Welcome to TC 512

With the climate of globalization, as well as increasing awareness of different audiences and their communication needs, the nature of document and screen design is rapidly changing.

As businesses target global markets, the field of technical communication is also crossing national borders, both in supporting imported or exported products, with the localization of software and with web sites addressing multi-national audiences. Communicators who can differentiate between these audiences, and are able to create messages that are effective for the market they're targeting, are in great demand.

In "International Technical Communication," students study the theory, research, and practices that documentation specialists, international project managers and business decision makers need to consider when targeting international audiences. The seminar and discussion format centers on a set of readings that address the breadth of topics relevant to this .

The course covers a wide variety of topics, including:

cultural schemata and contrastive rhetoric
methodologies to target specific audiences and cultures
content and text types and corresponding translation strategies
uses and applications of translation technology and tools
localization and market-relevance
international user research
requirements for international user experiences
cross-cultural management and teams

This course is open to graduate and undergraduate majors in Technical Communication and to graduate students from other departments.

The course was originally designed and taught by Prof. Jan Spyridakis. My rendition of this course is an update and expansion based on her original design.