But can a grassroots initiative bring about innovation? Surely it can!
The potency of Grassroots Innovation movements lies in their ability to utilise overlooked or unconventional pathways to achieve transformation. To better understand this, we need to look back to the history of social movements. From Western societies to the Global South, people-led initiatives, community groups activists, and underrepresented groups, have been striving to create solutions that guarantee sustainable development (Smith et al., 2017).
Empowered by collective engagement and action-taking, Grassroots Innovation differs from formally organized innovation policies in that its participants aim to create knowledge that is community situated and experience-based. These characteristics render Grassroots Innovation extremely valuable, since it challenges established ideas, methodologies, and frameworks and deploys creative solutions that arise from the people for the people. According to Smith et al. (2017) “[…]Grassroots Innovation is something worth promoting and supporting because it is an activity open to experimentation for social change”.
Although Grassroots Innovation has been observed since early social movements, it is only in the last decades that the term “Grassroots Innovation” has been documented (Hossain, 2018). As Hossain (2018) eloquently showcases, Grassroots Innovation is primarily seen in five major sectors, namely: community energy, community currency, cohousing, agriculture, and organic food (Hossain, 2018).
To learn more about Grassroots Innovation, you can watch this 2-minute video here by Adrian Smith, Professor of Technology and Society at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at Sussex University, giving some insightful ideas on the Grassroots Innovation concept and its nuances.
2.2 Forms of digitally-enhanced grassroots innovation
Civil society often plays a significant role in fostering innovation, particularly in areas that may not be apparent or readily recognizable (Boni et al., 2019). In this way, digital technology promotes an increasing number of Grassroots Innovation actions. Digital Grassroots Innovation (DGI) aims at promoting active citizenship and direct participation through digital means. DGI groups are implementing digital tools to create new possibilities that reconfigure, expand, and re-create innovative societal limits.
Boni et al., (2019), offer a udeful categorization that includes distinctive DGI types. Indicatively:
Open Hardware
In Boni’s own words: “(…)understood as projects inspired by the ‘do it yourself’ or maker movement, these projects make digital hardware available for people to adapt or create their own digital technology” (Boni et al., 2019).
Open data
Simply put, open data refers to data that can be used, accessed, and distributed by everyone. In the context of DGI, open data activities include, among others, datathons and hackathons, where participants, can provide solutions to specific challenges while working together, using data science, coding and programming.
Open knowledge
These projects require the participation of large groups of people for the generation of new knowledge. Indicatively, we mention crowdsourcing, which includes a collection of services or ideas from a large group of people. Similarly, citizen science (CS) involves citizen participation in the production of scientific knowledge.
2.3 Challenges and opportunities
Grassroots Innovation actions offer opportunities as well as challenges, especially due to their ad hoc, self-organized and decentralized nature (Hossain, 2018).
Focusing on their success factors, we may argue that:
- Grassroots Innovation actions are praised for their inclusive dimension. They involve a broad range of actors, including citizens, local communities, activist groups, academics, and governmental representatives (Dana et al., 2021). Thus, they reach audiences beyond geographical, social and political constraints, accumulating a great pool of experience, knowledge, and problem-solving skills which combined can enact real social transformation.
- Grassroots Innovation initiatives can generate solutions and provide new approaches to previously insoluble problems or inefficient systems.Their inclusive nature accommodates levels of knowledge unprecedented in conventional actions.
- They offer intrinsic and extrinsic benefits to the actors involved. As intrinsic, we mean “personal, social and environmental benefits, such as self-esteem and confidence, training and skills, job creation, health improvement, social capital, reduced car use or increased recycling” (Dana et al., 2021). Extrinsic benefits refer to the development of “opportunities for marginal groups to participate in innovation activities, obtaining and enjoying positive outcomes; (…)such as good quality and low-cost products/services, affordable for low-income, marginal groups.” (Dana et al., 2021).
Nevertheless, achievements in Grassroots Innovation actions need to overcome challenges and obstacles. For example, due to their local-oriented nature, they often fail to adapt to wider-scale dimensions (Smith et al., 2014). Also, despite the fact that Grassroots Innovation actions closely attend to social, political, environmental or economic injustices, such issues are often closely related to well-established social and political structures. The perplexity of such issues often limits the scope of influence for Grassroots Innovation (Smith et al., 2014).
Despite these challenges, Grassroots Innovation initiatives create added value and are paramount to expand active citizen participation in democratic societies.
2.4 Community empowerment: the social value of Grassroots Innovation
Mobilising collective knowledge and taking action through Grassroots Innovation generates positive outcomes in terms of individual and community empowerment. A key summary of the empowering results of Grassroots Innovation are:
- Social inclusion, since they allow individuals and groups from different backgrounds to get together and embrace each other’s perspectives to address common challenges.
