What happens when people who are working to promote, preserve, and develop different languages come together?
They share experiences, learn from one another, discuss the challenges they face, and look for practical ways to strengthen their communities.
That is what the Language Diversity Conference 2026 is about.
From 2 to 4 October 2026, Accra, Ghana, will host the inaugural Language Diversity Conference under the theme
“Strengthening Language Communities in the Open Knowledge Movement.”
The conference will bring together language activists, Wikimedia contributors, researchers, educators, community organizers, and others working to ensure that languages that are often underrepresented online have a place in the digital world.
Language is not only about communication. It carries our history, culture, traditions, and knowledge. Yet many Indigenous and minoritised languages still have limited representation on the internet. This makes it important for language communities to take an active role in documenting their languages and making knowledge available in them.
The conference will provide an opportunity to discuss some of these issues, including language documentation, digital accessibility, Wikimedia projects, artificial intelligence, speech-to-text technologies, language rights, partnerships, and community-led approaches to language development.
A community spotlight: Dagbani Wikimedians
The Dagbani Wikimedians User Group (DWUG) is one of the communities contributing to this conversation.
Over the years, Dagbani Wikimedians have worked to increase the presence of Dagbani and other Ghanaian languages in the digital space through Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, training programs, edit-a-thons, Wiki Hubs, and other community activities.
The journey has also involved supporting the growth of other language communities. These experiences have shown the importance of local people taking ownership of the development and documentation of their languages.
At the Language Diversity Conference, members of the Dagbani Wikimedians community will share some of these experiences.
Among the sessions is “Language Rights Online: Preserving Dagbani Heritage,” which will look at the development of the Dagbani Wikimedia community, its work in the Wikipedia Incubator, community mobilization, Wiki Hubs, and the use of tools such as Mozilla Common Voice and Spell4Wiki. The Dagbanli Dictionary: Building a Sovereign Digital Language Infrastructure for an African Language session will also highlight efforts to build an independent digital foundation for Dagbanli by making the language’s words, meanings, and linguistic knowledge more accessible in the digital space.
There will also be a session on Sopala, an offline learning initiative designed to support Dagbani education in communities where internet access can be a challenge.
For DWUG, this conference is, therefore, an opportunity to share what we have learned, listen to other language communities, and explore ways of working together.
Come and meet the people working to give more languages a stronger presence in the digital world.
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