On 24th June, researchers at the ADAPT Centre at Dublin City University and the European Language Resource Coordination brought together experts from the Irish Research, Industry and Public Administration to discuss how technologies for the Irish language can reshape our digital interactions.
In 2014, the European Commission launched the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to support trans-European networks and infrastructures with the aim to establish a Digital Single Market in the 28 EU member states, Iceland and Norway. Among CEF services, Automated Translation (CEF AT) helps overcome one of the main challenges that European and national public administrations and businesses are facing today: the exchange of information across language barriers.
Yet Automated Translation is not the only technology that is already transforming the way we interact with our administration, the way we shop, work and travel. Programs that automatically aid sophisticated writing, digital assistants that transform our voices to text messages on mobile phones, bots that answer our calls to the bank or to our social security organisation, and much more, are already empowering our everyday lives, our businesses and our administrations. But do the existing solutions allow us to use our own languages in all digital interactions? Are they really ready for use yet? And are our languages adequately supported and ready to keep pace with the technological advancements of the Artificial Intelligence era?
The third Irish European Language Resource Coordination (ELRC) workshop will address these questions. Developers, integrators and users of Language Technology, both from the private and public sector will share experiences, requirements and ways for transforming digital interaction through Irish. The workshop will also see the launch of the EU-funded PRINCIPLE Project that will play an important role in the use and improvement of Irish machine translation in public administration.
The event addressed providers of digital services, public administration executives, officers and partners, researchers and SMEs.
