Crisis MT: Developing A Cookbook for MT in Crisis Situations

In this paper, we propose that MT is an important technology in crisis events, something that can and should be an integral part of a rapid-response infrastructure. By integrating MT services directly into a messaging infrastructure (whatever the type of messages being serviced, e.g., text messages, Twitter feeds, blog postings, etc.), MT can be used to provide first pass translations into a majority language, which can be more effectively triaged and then routed to the appropriate aid agencies. If done right, MT can dramatically increase the speed by which relief can be provided. To ensure that MT is a standard tool in the arsenal of tools needed in crisis events, we propose a preliminary Crisis Cookbook, the contents of which could be translated into the relevant language(s) by volunteers immediately after a crisis event occurs. The resulting data could then be made available to relief groups on the ground, as well as to providers of MT services. We also note that there are significant contributions that our community can make to relief efforts through continued work on our research, especially that research which makes MT more viable for under-resourced languages.