An Internet for Our Elders

Through this blog series, we are exploring what the world can look like when technology is designed and deployed for the benefit of all. These broad, near-future speculative pieces are designed to de-center dominant narratives and challenge us all to realize that things can be different. These are not alternative realities, they are possible futures.

Illustration by Sylvia Pericles.

Our elders play an important role in preserving our culture. Through each generation, our grandmothers pass down stories of our history and family trees, our poetry and our music to keep our heritage alive. Serving as our “technologies of memory,” our grandmothers and other cultural storytellers have been responsible for preserving and passing down stories of our history and culture long before the advent of the printing press or the internet. Their contributions and wisdom are critical to maintaining our history, culture and a sense of who we are.

We now have the technology to preserve those memories and connections across distance and time, but this technology is not developed or deployed with our cultural storytellers in mind. For those of us within the diaspora, elitist and narrow ideations of technology have created a reality where we are disconnected from our families and our communities, even as we’re more able to be in contact with strangers. At the same time, our grandmas want what the internet offers.

More than 30 years have passed since the internet became available for public use, and it has created a world that our elders could scarcely imagine – one that has the ability to foster connection, liberate access to information and advance innovation. While many of us benefit from the power of the internet and are actively witnessing its impact on our society, billions of people across the globe, like our grandmothers, have yet to experience even its most basic functions and benefits. Even fewer have had the chance to make it work for them.

An internet that benefits our future is one that enables everyone to contribute to the richness of our global conversation. It is an internet that uplifts the voices of our grandmothers, who carry the wisdom of generations in languages like speak Tigrinya, Egyptian Arabic, and Coptic. people who can’t read or write, or people who can’t use the standard screen and keyboard. The internet can and should be a tool that allows us to drive future societies built on mutual respect and appreciation of diverse communities who are underrepresented in global discussions prompted by our digital world.

We have to shift our mindset about the internet as a tool for future generations to leverage and consider its role as a connector of people, not just across space but across generations. How can the internet bring us closer to family, enable the transfer of wisdom, kindness and community held by our grandmothers? How can it be made radically accessible and secure, so that not just our elders, but people with disabilities or people who have been displaced, can reap the benefits of our connected world? What would it look like if our grandmothers had the ability to share our history and culture with the world using the internet?

We reimagine a better internet, one that is truly inclusive and accessible to all. It is an internet that seamlessly adapts to the needs of every user regardless of their age, the languages they speak, or the type of interface they can use. An internet that reflects our histories, and not just those of hegemonic cultures; one that enables our elders to connect with the world, their community and loved ones

We are actively working to build and shape this technological future that we want. Lesan.ai is working on Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Machine Translation (MT) and Text to Speech (TTS) tools that can make the internet more accessible for our grandmothers regardless of the language they speak or their technical fluency. Historically, these language technologies were not developed with our elders or our communities in mind. In fact, they have largely been used against our people rather than for their benefit. Our ancestors, alongside indigenous activists and scholars, have fought to protect our communities against colonial invasions, including safeguarding our historical data and stories. Without considering the context, voices and perspectives of our communities in the development of technology, advancements will only further the harms and destructive impact of colonization.

We are inspired by the work of those fighting for radical accessibility and against data colonization. Shaping this new internet will require the commitment of scientists and engineers to a technological future that serves all of us, guided by the people whose lives will be impacted by this technology.

Our grandmothers have always contributed their wisdom and experiences to keep us rooted in our culture. We want the internet to be a place where they can continue to engage our families from far away through stories of our history. Where they have the opportunity to use these systems to contribute to our children’s bedtime stories, engage in community by attending spiritual services from home and where they are empowered to search for answers from contributors around the globe using their own language.

Our work at DAIR is rooted in the belief that technology can and should carve new and better paths for communities. We know that doing this requires approaching technology in a way that is warm and inclusive, rather than sterile, exclusive and robotic. Because we are a distributed research institute, our researchers have the capacity to remain embedded in their communities, and we know this approach is critical to advancing tech futures that work for everyone.