Using Wikipedia to increase language diversity online. There are more than 6,000 languages globally. To be inclusive, anything that requires language, including educational resources and technology, should be available in all languages - not just those that are most commonly spoken. Being inclusive of all languages would enable smaller languages to survive, and even thrive, and ensure that people had the option to use their native languages in their daily lives. Diversity of Languages in Technology The vast majority of the internet is written in English, which prevents anybody who does not speak English from accessing knowledge that is supposed to be openly accessible. Alongside this, many new and innovative technologies are only available in a limited number of languages: Amazon Echo is available in 8 languages Google translate is available in 109 languages Wikipedia only reflects around 0.05% of the world's languages How the University can support linguistic equality, diversity and inclusion Anybody can contribute to, and even create, a Wikipedia page in any language, which can allow speakers of minority languages to use their native language online. The University's commitment to diversity and inclusion has already been supported by Wikipedia, with students in the Translation Studies MA course being tasked to translate a Wikipedia page into another language. With a global body of staff and students, many people at the University could contribute new articles in languages other than English. This work can therefore help to preserve these languages and the cultures that are intertwined with them. There are a number of Wikipedias in lanugages other than English that have been successful. You can read about some of these success stories at the following links: The growth of Welsh Wikipedia - Wicipedia Translating Spanish Wikipedia articles into Catalan Coordinating Canadian Indigenous Language Wikipedias Improving the future of Scots Wikipedia © Ewan McAndrew and Clea Strathmann, University of Edinburgh, 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0, unless otherwise indicated. This article was published on 2024-10-08