Recent Books by Kirk St. Amant
Translation and Localization: A Guide for Technical and Professional Communicators, 2019
The entries in this volume introduce technical communicators to foundational practices, current a... more The entries in this volume introduce technical communicators to foundational practices, current approaches, and emerging trends in translation and localization. To do so, the editors of this collection purposefully recruited authors from the translation and localization industries. All of these contributors, moreover, have previous experiences, stretching back decades, working with technical communicators on international projects. Each individual was asked to contribute a chapter that explained, to a non-translator/non-localizer, what a particular translation or localization practice was and how it worked. Contributors were also asked to draw from their prior experiences working with technical communicators and focus on the question, “Based on your prior experiences working with technical communicators, what do they need to know to work effectively with translators and localizers?” The objective underlying this approach was to provide technical communicators with the understanding of translation and localization needed to work effectively with professionals in these fields.
Communication to a global audience presents a number of new challenges; writers seeking to connec... more Communication to a global audience presents a number of new challenges; writers seeking to connect with individuals from many different cultures must rethink their concept of audience. They must also prepare to address friction that may arise from cross-cultural rhetorical situations, variation in available technology and in access between interlocutors, and disparate legal environments. "Thinking Globally, Composing Locally" explores how writing and its pedagogy should adapt to the ever-expanding environment of international online communication. The volume offers a pedagogical framework that addresses three interconnected and overarching objectives: using online media to contact audiences from other cultures to share ideas; presenting ideas in a manner that invites audiences from other cultures to recognize, understand, and convey or act upon them; and composing ideas to connect with global audiences to engage in ongoing and meaningful exchanges via online media. Chapters explore a diverse range of pedagogical techniques and online forums used in global distance education.
This collection examines the forces and factors affecting rhetoric, writing, and communication ex... more This collection examines the forces and factors affecting rhetoric, writing, and communication expectations in the nations of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. The entries in this collection focus on four interconnected topics or contexts influencing rhetorical expectations and writing practices in these countries. The four contexts are (1) the dynamics of the educational settings in which students learn about the relationships between rhetoric and writing; (2) the professional environments in which students will apply their knowledge of rhetoric and writing upon completing their formal studies; (3) the greater global context that affects the teaching of rhetoric and writing as connected to educational institutions becoming part of a larger and more integrated global community; and (4) the factors and perceptions that affect how students apply and/or expand their foundations in rhetoric and writing to communicate effectively across different forms of media.
By approaching ideas of rhetoric, writing, and communication from the perspective of these four areas, this collection provides readers with a broad foundation for understanding the various overarching and interlocking contexts that affect perceptions of and practices involving communication practices and expectations in the former Eastern Bloc. Additionally, this approach provides researchers, teachers, and students with ideas and approaches that can be used to more effectively engage both with this topic area and with individuals from these nations.
This collection explores ideas related to forging effective academia-industry relationships and p... more This collection explores ideas related to forging effective academia-industry relationships and partnerships so members of the field can begin a dialogue designed to foster communication and collaboration among academics and industry practitioners in technical communication. To address the various factors that can affect such interactions, the contributions in this collection represent a broad range of approaches that technical communicators can use to establish effective academy-industry partnerships and relationships in relation to an area of central interest to both: education. The 11 chapters thus present different perspectives on and ideas for achieving this goal. In so doing, the contributors discuss programmatic concerns, workplace contexts, outreach programs, and research and writing. The result is a text that examines different general contexts in which academia-industry relationships and partnerships can be established and maintained. It also provides readers with a reference for exploring such interactions.
This collection provides an overview of different legal aspects that technical communicators migh... more This collection provides an overview of different legal aspects that technical communicators might encounter when creating materials or sharing information in international environments. Through addressing topics ranging from privacy rights and information exchange to the legalities of business practices in virtual worlds and perspectives on authorship and ownership, the contributors to this volume examine a variety of communication-based legal issues that can cause problems or miscommunication in international interactions. Reviewing such topics from different perspectives, the authors collectively provide ideas that could serve as a foundation for creating best practices on or for engaging in future research in the area of legal issues in international settings.
Computer-Mediated Communication across Cultures: International Interactions in Online Environment... more Computer-Mediated Communication across Cultures: International Interactions in Online Environments provides readers with the foundational knowledge needed to communicate safely and effectively with individuals from other countries and cultures via online media. Through a closer examination of the expanded global access to the Web, this book discusses the use and design of cross-cultural digital media and the future of the field for executives, marketers, researchers, educators, and the average user.
