International Technical Communication

I had the opportunity to study international communication and how culture affects communication and team building. This course also allowed me to gain experience researching various cultures and how different cultural dimensions affect how I as a communicator should be prepared to interact with members of those other cultures, particularly in virtual teaming environments.

Usability Studies: Services

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INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL TEAMING

Editing Technical documents for Non-Native English Speakers

In fall of 2020, I was given the opportunity to work with students internationally. This project not only created an opportunity to experience working virtually with international team members but also provided valuable skills for editing English reports and communicating with non-native English speakers.

The project spanned three months between September and November during which time myself and another American Mercer University (MU) student collaborated with four students from the University of Paris (UP). Members of the Technical Communication in English class wrote a short report in American English on the opportunities and programs for technical communication offered in France. My American teammate and I collaborated with them to help edit their paper, as well as create material that helped guide them through the writing process.

During this project, our team focused on applying various communication techniques in order to effectively build trust and work together as a team to produce a total of seven deliverables, including:

Team Charter (Collaborative)
Introduction PowerPoint (Individual)
Editing Feedback Form (MU)
Short Report First Draft (UP)
Comprehensive Edits (MU)
Short Report Revised Copy (UP)
Reflection Documents (Individual)

These Documents not only guided the project through the stages of writing and editing English technical documents as non-native speakers, but also the stages of metacommunication and fostering a productive and mutually respectful team culture. The reflection document specifically provided the opportunity for both groups of students to evaluate which methods of communication worked best and where the team as a whole could have improved in the future, allowing all members of the team the opportunity to develop techniques to improve communication in future teams.

Webcast

Globalization, Social Media and International Copyright Law

For this project I was tasked with developing a "Crash Course" style webcast to explain how technical communication contributes to creating, sustaining, and/or solving some issue. Specifically, I was asked to select an issue in international law or ethics having to do with privacy or human rights. Additionally, the webcast was to focus on the international implications to the U.S.

The purpose of this project was to gain a better understanding of how technical communication impacts international legislation. An additional goal of the project was to gain experience developing tools to aid in the dissemination of highly technical information to members of a target audience, which in this case included college students in related fields and practitioners in relevant industries.

The webcast I developed specifically focused on the effect of globalization and social media on international copyright law and the enforcement of those laws in different countries. I accomplished this by using South Korea as a case study to evaluate how copyright legislation and enforcement of existing copyright changed over the course of the social media "Korean Wave" which in recent times has allowed South Korea to enter the World Stage as a leader in cultural export.

This evaluation is important for understanding the impact of globalization and social media on international and domestic laws in different countries. By studying the trends in South Korea, we can better predict the legal response of various countries and governments as they gain more social and political power on an international level.

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