These frequently-asked questions are compiled to assist owners of private and non-open-sourced data to make informed decisions about the SEACrowd Project.
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What is SEACrowd? — SEACrowd is, in short, a project initiated by SEA researchers who aim to create the most comprehensive and standardized inventory of all datasets available for SEA languages. This dataset may be used by AI, NLP, and Computational Linguistics Researchers for open-source projects afterwards. You may check this link for more information.
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Why was I contacted by a SEACrowd Moderator regarding my dataset? — This is because a contributor to the project submitted a request to add your dataset to our inventory. As per our policy, we do not automatically add a private / non-open-source / non-openly-available dataset even if the datasheet submitted was approved by the dataset reviewers. We always strive to contact the original authors first for their permission and to identify what level of “openness” they wish to grant should they allow their dataset to be included in the inventory.
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If I open my dataset, does it mean that SEACrowd will own my dataset? - No, the original dataset owner will always be you. SEACrowd only creates a datasheet so other people can find your dataset in our Catalogue and provides a dataloader so other researchers can load your dataset easily. Your original repository is still the original data source.
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Do I have to open-source my dataset? - Yes. To be included in SEACrowd, you must open-source your dataset. Your dataset may be hosted anywhere as long as it is accessible and downloadable through a link. Additionally, you may opt to collect data about users who wish to access your dataset once the dataloader has been implemented and the SEACrowd catalog is live. You may find details for that here
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My dataset is using a specific license. Will there be a license change if I opt to allow my dataset to be listed? - No, there will not be a license change. We understand that a lot of the datasets in the SEA region are locked by licenses that are imposed due to funding requirements, institutional regulations, and many more. SEACrowd itself (including the dataloader to be built for your dataset) uses the Apache-2.0 open-source license, but this only applies to our code and our project, which are separate artifacts from your data.
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I would like to give my permission to open-source and have my dataset listed. What should I do? - Thank you for your contribution! Please reply to our moderator’s request email and, in writing, provide your permission. We may contact you further to request more information about your dataset (or to request a copy of a subset of your data) to assist in building the dataloader.
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I agree to open-source my data, but I am quite lost on how to make it available online. What should I do? - You may host your data through numerous providers such as the HuggingFace Hub, or through your own project website or in a GitHub repository (if the size is small enough). If you are having trouble, we would be more than happy to assist you.
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Do you have a rubric on how dataset submissions are reviewed for inclusion to the inventory? How do I know that my dataset will be part of a properly curated inventory with good data standards? - We provide a short rubric of our review guidelines here for your reference.
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What are the advantages to adding my dataset in SEACrowd? - Branding and advertisement are the strongest draws, as it allows other researchers to identify that your dataset and organization exists. This may lead to potential collaborations and projects with others in the future.
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How many contribution points will I get for opening my dataset? - Please take a look at our detailed guide on contribution points on GitHub.
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What languages are you allowing to be included in your catalogue? - We provide a list of languages we support here.
For any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact any of our moderators.