Thursday, 26th June, 20252 (12:00 to 18:00 GMT)
Africa is a continent of extraordinary linguistic diversity—yet most African languages are virtually invisible online. Did you know:
🇳🇬 Nigeria: 223 million people | 520 languages
🇿🇦 South Africa: 61 million people | 20 languages
🇪🇹 Ethiopia: 123 million people | 87 languages
🇨🇲 Cameroon: 29 million people | 273 languages
(Source: Ethnologue)
Despite these rich language landscapes, digital resources for African languages are still scarce. We’re working to change that through the AfriCC (African Common Crawl) initiative, a community-led effort (coordinated by DSFSI Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Idris Abdulmumin) to build open datasets for African languages—ensuring no language is left behind.
🚀 Announcing the AfriCC LID Hackathon!
When: Thursday, 26th June (12:00 to 18:00 GMT)
Where: Online. See registration information below.
Who: Anyone passionate about African languages and open data—no technical expertise required!
This hackathon, coordinated by DSFSI Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Idris Abdulmumin, is your chance to make a real impact. Whether you’re a linguist, coder, community organizer, or just curious, we welcome your participation.
How You Can Contribute:
Annotate and review African language data
Share links, texts, and language resources for any African language or country
Collaborate with peers and language advocates across the continent
📋 Register Now!
Help us plan the session, provide language support, and connect with fellow contributors by registering your availability or letting us know your annotation status.
📚 Resources
Country-specific workbooks and guidelines: Available here
Already contributed? Please fill out this contributor form to help us keep track and celebrate your work!
Why This Matters
By participating, you’re not just supporting open science and AI—you’re ensuring African languages have a seat at the digital table. Your efforts will feed into open datasets, fuel language technology, and help build more inclusive AI for the continent.
Let’s make history together. See you on Thursday!
Questions or want to know more about the AfriCC project?
Drop us a comment below or reach out directly to Dr. Idris Abdulmumin - idris.abdulmumin@up.ac.za
Together, let’s ensure no African language is left behind in the digital age!
Wanted to ask permission first, but decided to just share in my network!
Hope that's okay ;)