Computer-Mediated Communication: Issues and Approaches in Education examines online interactions ... more Computer-Mediated Communication: Issues and Approaches in Education examines online interactions from different national, cultural, linguistic, legal, and economic perspectives, exploring how the increasingly international and intercultural Internet affects the ways users present ideas, exchange information, and conduct discussions online. Educators, researchers, and practitioners will discover ways to effectively use Web-based technologies, transcending barriers to participate and collaborate in international projects that reflect the scope and scale of today’s global interactions.
This text examines globalization and its effects from the perspective of how differences in acces... more This text examines globalization and its effects from the perspective of how differences in access to online communication technologies between the economically developed countries and less economically developed countries is affecting social, economic, educational, and political developments in the world’s emerging economies. In so doing, the collection also examines how this situation is creating a global digital divide that will have adverse consequences for all nations. Each of the book’s chapters examines trends and ideas related to the global digital divide between economically developed countries and less economically developed nations. Through this approach, the contributors present perspectives from the economically developing nations themselves versus other texts that explore this topic from the perspective of economically developed countries. In this way, this volume offers a new and an important perspective to the growing literature on the global digital divide.
The increasingly global nature of the World Wide Web presents new challenges and opportunities fo... more The increasingly global nature of the World Wide Web presents new challenges and opportunities for technical communicators who must develop content for clients or colleagues from other cultures and in other nations. As international online access grows, technical communicators will encounter a range of challenges related to culture and communication in cyberspace. The contributors to Culture, Communication and Cyberspace examine these challenges through chapters that explore the different aspects of international online communication. The contributing authors use a range of methodologies to review a variety of topics related to culture and communication in cyberspace. In so doing, the authors also examine how business trends, such as international outsourcing, content management, and the use of open source software (OSS), are affecting and could change practices in the field of technical communication as related to online cross-cultural interactions.
In today's integrated global economy, technical communicators often collaborate in international ... more In today's integrated global economy, technical communicators often collaborate in international production teams, work with experts in overseas subject matter, or coordinate documentation for the international release of products. Working effectively in such situations requires technical communicators to acquire a specialized knowledge of culture and communication. This book provides readers with the information needed to integrate aspects of intercultural communication into different educational settings. Its objectives are to assist readers in learning approaches to teaching intercultural communication concepts in different contexts, understanding how to develop classes and curricula focusing on teaching such concepts, considering how to merge professional practices with educational approaches to teaching intercultural communication, and developing mechanisms for evaluating learning related to intercultural communication practices. By balancing theory, research, and reporting from the field, this collection provides readers from academia and industry with insights and approaches for integrating aspects of intercultural communication in a range of educational contexts.
Guest-Edited Journal Issues by Kirk St. Amant
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 2020
Today, diseases can spread internationally faster and farther than ever before, and a range of pu... more Today, diseases can spread internationally faster and farther than ever before, and a range of public health issues can "go global" quickly and easily. The challenge becomes communicating ideas of care-that is, issues of health and wellness-across different cultures, languages, and geopolitical contexts. Doing so involves understanding the dynamics of such factors and how to apply this knowledge effectively. The entries in this special issue examine such factors and provide readers with frameworks for understanding and strategies for addressing these issues.
Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society, 2019
The nature of society means health and medical communication often occurs in different internatio... more The nature of society means health and medical communication often occurs in different international and local settings. Such interactions generally involve offering care-practices that help individuals maintain or return to a level of health and wellness. These exchanges usually take place in different cultural, linguistic, and geopolitical environments involving individuals who: Provide care to others Educate others on care and caregiving Receive or participate in such care In these situations, care-related information must be contextualized to address how care is perceived and administered in such contexts. Doing so is not easy, for it requires an understanding of the cultural context of care. In this special issue, the authors examine a range of contexts of care to show how technical communicators and rhetoricians of health and medicine can work at the intersections of health, wellness, and culture to contribute to healthcare practice.
