Global Talk

If you are a technical writer, editor, communicator, or translator, you are invited to participate in a North Dakota State University research project conducted by Bruce Maylath, from the NDSU Department of English, who is investigating the extent to which translation and technical writing may be overlapping or merging. If you are a translator or technical communicator/writer, you are invited to participate in this study here .

If you decide to participate, the survey takes only 5-10 minutes to answer the questions. The survey will help professionals in the translation and technical communication fields understand how their jobs overlap. The survey involves no risks to participants. Any information that is obtained in connection with this study is anonymous and cannot be identified with you. Your participation is voluntary. Your decision whether or not to participate will not affect your relationship with your employer, your clients, or North Dakota State University. If you decide to participate, you are free to withdraw your consent and discontinue participation at any time without penalty. The survey will be available until 10 May 2008. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Bruce Maylath at 701-231-7161 or Bruce.Maylath@ndsu.edu.
–
Bruce Maylath, Ph.D.
Professor, Dept. of English
320-D Minard Hall, North Dakota State University
Fargo, ND 58105 USA

On the news page at http://www.smh.com.au click the “show site sections” widget near the top middle to see “all site” navigation.

This technical is also used at http://amazon.com (mouse over the “See all 41 product categories” tab) and http://thottbot.com (mouse over the category links below the search box).

Some European news websites have begun to show the entire homepage at the bottom of each article.

Examples are:

French: http://www.20minutes.fr/article/184129/Monde-L-emissaire-special-de-l-ONU-recoit-un-visa-pour-la-Birmanie.php

Swedish: http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/1.858431/robban-hjalper-dig-bli-av-med-telefonforsaljarna

Norvegian: http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/article2018950.ece  

Call for Panel and Paper Proposals: IEEE International Professional Communication Conference 2008 (IPCC 2008)

Conference Theme: Opening the Information EconomyConference

Location: Concordia University, Montréal, Canada

Conference Dates: July 13-16, 2008

The information economy is based on the collection and the exchange of data and ideas. We all either contribute to or use materials from the information economy in most aspects of our everyday lives. As a result, the information economy exists as an environment in which we are all contributors and consumers. Within this system, effective communication is essential to success, allowing individuals to contribute ideas and information effectively and to make efficient use of the goods and services. Few of us, however, understand all of the nuances of the information economy or the communication factors that affect its operations.This conference seeks to examine or to “open” this economic model by examining the connections between communication practices and the products, practices, and services that constitute the information economy. The objective of such an examination will be to help attendees better understand and participate in the information economy as both contributors and consumers.

European Interaction Design Summer Schooltook place in July 1-12, 2007 at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. The program is funded by ERASMUS LLP. The projects completed are posted at http://www.khas.edu.tr/idss07/

When you visit a website, where do you expect to find the feature to change the geographic location? Do you have a preference for where this feature is on a site? There are various locations on popular websites:

• At the bottom of the page (http://www.apple.com and http://www.dell.com and http://www.bmw.com)
• At the top right corner (http://www.microsoft.com and http://www.adobe.com)
• Right hand column (http://www.bp.com)
• Pop-up after recognizing the location by the IP address (http://www.ebay.com)

Call for Papers, tcworld Localization Track at the 2007 tekom conference. 7-9 November in Wiesbaden, Germany. Deadline for submissions: 4 May 2007.

GALA is cooperating with tekom to organize the tcworld Localization Track for the tekom annual conference and trade fair.

You are cordially invited to submit a presentation or workshop proposal for the tcworld Localization Track. The program will cover high level management, practical applications, and cultural or regional issues in the field of translation and localization. Read the call for papers (MS Word document). Download the application form (MS Word document).

Yves Savourel has announced that ITS, the Internationalization Tag Set has been published as a W3C Recommendation. W3C has posted a press release and the  ITS specification is posted.

ITS is a set of attributes and elements that are designed to help the internationalization and the localization of XML material. For example, the same way you can use [p xml:lang=”es”] to specify a the content of the “p” element is in Spanish, you can now use [p its:translate=”no”] to indicate the content of the element should not be translated (where square brackets have replaced angle brackets).

You can find examples and descriptions of ITS features in the specification document, and in some of the articles and presentation slides listed on the ITS Work Group page.

STC ITC SIG localization lead Aki Ito completes his term as chair of GALA on December 31.

The members of the 2007 GALA Board and their positions are:

Chair
Stephen Ryan, Moravia Worldwide

Vice Chair
Kim Harris, text & form

Treasurer
Christiane Bernier, Lionbridge

Secretary
Matthias Caesar, Locatech

Member-at-Large
Arancha Caballero, TSG (Translation Services Glotas)

Aki continues his work as a liaison between STC and GALA.

by Tina Hoffman; Reprinted from the September 2006 issue of the UK chapter newsletter 

Don’t ask me how, but a couple of years ago I ended up on the mailing list for the annual Australian Online Documentation and Content Conference, AODC for short. Interesting reading, but of very little practical benefit to a tech author living and working in Reading, Berkshire. Needless to say, I never made it past the stage of viewing the conference agenda on the web site.

Until this year, that is. The date of the conference fitted perfectly with a planned trip to New Zealand, the agenda looked interesting and the conference fees – thanks to a very favourable exchange rate – were very reasonable. And what’s more, the 2006 conference was being held in Cairns. Great Barrier Reef here I come!

So off I went in early May and joined a sizeable crowd of mainly Australian and New Zealand tech communicators for the ninth annual conference at a beachfront hotel in Cairns. Three days of learning about the latest trends in online documentation in an air-conditioned conference room in tropical Queensland might not be everyone’s dream holiday, but it was well worth it. It was a fantastic conference with around 20 sessions covering tools, technologies and techniques. Topics ranged from DITA, structured authoring, XML, and usability to the latest updates on Microsoft Vista and Madcap Flare. Add to this sessions on good old basics such as editing, indexing and working with flowcharts, and you end up with three information packed days. (more…)

GALA, the Globalization and Localization Association, has a monthly email newsletter in HTML form. You can view the latest issue and past issues and subscribe at http://www.gala-global.org/index.php?action=view_newsletter

ITC SIG Localization Lead Aki Ito is the GALA Board chair. This month Aki reports on how GALA has met goals for growth and activities.