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Welcome to TC 512

With the climate of globalization, as well as diversity throughout our country, 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 (for example, through localized procedure manuals) and in creating the product themselves (through localized software and other products). Communicators who can localize imported and exported products to meet the needs of their different audiences are in great demand.

In "International Technical Communication," students study the theory, research, and practices that document and screen designers need to consider when internationalizing and localizing products. The seminar and discussion format centers on a set of readings that focus on the technical communication issues of many different cultures and countries. Students also gain a realistic perspective from professionals in the field who speak to the class on salient topics.

The course addresses a wide variety of topics, including:

Cultural models
Contrastive rhetoric
International user analysis
Visual design and layout strategies
Controlled languages
Human and machine translation
Internationalization and localization

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