Vision
To ensure a transformed participative digital future for our official languages for people in all walks of life.
Mission
- We enable the use of our official South African languages in research and development activities through active DLR aggregation and development towards sustainable multilingualism.
- We enable the implementation of the New Language Policy Framework for public higher education institutions through expert tailored support and services towards unlocking epistemological access to knowledge in all official languages.
- We stimulate and create DH communities of practice as an infrastructure.
Values
We espouse our RICH Plus T (RICHT) principles and foster belonging.
R= SADiLaR undertakes to promote mutual respect, courtesy and inclusivity in an environment driven by research and productivity.
I= SADiLaR promises to inspire innovation that is effective and contributes meaningfully to the community.
C= SADiLaR commits to carefully and effectively communicate with all its strategic partners and stakeholders.
H= SADiLaR undertakes to transform research and teaching in the HSS through a high-impact DH programme.
T= SADiLaR undertakes to drive its mandate with determination, with commitment to teamwork and trust between staff, management, strategic partners and stakeholders.
Strategy
Executive summary of SADiLaR
The South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) is a national research infrastructure (RI), that is part of the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR). Its strategic function is to create, manage, and distribute digital language resources (DLR) and applicable software for all official
languages in South Africa through its digitisation programme, while through its digital humanities (DH) programme, SADiLaR stimulates and supports computational research and development in the humanities and social sciences (HSS).
SADiLaR also contributes as an enabler of activities related to language policy planning, development, and support in the South African context and especially towards the implementation of the new Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions.
The infrastructure is responsive to the imperatives of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, and the Use of Official Languages Act, 2012, pertaining to the equal development and use of the 12 official languages of the country.
As a human-centred RI, SADiLaR understands the importance of the human capacity required in aiming for a transformed digital future in a science-literate and science-aware society. Through its activities and hosted DLR and services, the RI contributes to unlock access to knowledge in all official South African languages.
During the next five years, the infrastructure will focus on the following six strategic objectives to enhance the role played by easily accessible language-related technologies, DH for transformational research, and supporting language policy implementation in realising an inclusive and transformed digital future for South Africa:
1. Research:
Stimulate and advance the scholarship of human language technologies (HLT) and DH in South Africa and across the African continent, and further strengthen Global South knowledge production and dissemination pathways, thereby contributing to global knowledge production.
2. Technology and resources:
Enhance the development, deployment, and maintenance of software and technologies
in the domains of DLR and DH by strengthening the technical infrastructure.
3. Projects and services:
Sustain and enable a broad range of multiphase projects and services in SADiLaR’s mandate by increasing internal and external synergies.
4. Good governance:
Foster good governance and work towards project sustainability and landmarking of the infrastructure.
5. Communication:
Nurture excellent communication, SADiLaR brand management and stakeholder engagement.
6. Team:
Promote and nurture staff development and wellbeing through recognition and progression.
Read SADiLaR’s full strategy document HERE