Technical Communication Quarterly , 2019
This special issue represents an initial examination ideas of durability and portability by provi... more This special issue represents an initial examination ideas of durability and portability by providing different perspectives of what they mean and how they are approached within the domain sphere of technical communication (TC) and the rhetoric of science (RoS). The contributors represent scholars who bring different backgrounds, perspectives, and approaches to the study of communication in technical and scientific domains. As such, these entries represent a cross-section of ideas and approaches at work in RoS and TC at this time. The goal of this special issue, in turn, is twofold. The first goal is to provide readers with
a range of perspectives they can use to determine what resonance means for members of the field. A second is to assess how the field defines and approaches ideas of durability and portability to determine how we might address such factors in how we, as members of a field, undertake and share
research.
The objective of this special issue is to provide communication designers with an overview of ide... more The objective of this special issue is to provide communication designers with an overview of ideas to consider, approaches to try, and resources to use when developing materials for users from other cultures. To this end, the entries in this issue should be viewed as the start of a discussion related to investigating how individuals think about communication practices in different intercultural, international, and global contexts. The editor of this issue therefore encourages readers to consider how the ideas, information, and approaches examined in these articles might be applied, modified, or built upon to extend our understanding of designing for and engaging with users from other cultures.
This guest-edited issue represents an initial look at current themes that could affect practices ... more This guest-edited issue represents an initial look at current themes that could affect practices and perspectives in the years to come. These entries also represent members of the
field who wish to examine such themes at different points in their respective technical communication careers. These authors include more established researchers in the field,
researchers who are just beginning their careers, and graduate students starting their studies. What all of these individuals have in common is an interest in exploring the
current context of technical communication to help us consider how the field might evolve in the future. The perspectives they provide offer us, as technical communicators, topics to consider as we re-think where the field currently is and reflect upon where it may be headed.
Guest Editors' Introduction -- Online Writing in Global Contexts: Rethinking the Nature of Connections and Communication in the Age of International Online Media, 2015
When we write online, who is our audience? Is it a specific group of readers who frequent our par... more When we write online, who is our audience? Is it a specific group of readers who frequent our particular blog or who refer to our specific website, or is it more varied? As we’re regularly reminded, cyberspace is borderless space—a realm in which geopolitical boundaries often have deceptive consequence. And as conventional notions of geopolitics and geography change, ways in which we perceive “audience” in writing must evolve.
The entries in this special issue review how different aspects of culture, language, and technology can affect composing practices when writing online for globally distributed audiences.
Technical communicators need to understand the role OSS can play as a mechanism for facilitating... more Technical communicators need to understand the role OSS can play as a mechanism for facilitating a range of content-related practices within an increasingly expanding global context. Each of the four entries in this special issue, in turn, provides a different perspective on how OSS might be used to achieve a content-related task associated with technical communication practices. Each entry also overviews—to different degrees how OSS might allow such practices to expand into global contexts within today’s information economy.
The entries in this special issue provide a relatively broad-based review of legal issues affecti... more The entries in this special issue provide a relatively broad-based review of legal issues affecting technical communication practices in global contexts. The objective of this special issue is to provide readers with ideas that can become the foundation for best practices or future research in the area of international legal issues.
Making effective use of information has become a key objective for both individual organizations ... more Making effective use of information has become a key objective for both individual organizations and overall industries. Within this context, effective professional communication practices—and an effective understanding of communication in professional contexts—can allow organizations to manage information for economic ends successfully. This special issue explores the relationship between communication and economics. Through this examination, readers can gain a better understanding of the role professional communication practices play in today’s information economy.
This special issue is designed to serve as a resource for re-thinking approaches to program revie... more This special issue is designed to serve as a resource for re-thinking approaches to program review and program assessment in technical communication. To do so, the entries in this issue
-- Identify trends and developments affecting the configuration of programs in the field
-- Address the diverse and changing nature of technical communication
-- Provide readers with review and assessment approaches that both industry and academia can use to mutually improve what they offer students
The guest editors hope that the ideas presented in these articles will begin a dialog that can include educators, academics, and industry practitioners in a conversation that will continue in other publications and conferences within the field.
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Recent Books by Kirk St. Amant
By approaching ideas of rhetoric, writing, and communication from the perspective of these four areas, this collection provides readers with a broad foundation for understanding the various overarching and interlocking contexts that affect perceptions of and practices involving communication practices and expectations in the former Eastern Bloc. Additionally, this approach provides researchers, teachers, and students with ideas and approaches that can be used to more effectively engage both with this topic area and with individuals from these nations.
