Kaltxì, ma frapo,
I’d like to encourage our many creative members of the lì’fyaolo’ to participate in a Na’vi-related research project being conducted at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Dr. Christine Schreyer, whom I’ve often mentioned in my talks, is a well-known linguistic anthropologist–and conlanger!–who’s had in interest in Na’vi from its inception. Under her direction, a graduate student at UBC, Jay Edwards, is creating a Virtual Reality digital archive for Na’vi texts. You’ll find a fuller description below.
I think this is a great opportunity for our creative community members to share their Na’vi-related materials–stories, essays, poems, songs, art work, learning resources–in a central archive that will not only foster wider access to them but also be a model of how such an archive can benefit endangered natural languages.
Please feel free to contact Christine and/or Jay at the email addresses below to ask any questions you might have and forward them your materials.
Irayo, ma smuk!
Pawl
Na’vi Language Immersive Digital Archive – Fan Material Request Letter
| Principal Investigator:
Christine Schreyer Professor E-mail: [email protected] |
Co-Investigator:
Jay Edwards Graduate Researcher E-mail: [email protected] |
Kaltxì! We are seeking Na’vi speakers who are interested in contributing to a new research project that aims to bridge the gap between innovative technologies and low-resource languages. As part of this project, we are creating a Virtual Reality digital archive where Na’vi texts can be explored and enjoyed by the community.
We would greatly appreciate any fan-created materials you have made, such as fan art to decorate the archive or stories, songs, poems, etc., to train the language model, which will allow users to ask questions about the texts. These contributions will help bring the archive to life, showcase the creativity of the Na’vi community, and serve as a template for future projects that work with low-resource or constructed languages.
If you would like to assist or have questions about the project, please do not hesitate to contact us. Your participation will help make this archive a meaningful experience for Na’vi language speakers. Thank you for your time.
Usually I am very excited hearing about related Na’vi projects, but this one leaves a bad aftertaste. The Na’vi community is probably the worst one to approach for an AI related project, given that AI content is forbidden in all three big discord Na’vi communities, there is a general pretty strong anti-AI sentiment in the community, and people using AI to try to learn Na’vi actually is a serious problem within the community. Of course I hope that she finds some people who are excited about the project, but with the AI caviat, I’m probably out (as are many others from what I’ve read so far in discussions).
I wish this would just be about an online archive of Na’vi texts. That would be so useful to have, but with the AI addition this seems like it will be a pain to deal with in the future (for us teachers as we’ll be the ones having to correct misinformation the language model might spit out) as I’ve yet to see any AI project that produces anything factual regarding Na’vi, even after Na’vi specific training. I know with enough input that could change, but given how small the Na’vi community is, this seems incredibly unrealistic.
I’m still waiting for their full statement to know exactly for what and to what extend this LM will be used first hand, but I agree with the sentiment.
Also in to agree with the sentiment, for what it’s worth.
Perhaps they would have more luck with Esperanto? We the Na’vi community could never possibly dream to create as many correctly formed texts as are required for LLM training to be worth it. According to my current understanding of such things.
I have some communication with Jay about this, too. I am agree with Tekre on this, but in the same time, I usually try to help researchers with their project.
The use of AI is curretly the big issue here, and also a big question mark. So, I am looking for further information about this.
Hi all, just letting you know we’ve seen these comments & have received a few emails. Jay and I are meeting tomorrow and will have a further explanation of how AI is involved soon, which we will ask Paul to post for us. We hear your concerns & want to respect community thoughts on this matter. More from us soon!
Thank you so much for your willingness to be open and engage with the Na’vi language community, especially concerning the controversial topic of AI (LLM) use.
Thank you for this comment; I appreciate it. 🙂
Hello all,
Jay and I have discussed and his full response can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wI51kNGkGuEWrv99t6HvMqvRSX2LIMK3/edit
It is too long to post in a comment, but we hope you will read it and let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
I just read this reply, and honestly, as someone who has glossed over 7 hours of Na’vi recordings for their bachelor thesis, I’d love to see the alternative project come to life 😀
I have several written stories (and some poetry) which I would be willing to contribute, although they were created when the language was younger and I’ll need to go over some of the wording since terms that better encapsulate certain concepts have been added to Na’vi in the interim. But I am reassured by your reply that you will handle my material responsibly. Thank you.
I emailed some of my stuff already (and signed my name as Txonpay), but I’m willing to help proofread what you want to send 🙂