- Knowledge production that stems from the plurality of experiences inherent in the various groups and stakeholders participating in Grassroots Innovation actions.
- Institutional change, since Grassroots Innovation can drive authorities to take action, adjust, and change in response to social, political, and economic challenges.
- Transnationality, since Grassroots Innovation initiatives can create positive and long-lasting impact to other groups across the world advocating for similar causes.
Grassroots Innovation initiatives globally contribute to more sustainable, inclusive, and democratic societies. Their impact on citizen participation and activism has been profound, as case studies and stories of Grassroots Innovation actions show.
In the next unit, we will focus on Grassroots Innovation initiatives for linguistic advocacy.
Unit 3: Grassroots innovation for linguistic advocacy: examples of successful actions!
In this last unit, we brought together the concepts of “advocacy” and “Grassroots Innovation” to identify successful actions undertaken for linguistic advocacy (LA). In unit 3, we will see how fostering Grassroots Innovation may empower individuals to become advocates for linguistic diversity, ensuring that the heterogeneous array of languages not only survives but prospers within the intricate framework of global communities. Finally, to better frame our understanding of Grassroots Innovation for linguistic advocacy, we showcase a series of successful digital-enhanced Grassroots Innovation initiatives.
Are you ready to find out more?
Background
As we mentioned in Unit 2, despite the rise of Grassroots Innovation initiatives in recent years, there are instances when they fail to serve their “empowerment” and “community-driven” objectives. By acknowledging this, we bring our focus only to those actions that are set up and carried out by individuals and communities in a bottom-up, participatory, and empowering way. In this context , studies on citizen-driven Grassroots Innovation for language learning during COVID-19, offer interesting insights on the potential of Grassroots Innovation for civic engagement in times of crisis and its impact on linguistics.
In her paper on “Language Learning as the Agency for a Social Purpose: examples from the Coronavirus Pandemic”, Zourou (2020) investigates and analyses four types of Technology-Mediated Social Participation (TMSP) that adhere to the concept of online, grassroots, community-driven innovation. Among the actions presented in the paper, we distinguish the “Covid19 Italia Help” grassroots initiative that aims to gather, share and verify information on the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Entirely run by volunteers, this Italian language-based action is, at the moment, the only nationwide non-English initiative of this kind (Zourou, 2020), including various forms of Grassroots Innovation, from civic hacking to fundraising.
Framework of analysis
Conceptual framework and definition of criteria
Expanding on our understanding of Grassroots Innovation, we initially established the conceptual framework that guided our desk research on Grassroots Innovation for linguistic advocacy actions. Within this conceptual framework we established a series of selection criteria, based on an ad-hoc typology of four components, namely:
- Forms of Grassroots Innovation
Despite the extensive literature on Grassroots Innovation, the diverse range of sectors, methods and objectives associated with it, research has not yet established a comprehensive typology of the various forms of Grassroots Innovation. To systematise the collected examples, we adopted a non-exhaustive, ad hoc typology that captures key types of Grassroots Innovation actions, namely hackathons, datathons, citizen science, makerspaces, crowdsourcing and DIY actions.
- Digital tools
At present, technology plays a central role in Grassroots Innovation actions. Considering the wealth of digital tools available, our focus is shifted to the digital methods selected by users and communities. These may include mobile applications, online repositories, social media, advanced technologies (AI etc.), software development platforms (Github, etc.).
- Communication and outreach
The most successful actions are those that maximise their outreach through a robust communication strategy. For our research, we focused on Grassroots Innovation initiatives that championed this approach.
- Impact of Grassroots Innovation initiatives
To narrow down the pool of potential actions we only examined initiatives that were impactful in terms of people participating in them and objectives reached. Our selection criteria included impact factors like the number of engaged participants and the extent to which the initiative achieved its goals.
The desk research method
To gather samples of grassroots, Web2Learn staff gathered data from November 1 to December 2, 2023, using a collaborative, data gathering tool. Once all entries were complete, we proceeded with the screening process and categorised them in purpose-based types.
Purpose-based ad hoc typology
The collection of examples, was systematised by adopting an ad hoc typology that reflects the initiatives’ objectives. The following typology emerged:
- Raising Awareness:
Through these Grassroots Innovation actions, organisers and participants aim to inform the public about the need to advocate for a language-related issue and mobilise collective support.
- Influence policy:
These actions aim to achieve change at policy level, thus focusing on transforming policy- and decision-making.
- Creating open and accessible resources:
Several Grassroots Innovation actions focus on developing digital resources accessible to the wider public, serving as a form of linguistic advocacy. These resources include educational materials, multimedia datasets, open software, etc.
