Mozilla’s Common Voice project was recently certified as a Digital Public Good (DPG) for its work, crowdsourcing speech data for 87 global languages and releasing it as open datasets for innovation.

The Digital Public Goods Standard (DPG) is a set of guidelines designed to determine whether a digital solution conforms to the specifications of a digital public good: open-source software, open data, open AI models, open standards, and open content that adhere to privacy and other applicable best practices, do no harm and help attain the SDGs.

Accessing tools and services in local languages is a privilege that locks out many. Most of the local languages in low-income countries are under-resourced and less prioritized, further widening the digital divide. Responding to this need, Common Voice is an open-source initiative to make voice technology more inclusive. Voice contributions to the data set are made through community engagement and contribution.

Being recognized as a DPG increases the visibility, support for, and prominence of open source projects that are addressing global challenges; prospects that MCV Product Lead E-M is particularly excited about.

“Common Voice is on a mission to make voice technology more open and inclusive. We’re focused on supporting all 87 languages — a milestone we reached in January — and serving the real people who speak them. The DPG certification really aligns with our values as a project, and we are very much looking forward to working with other partners who share these principles!” says EM Lewis-Jong, Common Voice Product Lead.

About the Digital Public Goods Alliance

The Digital Public Goods Alliance is a multi-stakeholder initiative endorsed by the United Nations Secretary-General, working to accelerate the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals in low- and middle-income countries by facilitating the discovery, development, use of, and investment in digital public goods.