Working with an International Team
The one course that I was the most excited to take was International Technical Communication. One of the required projects involved collaborating with technical communication students from the University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland and Université Paris Diderot in Paris, France.
The instructors divided the classes into small teams, and my team consisted of three American students, two Irish students, and four French students. The project spanned six weeks from early February to late March 2013 and followed two phases: 1) a Writing-for-Translation Phase and 2) a Translation Phase. Our task was to create a document that would help a non-technical audience perform a simple task using collaborative technology. Our deliverable had to be simple and short (no more than 900 words) following the principles of document design. The most important thing is that it had to be original, not a rephrasing of something that already exists.
This project had many ups and downs, and I learned a great deal about working with an international team. I recorded some of my experiences in an online blog, and you can read more about the entire process there. However, for this site I wanted to illustrate the process we went through. While I am only going to focus on two pages of the document, I am including pictures to show how they evolved. The final document that we submitted is at the end of this page.
Unfortunately, the French team did not interact with the American and Irish teams much at all. I was able to glimpse some of the translation process, and I have a posted a screen capture of a portion of the translation chart below. I will say that it was an eye-opening experience, and I would definitely respond differently now that I have more experience.
The instructors divided the classes into small teams, and my team consisted of three American students, two Irish students, and four French students. The project spanned six weeks from early February to late March 2013 and followed two phases: 1) a Writing-for-Translation Phase and 2) a Translation Phase. Our task was to create a document that would help a non-technical audience perform a simple task using collaborative technology. Our deliverable had to be simple and short (no more than 900 words) following the principles of document design. The most important thing is that it had to be original, not a rephrasing of something that already exists.
This project had many ups and downs, and I learned a great deal about working with an international team. I recorded some of my experiences in an online blog, and you can read more about the entire process there. However, for this site I wanted to illustrate the process we went through. While I am only going to focus on two pages of the document, I am including pictures to show how they evolved. The final document that we submitted is at the end of this page.
Unfortunately, the French team did not interact with the American and Irish teams much at all. I was able to glimpse some of the translation process, and I have a posted a screen capture of a portion of the translation chart below. I will say that it was an eye-opening experience, and I would definitely respond differently now that I have more experience.
The team: (America) Julie, Kendra, Travis ; (Ireland) Diarmuid and John; (France) Alizee, Eloi, Florian, Haijang
To get started, the members of the American and Irish teams chose the subject: setting up and managing a Facebook profile.
Next, we divided the tasks wherein Julie asked to be general editor, Diarmuid asked to handle graphic design, and John, Travis, and I wrote the text.
To get started, the members of the American and Irish teams chose the subject: setting up and managing a Facebook profile.
Next, we divided the tasks wherein Julie asked to be general editor, Diarmuid asked to handle graphic design, and John, Travis, and I wrote the text.
final_version1.pdf | |
File Size: | 562 kb |
File Type: |
The French team's translation chart