Lessons in co-creation: Navigating the realities of inclusive sign language technology development
Rehana Omardeen, Davy Van Landuyt & Maartje De Meulder (European Union of the Deaf & Hogeschool Utrecht)
The development of machine translation (MT) technologies between signed and spoken languages is growing, yet the ethical and responsible development of such technologies remains a paramount concern, particularly regarding deaf leadership (Desai et al. 2024). This presentation presents a critical examination of the co-design and co-creation paradigms as they have been applied in recent sign language technology development, with a focus on the European Union of the Deaf’s (EUD) participation in two Horizon 2020-funded projects: EASIER and SignON (2020-2023). Both projects aimed at creating mobile applications for MT between various European signed and spoken languages (including Dutch and Flemish Sign Languages and spoken/written Dutch), leveraging advances in AI. In a response to the projects’ funding call, both projects aimed to implement co-design and co-creation paradigms to incorporate deaf perspectives throughout the projects’ various developmental stages. By involving EUD to lead these efforts, both projects sought to ensure that the technologies being developed were informed by the very communities they aim to serve.
However, while there is a notable push towards co-design and co-creation methodologies both in funding calls and in research projects concerning sign language technologies, the reality of implementing these paradigms often reveals significant challenges. Despite the rhetoric of inclusivity, these projects frequently see a dominance of hearing, (often) non-signing researchers and technologists in leading roles, both in project design and implementation. This leads to very specific interpretations and implementations of co-design and co-creation of sign language technologies.
This presentation highlights the challenges of executing co-design and co-creation within mixed deaf/hearing and signing/non-signing consortia. It exposes the additional labour for deaf partners who often find themselves compensating for the experience and knowledge gaps of their hearing colleagues, navigating an inherently inaccessible working culture, and shouldering the responsibility for ensuring linguistic accessibility.
Furthermore, the presentation scrutinises the co-creation process itself. While central to the development of inclusive technologies, this presents its own set of challenges. Different types of feedback are required from diverse users, and the practicalities of involving users in the co-creation process can be complex. The projects faced difficulties in ensuring broad representation from within deaf communities, managing expectations, and effectively communicating with participants about the technologies being developed.
In response to these challenges, the presentation advocates for a reimagining of co-design and co-creation methodologies in the context of sign language technology development. It calls for a more profound and genuine integration of deaf leadership and expertise, not merely as participants and end-users but as principal investigators and project leads.
By drawing lessons from the EASIER and SignON projects, the presentation proposes recommendations for future initiatives. These include the adoption of more innovative and inclusive co-creation methods, a balanced approach to qualitative and quantitative feedback, and a concerted effort to address issues of anonymity and extractivism. Ultimately, the presentation posits that a more equitable and respectful approach to co-design and co-creation can lead to technology developments that are not only more ethical and inclusive but also more effective in serving the diverse wishes of the deaf communities.
References
Desai, A. , De Meulder, M. , Hochgesang, J. A. , Kocab, A. , & Lu, A. X. . (2024). Systemic Biases in Sign Language AI Research: A Deaf-Led Call to Reevaluate Research Agendas. arXiv, , 2403.02563v1. http://arxiv.org/abs/2403.02563v1