Usability as a focus of multiprofessional collaboration: a teaching case study on user-centered translation

As professional communication needs are increasingly multilingual, the merging of translator and technical communicator roles has been predicted. However, it may be more advantageous for these two professional groups to increase cooperation. This means learning to identify and appreciate their distinct but mutually complementary core competencies. Since both professions share the ideology of being the user’s advocate, usability is a common denominator that can function as a focal point of collaboration. While many translation theories focus on the reader and the target context, usability methods have not traditionally been a part of translator training. An innovation called User-Centered Translation (UCT), which is a model based on usability and user-centered design, is intended to help translators speak the same language as technical communicators, and it offers concrete usability tools which have been missing from translation theories. In this teaching case study, we discuss the teaching of four UCT methods: personas, the implied reader, heuristic evaluation, and usability testing. We describe our teaching experiences, analyze student feedback on all four, and report on the implementation of a student assignment on heuristics. This case study suggests ways in which UCT can form an important nexus of professional skills and multiprofessional collaboration

Minimalism Heuristics Revisited : Developing a Practical Review Tool

Purpose: This article looks at existing minimalism literature and the application of minimalism heuristics. It proposes a revised set of minimalism heuristics to be used at different phases of the minimalist documentation process. The goal is to offer a practical tool for technical communication professionals. Method: The revised heuristics are a combination of a literature review, the best practices of technical communication, and a company pilot study where the heuristics were tested. Results: The article offers a revised list of minimalism heuristics, to be used as part of the minimalist documentation process to ensure documentation quality. Conclusion: The technical communication field is charting new ground in the era of responsive design and mobile platforms.In this new landscape, the principles of minimalism have much to offer. The proposed minimalism heuristics comprise one strategy of applying minimalism for better documentation quality.©2021 Society for Technical Communication.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Finnish Technical Communication : You- and We-attitudes as Domestication Strategies in User Instructions for Household Appliances during 1945-1995

