Dynaword: From One-shot to Continuously Developed Datasets

Kenneth Enevoldsen, Kristian Nørgaard Jensen, Jan Kostkan, Balázs Szabó, Márton Kardos, Kirsten Vad, Johan Heinsen, Andrea Blasi Núñez, Gianluca Barmina, Jacob Nielsen, Rasmus Larsen, Peter Bjerregaard Vahlstrup, Per Møldrup-Dalum, Desmond Elliott, Lukas Galke, Peter Schneider-Kamp, Kristoffer Nielbo

Abstract:

Large-scale datasets are foundational for re-
search and development in natural language
processing. However, current approaches face
three key challenges: (1) reliance on ambigu-
ously licensed sources restricting use, sharing,
and derivative works; (2) static dataset releases
that prevent community contributions and di-
minish longevity; and (3) quality assurance pro-
cesses restricted to publishing teams rather than
leveraging community expertise.
To address these limitations, we introduce
two contributions: the Dynaword approach
and Danish Dynaword1. The Dynaword ap-
proach is a framework for creating large-scale,
open datasets that can be continuously updated
through community collaboration. Danish Dy-
naword is a concrete implementation that vali-
dates this approach and demonstrates its poten-
tial. Danish Dynaword contains over four times
as many tokens as comparable releases, is ex-
clusively openly licensed, and has received mul-
tiple contributions across industry and research.
The repository includes light-weight tests to
ensure data formatting, quality, and documen-
tation, establishing a sustainable framework for
ongoing community contributions and dataset
evolution.