To better frame the selection criteria and the ad hoc typology developed, please refer to the following infographic.
#1 The Language Digitization Initiative
Link: https://translationcommons.org/programs/language-digitization/
Language: all languages
Form of Grassroots Innovation: Crowdsourcing
Purpose type: Creating open and accessible resources
Digital tool: online repositories
Status: Ongoing
Mode of participation: Online
Communication and outreach: Blog
Impact: Over 40 free language-related tools; the Covid-19 poster-maker project translated in over 350 languages.
Description: The Language Digitization Initiative (LDI) is a grassroots, volunteer community. It aims to put the motto “no language is left behind” into practice by delivering digitized content and resources in all languages. First set up by the Global Coalition for Language Rights, an international group of stakeholders collaborating for languages and human rights, the LDI action is carried out exclusively online by users worldwide. LDI volunteers have collaboratively worked on more than nine projects available on the initiative’s website.
#2 The Yugambeh Language App
Link: https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/yugambeh-language-app-launch
Language: Yugambeh language
Form of Grassroots Innovation: Crowdsourcing
Purpose type: Raise awareness
Digital tool: mobile application
Status: Completed
Mode of participation: Online
Communication and outreach: Blog
Impact: 8 Aboriginal languages now figure in the app.
Description: The Yugambeh language mobile application was launched in 2013 by the Yugambeh Museum, Language and Heritage Research Centre, in Australia, to safeguard the Yugambeh language. The app was the first of its kind for the aboriginal family of languages. The project was made possible thanks to John Allen (Bulumm), a Yugambeh man, who collected native language specimens for the app. By working closely with communities on the field, this app is used for educational and awareness-raising purposes, preserving the richness of the Yugambeh language. Community members could enrich the app by adding entries to it.
#3 The Barngarla Dictionary
Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.regenr8.dictionary.barngarla&hl=en&gl=US
Language: Barngarla
Form of Grassroots Innovation: Crowdsourcing
Purpose type: Raise awareness
Digital tool: mobile application
Status: Completed
Mode of participation: Online
Communication and outreach: Facebook
Impact: The Barngarla community participated in this initiative and was empowered to sustain their linguistic heritage.
Description: The Barngarla language was one of the endangered South Australian aboriginal languages, faced with extinction due to colonisation. The Barngarla mobile dictionary was launched in 2016, thanks to the work of Dr. Zuckermann, who was Chair of Linguistics and Endangered Languages at the University of Adelaide at the time. Working on-site, the Dictionary was the result of close collaboration between the linguist and the Barngarla people who managed to preserve their language and were empowered to keep expanding its use to new generations.
#4 Hackathon — ICTs for Indigenous Languages
Link: https://icts-for-indigenous-languages.hackerearth.com/
Language: Indigenous Languages
Form of Grassroots Innovation: Hackathon
Purpose type: Raise awareness
Digital tool: advanced technologies
Status: Completed
Mode of participation: Online
Communication and outreach: Facebook
Impact: 509 teams participated in this online global hackathon
Description: To help preserve, revitalise and promote Indigenous Languages, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum, collaborated with UNESCO and other stakeholders to organise an online hackathon calling for users worldwide to develop innovative solutions. The hackathon took place from April 18 to May 10, 2022, and participants could choose to submit their proposals in one of the categories: “Knowledge”, “Empowerment”, and “Preservation”, with one team in every category winning a monetary prize.
#5 The Language Access Coalition of Canada
Link: https://www.languageadvocacyday.org/take-action
Language: Indigenous Languages
Form of Grassroots Innovation: Various
Purpose type: Raise awareness
Digital tool: Online repositories
Status: Ongoing
Mode of participation: Online
Communication and outreach: Youtube; Twitter; Facebook; LinkedIn
Impact: >350 advocates, 300 languages
Description: The Language Access Coalition of Canada (LACC) was established in 2020 by a group of individuals and organisations in Canada who work directly or indirectly with language services. LACC adopts a grassroots approach and sustains a large pool of volunteers, and community members, by supporting their advocacy actions. It also offers various avenues for individuals to get involved, such as contributing data, resources, volunteering, or participating in events, all aimed at advancing equitable language access and services.
Summing up
This module focused on Grassroots Innovation actions for linguistic advocacy. By highlighting the social value of digitally enhanced advocacy (unit 1) and Grassroots Innovation (unit 2), it aimed to showcase the potential of community-driven and technology-mediated actions. Eventually, unit 3 provided a detailed outline of our approach and desk research into Grassroots Innovation actions for linguistic advocacy and presented five examples of successful actions that help users understand the value and impact of Grassroots Innovation for linguistic advocacy more concretely!
Quiz
References
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