Thematic Symposium: Technical and Professional Communication for Users in Intercultural and Multilingual Contexts

Technical and Professional Communication for Users in Intercultural and Multilingual Contexts

Symposium Chairs: Bruce Maylath (North Dakota State University, USA) and Kirk St.Amant (Louisiana Tech, USA)

Overview of symposium

Featured within the AELFE-TAPP 2020 Conference, this half-day symposium on Technical and Professional Communication will highlight current thinking and developments in technical and professional communication, as they relate to intercultural and/or multilingual contexts.

Such examination is important, for as technologies evolve and cultures change, the contexts in which individuals access and use information shift in often unexpected ways. This situation means that what constitutes usable designs and what constitutes effective communication practices in various cultures and languages is also in a continual state of change. These factors influence—and are influenced by—the practices of technical communicators, user designers, translators/localizers as their fields (technical and professional communication, usability and user experience, translation and localization) are closely interlinked. For these reasons, we need to continually review, reflect on, and—if needed—revise our approaches to these areas.

Objectives of symposium

With its focus on “Technical and Professional Communication for Users in Intercultural and Multilingual Contexts,” the Symposium’s objective is to bring together researchers and practitioners in technical and professional communication, usability, translation and localization in order to discuss the current state of research in these areas recent of research in these areas, as well as collect suggestions on ongoing or future research projects and setting up new interdisciplinary networks. Participants will be encouraged to

By examining user experiences in intercultural and multilingual contexts, attendees can devise frameworks and approaches to re-thinking and addressing current and prospective challenges in technical communication. They can further examine how these challenges affect approaches to multilingualism and intercultural communication based on how they relate to technical and professional communication and to translation and localization.

Submitting a proposal

Individuals interested in presenting at the Symposium are invited to submit a 250-300 word proposal for a 15-20 minute talk followed by a 10-15 minutes of related discussion (30 minutes total per presentation).

Proposals should follow the general guidelines and procedures for submission to AELFE TAPP 2020. Proposals for the present symposium should specifically note

Proposals should be submitted through the online submission system: http://linguistlist.org/easyabs/AELFE2020 To submit your proposal for this Symposium

Topics for presentations

The Symposium is open to a wide array of aspects of multilingual and intercultural communication as they relate to technical and professional communication and translation and localization.

The following list of possible topics is not comprehensive but is intended to prompt ideas:

Details

All presenters and attendees must register for the AELFE-TAPP 2020 Conference (and can participate in all conference events in addition to the Symposium).

Questions

If you have questions specifically about the conference’s Symposium on Technical and Professional Communication or wish to discuss any aspects of it, including prospective topics for a presentation, please feel free to email the Symposium Chairs, Bruce Maylath and Kirk St.Amant, at TAPPSymposium@gmail.com.