CfP Second Workshop on Language Technology for Equality, Diversity, Inclusion (LT-EDI-2022)

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is an important agenda across every
field [1] throughout the world. Language as a major part of communication
should be inclusive and treat everyone with equality. Today’s large
internet community uses language technology (LT) and has a direct impact on
people across the globe. EDI is crucial to ensure everyone is valued and
included, so it is necessary to build LT that serves this purpose. Recent
results have shown that big data and deep learning are entrenching existing
biases and that some algorithms are even naturally biased due to problems
such as ‘regression to the mode’. Our focus is on creating LT that will be
more inclusive of gender [2], racial [3], sexual orientation [4], persons
with disability [5,6]. The workshop will focus on creating speech and
language technology to address EDI not only in English, but also in less
resourced languages.


The broader objective of LT-EDI-2022 will be

   -

   To investigate challenges related to speech and language resource
   creation for EDI.
   -

   To promote research in inclusive LT.
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   To adopt and adapt appropriate LT models to suit EDI.
   -

   To provide opportunities for researchers from the LT community around
   the world to collaborate with other researchers to identify and propose
   possible solutions for the challenges of EDI.


Our workshop theme focuses on being more inclusive and providing a platform
for researchers to create LT of a more inclusive nature. We hope that
through these engagements we can develop LT tools to be more inclusive of
everyone, including marginalized people.


*Call for Papers:*

Our main theme in this workshop is equality, diversity, and inclusivity in
LT. We invite researchers and practitioners to submit papers reporting on
these issues and datasets to avoid these issues. We also encourage
qualitative studies related to these issues and how to avoid them.
LT-EDI-2022 welcomes theoretical and practical paper submissions on any
languages that contribute to research in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
We will particularly encourage studies that address either practical
application or improving resources.

   -

   Feb. 28, 2022: Workshop Paper Due Date
   -

   March 26, 2022: Notification of Acceptance
   -

   April 10, 2022: Camera-ready papers due
   -

   May 26-27, 2022: Workshop Dates
   -

      May 26, 2022: The Second Workshop on Speech and Language Technologies
      for Dravidian Languages-(DravidianLangTech-2022)
      -

      May 27, 2022: The Second Workshop on Language Technology for
      Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (LT-EDI-2022)


*Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:*

   -

   Data set development to include EDI
   -

   Gender inclusivity in LT
   -

   LGBTQ+ inclusivity in LT
   -

   Racial inclusivity in LT
   -

   Persons with disability inclusivity in LT
   -

   Speech and language recognition for minority groups
   -

   Unconscious bias and how to avoid them in natural language processing,
   machine learning and other LT technologies.
   -

   Tackling rumors and fake news about gender, racial, and LGBTQ+
   minorities.
   -

   Tackling discrimination against gender, racial, and LGBTQ+ minorities.


Invited Speaker:

*Su Lin Blodgett* (agreed) postdoctoral researcher in the Fairness,
Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics (FATE) group at Microsoft Research
Montréal. Her research currently focuses on conceptualizing harm that
arises from language technologies, better measuring these harms and other
social impacts, and uncovering how language technologies are produced,
especially assumptions and constraints surrounding their production.