Mohammed Kamal-Deen Fuseini, Agnes Abah, Andra Waagmeester
{"title":"Documenting Biodiversity in Underrepresented Languages using Crowdsourcing","authors":"Mohammed Kamal-Deen Fuseini, Agnes Abah, Andra Waagmeester","doi":"10.3897/biss.7.112431","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth, and it is essential for our planet's health and well-being. Language is also a powerful medium for documenting and preserving cultural heritage, including knowledge about biodiversity. However, many indigenous and underrepresented languages are at risk of disappearing, taking with them valuable information about local ecosystems. Also, many species are at risk of extinction, and much of our knowledge about biodiversity is in underrepresented languages. (Cardoso et al. 2019). This can make it challenging to document and protect biodiversity, as well as to share this knowledge with others. Crowdsourcing is a way to collect information from a large number of people, and it can be a valuable tool for documenting biodiversity in underrepresented languages. By crowdsourcing, leveraging the iNaturalist platform, and volunteer contributors in the open movement including the Dagbani*1 and Igbo*2 Wikimedian communities, we can reach people who have knowledge about local biodiversity, but who may not have been able to share this knowledge before. For instance, the Dagbani and Igbo Wikimedia contributors did not have enough content on biodiversity data until they received education about the need. This can help us to fill in the gaps in our knowledge about biodiversity, and to protect species that are at risk of extinction. In this presentation, we will discuss the use of crowdsourcing to document biodiversity in underrepresented languages, the challenges and opportunities of using crowdsourcing for this purpose, and some examples of successful projects. We will also discuss the importance of sharing knowledge about biodiversity with others and share some ideas on how to do this. We believe that crowdsourcing has the potential to be a powerful tool for documenting biodiversity in underrepresented languages. By working together, we can help protect our planet's biodiversity and ensure that this knowledge is available to future generations.","PeriodicalId":9011,"journal":{"name":"Biodiversity Information Science and Standards","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biodiversity Information Science and Standards","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.7.112431","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth, and it is essential for our planet's health and well-being. Language is also a powerful medium for documenting and preserving cultural heritage, including knowledge about biodiversity. However, many indigenous and underrepresented languages are at risk of disappearing, taking with them valuable information about local ecosystems. Also, many species are at risk of extinction, and much of our knowledge about biodiversity is in underrepresented languages. (Cardoso et al. 2019). This can make it challenging to document and protect biodiversity, as well as to share this knowledge with others. Crowdsourcing is a way to collect information from a large number of people, and it can be a valuable tool for documenting biodiversity in underrepresented languages. By crowdsourcing, leveraging the iNaturalist platform, and volunteer contributors in the open movement including the Dagbani*1 and Igbo*2 Wikimedian communities, we can reach people who have knowledge about local biodiversity, but who may not have been able to share this knowledge before. For instance, the Dagbani and Igbo Wikimedia contributors did not have enough content on biodiversity data until they received education about the need. This can help us to fill in the gaps in our knowledge about biodiversity, and to protect species that are at risk of extinction. In this presentation, we will discuss the use of crowdsourcing to document biodiversity in underrepresented languages, the challenges and opportunities of using crowdsourcing for this purpose, and some examples of successful projects. We will also discuss the importance of sharing knowledge about biodiversity with others and share some ideas on how to do this. We believe that crowdsourcing has the potential to be a powerful tool for documenting biodiversity in underrepresented languages. By working together, we can help protect our planet's biodiversity and ensure that this knowledge is available to future generations.
生物多样性是地球上生命的多样性,对我们星球的健康和福祉至关重要。语言也是记录和保存文化遗产,包括生物多样性知识的有力媒介。然而,许多土著语言和代表性不足的语言正面临消失的危险,并带走了有关当地生态系统的宝贵信息。此外,许多物种正面临灭绝的危险,我们对生物多样性的大部分知识都是在代表性不足的语言中掌握的。(Cardoso et al. 2019)。这使得记录和保护生物多样性以及与他人分享这些知识变得具有挑战性。众包是一种从大量人群中收集信息的方式,它可以成为记录代表性不足语言的生物多样性的宝贵工具。通过众包,利用iNaturalist平台,以及开放运动中的志愿者贡献者,包括Dagbani*1和Igbo*2维基媒体社区,我们可以接触到那些了解当地生物多样性,但以前可能无法分享这些知识的人。例如,达格巴尼族和伊博族维基媒体的贡献者在接受有关需求的教育之前,没有足够的生物多样性数据内容。这可以帮助我们填补生物多样性知识的空白,并保护濒临灭绝的物种。在这次演讲中,我们将讨论使用众包来记录代表性不足的语言的生物多样性,为此目的使用众包的挑战和机遇,以及一些成功项目的例子。我们还将讨论与他人分享生物多样性知识的重要性,并就如何做到这一点分享一些想法。我们相信,众包有潜力成为记录未被充分代表的语言的生物多样性的有力工具。通过共同努力,我们可以帮助保护地球的生物多样性,并确保后代能够获得这些知识。