Thematic Symposium: 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

• Present the results of recent research (i.e., within the last year)
• Explore opportunities for research partnerships with colleagues working in these areas,
• Map prospective research trends in these areas,
• Plan trajectories and discuss conference and publication venues for participants’ work.

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

• The overall topic/focus of the proposed presentation,
• The approach that the proposed presentation will take to examine this topic,
• The connection of the focus and approach to the theme of the Symposium,
• The methods that attendees can use to apply ideas to usability/user experience design, technical or professional communication, and/or translation/localization.

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

• Select “paper” as the type of presentation and then,
• Select “Thematic symposia (featured)” as the track.

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:

• The theories that should guide our approaches to examining multilingual and intercultural technical documentation,
• The methods that we should use to conduct research on multilingual and intercultural technical and professional communication, including technical translation and design,
• The contexts that we study when carrying out such research,
• The methods that we use to test or apply prior research in these areas,
• The variables that we should consider when evaluating multilingual and intercultural aspects, of such factors,
• The topics that we should focus on when researching multicultural and intercultural technical documentation,
• The ways in which culture, language, and society affect our understanding of these ideas,
• The ways in which new and emerging technologies are approaches to such concepts,

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.