African Languages Technology Initiative ALT - I ALT - I
Inserting African issues into the agenda of the knowledge age
Kora Appropriating Human Language Technology
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  Objectives  
 
     
  Alt-I aims to take African Cultures into the knowledge era, by facilitating development of the neccessary resources that will enable the engagement of all Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in African Languages.

For the purposes of implementation, the overall aim of Alt-I has been broken down into the following objectives:

  • To build awareness on the need to appropriate human language technology (HLT) for communication in African languages
  • To build capacity for research and development in HLT of African languages
  • To undertake relevant studies and develop required software and hardware components for African languages
  • To disseminate findings and popularise best practices for African languages technologies research and development
  • To encourage and facilitate networking among similar programmes in other parts of Africa and beyond
  
     
 
 

 

  
  Advocacy  
 
     
  Towards the fulfilment of our objectives, we develop HLT interest in universities and research centres. As a direct result of these efforts, a number of post-graduate students at the Africa Regional Centre for Information Science in the University of Ibadan have engaged in HLT related research in the Master in Information Science (M. Inf.Sc.) programme of the centre from the 2002/2003 session. In addition, a number of linguistics undergrduates have also taken up projects in acoustic phonology.

We are also involved in curriculum review and design of post graduate programmes in Nigerian Universities. These programmes aim at developing a crop of multidisciplinary researchers with backgrounds in linguistics, engineering and computer science with the objective of producing a number of doctoral and Master theses/dissertations in HLT within a five-year period.

  
     
 
 

 

  
  Governance  
 
     
  The governance of Alt-I is based on a two-tier structure of an Advisory Board and an Executive Management team. The Advisory Board provides general guidance on the activities of the organisation at a strategic level, while the management team manages the day-to-day activities at tactical and operational levels.

The Advisory Board is made up of eminent scholars representing expertise in Language, Engineering and Linguistics. The Executive Director is also a member of the board. The present board is chaired by Prof. Akinwunmi Isola, a retired professor of African Languages with extensive experience in Yoruba literature. Other members include Prof. Omotayo Fakinlede, Prof. Francis Egbokhare and Dr. Tunde Adegbola. Prof. Fakinlede at present heads the Department of Systems Engineering, University of Lagos. Prior to this position he was the Director of Energy Information Systems at the National Energy Commission in Abuja, Nigeria and he also taught for many years in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. Prof. Francis Egbokhare, a linguist by training is the Director of the Distance Learning Centre in the University of Ibadan. He was the Head of Department of Linguistics and African Languages in the same univesity before taking up the present position.

Dr. Tunde Adegbola as Executive Director heads the present executive management team. He comes from electrical engineering and computer science backgrounds and he is a keen advocate for a strong African cultural identity in the globalising world. He combines his administrtive and research responsibilites in Alt-i with an equally active career as a consulting engineer in information media technologies. He also teaches information and communication theory as well as Artificial Intelligence at the Africa Regional Centre for Information Science at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Mr. Lanrewaju Ogunkola heads the team of in-house computer programmers, consisting of a fluid mixture of permanent and freelance staff.

The research team is drawn from a corp of local and international consultants whose expertise may be demanded from time to time on project basis. This team is supported by post-graduate and undergraduate students from various universities, particularly the Africa Regional Centre for Information Science at the University of Ibadan.

  
     
 
 

 

  
  Networking  
 
     
  We continue to cultivate relationships with HLT programmes and other relevant endeavours around Africa and other parts of the world.