Guest-Edited Journal Issues by Kirk St. Amant
a range of perspectives they can use to determine what resonance means for members of the field. A second is to assess how the field defines and approaches ideas of durability and portability to determine how we might address such factors in how we, as members of a field, undertake and share
research.
field who wish to examine such themes at different points in their respective technical communication careers. These authors include more established researchers in the field,
researchers who are just beginning their careers, and graduate students starting their studies. What all of these individuals have in common is an interest in exploring the
current context of technical communication to help us consider how the field might evolve in the future. The perspectives they provide offer us, as technical communicators, topics to consider as we re-think where the field currently is and reflect upon where it may be headed.
The entries in this special issue review how different aspects of culture, language, and technology can affect composing practices when writing online for globally distributed audiences.
-- Identify trends and developments affecting the configuration of programs in the field
-- Address the diverse and changing nature of technical communication
-- Provide readers with review and assessment approaches that both industry and academia can use to mutually improve what they offer students
The guest editors hope that the ideas presented in these articles will begin a dialog that can include educators, academics, and industry practitioners in a conversation that will continue in other publications and conferences within the field.
By approaching ideas of rhetoric, writing, and communication from the perspective of these four areas, this collection provides readers with a broad foundation for understanding the various overarching and interlocking contexts that affect perceptions of and practices involving communication practices and expectations in the former Eastern Bloc. Additionally, this approach provides researchers, teachers, and students with ideas and approaches that can be used to more effectively engage both with this topic area and with individuals from these nations.
a range of perspectives they can use to determine what resonance means for members of the field. A second is to assess how the field defines and approaches ideas of durability and portability to determine how we might address such factors in how we, as members of a field, undertake and share
research.
field who wish to examine such themes at different points in their respective technical communication careers. These authors include more established researchers in the field,
researchers who are just beginning their careers, and graduate students starting their studies. What all of these individuals have in common is an interest in exploring the
current context of technical communication to help us consider how the field might evolve in the future. The perspectives they provide offer us, as technical communicators, topics to consider as we re-think where the field currently is and reflect upon where it may be headed.
The entries in this special issue review how different aspects of culture, language, and technology can affect composing practices when writing online for globally distributed audiences.
-- Identify trends and developments affecting the configuration of programs in the field
-- Address the diverse and changing nature of technical communication
-- Provide readers with review and assessment approaches that both industry and academia can use to mutually improve what they offer students
The guest editors hope that the ideas presented in these articles will begin a dialog that can include educators, academics, and industry practitioners in a conversation that will continue in other publications and conferences within the field.
professionals to script theory and presents mechanisms for using script
theory to research patient expectations of and presents usable materials for health and medical contexts.
determine what cultural rhetorical factors might affect American users’ perceptions of information presented on Chinese created traditional Chinese medicine Web sites. The purpose of this research was to gain an initial understanding of what particular communication patterns seemed to be the most problematic for American users. The results reveal three core problem areas in relation to culture and design, and this article both presents these results and provides accompanying explanations for what causes such problems. By understanding what kinds of problems to expect and why these problems occur, technical communicators can better perform writing and research tasks required to revise Chinese-created Web sites for non-Chinese audiences.
rapid diffusion of online media has facilitated cross-border interactions on social and professional levels. Differing cultural expectations, however, can cause miscommunications within this discourse paradigm. Localization – customizing a communiqué to meet cultural expectations – has thus become an important aspect of today’s global economy. This essay examines localization in offshoring practices that could affect database creation and maintenance.
This article provides medical writers with an overview of what these mental models encompass and how they affect an audience’s usability expectations.
have limitations affecting how much data they can process at once. This factor is called cognitive load, and it has implications for usability and design.
The solution involves understanding the context of care, or where individuals use these technologies. Location affects how people use products. The better product developers understand such dynamics, the more effectively they can create usable designs for these settings.
conforming content to context makes that content easy to use. Today’s
global economy complicates this situation by increasing the contexts
in which individuals use products. Technical communicators can
address this challenge by identifying central factors affecting usability in
different settings.
Parker, and an abridged version of the interview was published in the article “Medical Writing: A Flexible Career Choice” (see https://www.biospace.com/article/medical-writing-a-flexible-career-choice/).
Kirk St.Amant on 28 March 2016, on the occasion of his visit
to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as the Spring 2016
Rhetoric Series Speaker for the Division of Rhetoric, Writing, &
Linguistics in the University of Tennessee Department of English.