Käyttöohjeet ovat arkipäivän tekstejä, jotka välittävät tietoa erilaisista teknisistä laitteista ja järjestelmistä sekä opastavat niiden käytössä. Teknisen viestinnän alaan kuuluvassa ensimmäisessä suomenkielisessä väitöskirjassa tutkittiin kotoistamisstrategioita, joilla kodinkoneita tehtiin käyttäjille tutuksi suomalaisissa käyttöohjeissa vuosina 1945–1995. Varsinkin 1950–60-luvuilla Suomessa tuli markkinoille paljon uutta kotitalousteknologiaa, jota valmistajien oli arkipäiväistettävä ja käyttäjien oli kesytettävä. Tutkimuksessa analysoitiin 132 käyttöohjetta eri yrityksiltä laadulliseen tutkimukseen painottuvalla mixed methods -tutkimusotteella. Lisäksi siinä vertailtiin kahden perinteisen suomalaisyrityksen, Helkaman ja Upon, käyttöohjeita. Teoreettinen viitekehys on monitieteinen: teknisen viestinnän lisäksi tutkimuksessa hyödynnetään retoriikkaa, uutta retoriikkaa, tekstilajitutkimusta sekä kulttuurisen, yhteiskunnallisen ja feministisen teknologian tutkimusta. Väitöskirjassa tarkasteltiin ensinnäkin niin sanottua sinä-asennetta eli strategioita, joilla kodinkoneiden käyttäjiin vedotaan ja heidät otetaan käyttöohjeissa huomioon. Toisekseen keskityttiin keinoihin, joilla ohjeissa luodaan yhteisyyttä käyttöohjeiden kirjoittajan ja yrityksen sekä käyttäjän välille. Tätä varten tutkimuksessa luotiin me-asenteen käsite. Lisäksi työssä selvitettiin kotoistamisstrategioissa tapahtuneita muutoksia sekä niiden yhteyttä suomalaisen yhteiskunnan ja teknisen viestinnän kehitykseen. Tutkimuksesta ilmenee, että käyttäjä otetaan ohjeissa huomioon varsin monipuolisesti. Käyttäjää puhutellaan suoraan ja asetetaan tiettyyn rooliin (rouva, asiakas). Häntä myös motivoidaan varsin monipuolisesti ja ohjeissa käytetään useampia strategioita yhtä aikaa: ohjeissa muun muassa vahvistetaan käyttäjän itseluottamusta ja osoitetaan, millainen palkinto tai uhka tietynlaisesta toiminnasta seuraa. Me-asenne näkyy esimerkiksi me-pronominin käytössä, yritysmaininnoissa sekä erilaisissa motivointikeinoissa. Aineiston analyysin tuloksena luotava me-asenteen käsite tarjoaa työkalun teknisen viestinnän tulevaan tutkimukseen, ja se on yksi väitöskirjan keskeisistä tuloksista. Käyttäjiin vetoaminen eli sinä-asenne on käyttöohjeissa runsaampaa kuin me-asenteen ilmenemistavat, mikä myötäilee käyttöohjeille ja tekniselle viestinnälle tyypillistä käyttäjäpainotusta. Kotoistamisstrategioissa havaittiin myös selkeitä muutoksia: sekä sinä-asenne, eli retoriikan termein paatos-ulottuvuus, että me-asenne, eli eetos-ulottuvuus, ovat vahvempia ja monipuolisempia noin 1970-luvulle ulottuvissa ohjeissa kuin sitä uudemmassa aineistossa. Ohjeiden tehtävänä on ollut vakuuttaa käyttäjää uuden koneen hankinnan järkevyydestä, auttaa uuden teknologian hyväksymisessä ja kesyttämisessä sekä suostutella käyttäjä uskomaan, ettei koneen käytön opettelu ole vaikeaa. Tuloksista muodostuu käsitys, että mitä uudempi käyttöohje on kyseessä, sitä persoonattomampi ohje on ja sitä enemmän ohje on myös irrallaan käyttäjästä ja hänen käyttötilanteestaan. Siitä tulee niin sanottu katsojan ohjekirja. Väitöskirja lisää ymmärrystä suomalaisesta teknisestä viestinnästä ja sen historiasta sekä käyttöohjeiden roolista suomalaisessa yhteiskunnassa. Se myös avaa uusia näkökulmia teknisille viestijöille sekä alan opettajille ja tutkijoille.User instructions are everyday texts that give information about technical devices and systems and help people use them. This dissertation examines the ways Finnish household appliance manufacturers domesticated their products through the use of domestication strategies in the user instructions in the period 1945–1995. Domestication refers to the ways people start using new technologies and eventually integrate them into their everyday lives. Especially in the 1950s and 1960s many new household appliances entered the Finnish market, and these required a variety of domestication strategies to help users tame technology and integrate it into their daily routines. This is the first Finnish-language dissertation in the field of technical communication. The material in the dissertation consists of 132 Finnish user instructions for household appliances from different companies, which are analyzed by adopting a mixed methods research design with an emphasis on qualitative research. Furthermore, user instructions created by two traditional Finnish companies, Helkama and Upo, are compared. The theoretical framework of the study is multidisciplinary. In addition to technical communication, it incorporates elements from rhetoric, new rhetoric, genre studies as well as cultural, social and feminist technology studies. First, the dissertation examines the so-called you-attitude, which refers to strategies used to persuade users and address their needs in the user instructions. Second, elements that are used to build a relationship between the writer and company and the user are studied. For this purpose, the concept of the we-attitude is created as part of the study. In addition, the dissertation explores changes that have occurred in the domestication strategies and their connection with the development of Finnish society and technical communication. The analysis of the material reveals that users are extensively taken into consideration in the user instructions. Users are addressed directly and profiled in different ways (customer, user). They are also motivated extensively, and several means of motivation are adopted at the same time. For example, the instructions empower users and introduce the rewards or threats that would result from certain actions. The we-attitude is present in the use of the pronoun we, in mentions of the company, and through different means of motivation. The we-attitude is one of the central results of the study, providing a tool for future technical communication research. The you-attitude is more abundant in the user instructions than strategies connected with the we-attitude, which follows the user-orientation that is typical in user instructions and technical communication. Clear changes were also detected in the domestication strategies. The you-attitude, that is the pathos dimension, as well as the we-attitude, namely the ethos element, are stronger and more wide-ranging in the material up until around the 1970s than in the newer material. The instructions aim to convince the user on the rationality of acquiring a new appliance, help users accept and tame new technology and persuade them to believe that learning to use an appliance is not difficult. The results suggest that the newer the user instructions, the more impersonal they are and the more detached from the users and their contexts they are. They tend to resemble a “spectator” manual. The dissertation adds to our understanding about Finnish technical communication and its history, as well as to the role of user instructions in Finnish society. The dissertation also opens up new viewpoints for technical communication professionals, teachers and researchers

Käännösten käytettävyyden heuristinen arviointi = [heuristic evaluation of the usability of translations]

Defining the target audience is one of the crucial points during a translation project. Translators consider the needs and abilities of their future readers and strive to produce an appropriate translation. However, translation studies has not offered translators many concrete tools with which translators could analyze and specify target readers. One of the proposed solutions for this dilemma is the model of User-Centered Translation (Suojanen, Koskinen & Tuominen 2012, 2015). The model contains a number of practical methods with which translators can find out information about their readers and use that information while translating. One of these methods is heuristic evaluation, which is performed by an expert or a group of experts using heuristics, namely, rules, guidelines or usability principles. The user-centered translation model contains a newly created set of usability heuristics for translation, and we wanted to test how these heuristics work in practice. We created an evaluation assignment, which was given to several student groups at the Finnish Universities of Tampere and Turku. In the assignment, students were asked to familiarize themselves with the heuristics, use them to analyze a translation, report on their main findings and reflect on the use of the heuristics. In this article we will report on the students’ findings and examine the usability of the heuristics as a translator’s tool. We will also introduce a modified list of translation usability heuristics that has been created based on the students’ comments

User-Centered Translation

Translators want to take their readers into account, but traditional translation theory does not offer much advice on how to do that. User-Centered Translation (UCT) offers practical tools and methods to help empower translators to act for their readers. This book will help readers to: • Create mental models such as personas; • Test translations with usability testing methods; • Carry out reception research. Including assignments, case studies and real-life scenarios ranging from the translation of user instructions and EU texts to literary and audiovisual translation, this is an essential guide for students, translators and researchers