11-16, 14:30–15:30 (Asia/Beirut), 4th Dimension
Localization Lab has conducted research with quantitative and qualitative measures to assess the quality of the Arabic translation of Facebook and Youtube’s policies and its accessibility to the platforms’ users in Arabic-speaking countries. Participants can expect to learn the importance of the translation of these policies to combat hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation online and the potential negative impacts of poorly translated policies on users of these platforms.
We will start the session with a brief overview of the research plan, methodology, and the linguistic elements we looked at, including clarity, accuracy, use of dialects, contextualization, relevance of the policy content, and translation consistency. We will then overview in details the key quality and accessibility findings in the Arabic translations of the policies and explore how they could affect the average user’s understanding of the policies and the platform’s effectiveness in stopping the spread of hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation. We will also provide suggestions to improve the translations and explore more strategic ways and methods to make the policies more accessible to Arabic-speaking users, taking into consideration their linguistic, cultural, technical literacy and social backgrounds. At the end of the session, we will present what Localization Lab’s community members, who worked on the research, thought about the Arabic translations of Facebook and YouTube community standards.
نبدأ الجلسة بنظرة عامة مقتضبة حول خطتنا البحثية، ومنهجيتنا، والعناصر اللغوية التي قمنا بتحليلها، بما في ذلك الوضوح والدقة واستخدام اللهجات والعناصر السياقية وأهمية محتوى السياسات ودقّة الترجمات. وننتقل بعد ذلك إلى استعراض مفصّل للاستنتاجات الأساسية المرتبطة بجودة الترجمات العربية للسياسات والقدرة على الوصول إليها، كما سننظر في تأثيرها المحتمل على فهم المُستخدِم العادي للسياسات وفعالية المنصة في وقف انتشار خطاب الكراهية والمعلومات الخاطئة والمضلّلة. كذلك، سنقدم اقتراحات لتحسين الترجمات وسننظر في طرق ووسائل استراتيجية لإتاحة السياسات بشكل أوسع إلى المستخدمين المتحدثين بالعربية، مع مراعاة خلفياتهم اللغوية والثقافية والاجتماعية ومستوى إلمامهم بالجوانب التقنية. وفي ختام الجلسة، سوف نعرّف بأعضاء منظمة Localization Lab الذين عملوا على البحث وقاموا بتحليل الترجمات العربية لمعايير مجتمع فايسبوك ويوتيوب.
Orla leads participatory research with communities to understand how to better localize and design tools, and she leads assessments to measure the impact of these tools. She brings experience leading research in Latin America to advance public health and the right to nutrition. She advocates for quality, timely, inclusive, and sufficient public resources—information, services, and spaces—so that every person can thrive. At Localization Lab, Orla leads research programs and project localization through participatory research and knowledge co-production, and she provides technical guidance across Localization Lab’s research portfolio.
