Robert Munro
Stanford University & Energy for Opportunity
Workshop on Crowdsourcing and Translation
10 June 2010
Realtime crowdsourced translation for emergency response and
beyond
Where Ive sourced crowds
Industry
Research
Esp Psycholinguistics Munro et al 2010)
Social development
Daily potential language exposure
On a given day, what is the average number of languages that
someone could potentially hear?
How has this changed?
# of languages
Year
Daily potential language exposure
# of languages
Year
Daily potential language exposure
# of languages
Year
Daily potential language exposure
# of languages
Year
Daily potential language exposure
You can make a realtime difference in the life of anyone you can
communicate with
We will never be so under-resourced to do this as we are right
now
But we can leverage many of the same technologies to
crowdsource
Haiti, January 12
Text messaging (SMS) is the dominant form of remote communication
in Haiti
The existing emergency response systems failed
Most text messages were getting through
A team of people came together quickly, all connected by Josh
Nesbit of FrontlineSMS:Medic, to put together an SMS-based
emergency response system
We launched in under 48 hours
The responders dont speak Kreyol
FanmimwennanKafou, 24 Cote Plage, 41A bezwenmanjeakdlo
MounkwensenanSakreKnanPtoprens
Ti ekipmanLopital General genyenyopakaminmf 24
Fanm gen tranche pouf yon pititnanDelmas 31
The responders dont speak Kreyol
FanmimwennanKafou, 24 Cote Plage, 41A bezwenmanjeakdlo
MounkwensenanSakreKnanPtoprens
Ti ekipmanLopital General genyenyopakaminmf 24
Fanm gen tranche pouf yon pititnanDelmas 31
My family in Carrefour, 24 Cote Plage,41A needs food and
water