International Technical Communication (HU433)

Objectives

• Collect cultural data about a target country and an industry
• Create a cultural profile of the audience for your information products in the target country
• Identify ways that the cultural profile of the target audience might affect information products
• Consider ways that your cultural values and assumptions might conflict with those of your audience in the target country

The Problem

Deliverables

Option: Your report can be a collection of Web pages instead of a hardcopy report. However, do not choose this option if it takes you a long time to create Web pages. You won't have time to finish it.

1. Cover Page. Include the title of your report, your names, and the date.
   
   
2. Table of Contents.
   
   
3. Executive Summary. In one page or less, summarize your entire report.
   
   
4. Introduction.
   
   
5. Cross-Cultural Comparison. Identify the country you chose. Describe what you learned when you compared the US to the target country. Specifically:
   
   Choose one cultural model from International Technical Communication (Hall, Victor, Hofstede, Trompenaars). Create a table whose column headings are the international variables. Do research and complete the table. Create the same table, but this time include cultural data about US Americans. Use data from all of the cultural profiles of US Americans that you and your colleagues posted to our email list. Add more information if you can. Describe, in paragraphs, what you learn from comparing these two completed tables.
   
   Next, invent your own cultural model using international variables that weren't in the previous cultural model, but that you think are important given your industry and the kinds of information products that you'll create. Then, do research to complete the table. Create the same table, but again include cultural data about US Americans. Do research and complete the table. Describe, in paragraphs, what you learn from comparing these completed tables.
   
   Include all tables and paragraph comparisons in this section of the report.
   
   
6. Industry Comparison. Identify the industry your company is in. Describe what you learned when you compared the industry in the US to the industry in the target country. Consider the competition, both in the US and the target country, and maybe in other parts of the world. If possible, compare the Web sites of US companies in your industry to Web sites of competitors in the target country and also in other countries. Also consider any dependent technologies, industries, or services with respect to your industry and their use, acceptance, and availability in the target country. Also, are there national or international standards for your industry?
   
   
7. Cultural Profile. Create a cultural profile of the target audience for your department's information products. To do this, compare your findings from the cross-cultural comparison and the industry comparison.
   
   
8. Implications for Information Products: Based on what you learned, offer general suggestions on how you might adapt your technical communication department's information products to be used by your target audience. Consider listing the types of information products, describing possible implications for changes to each, suggesting whether localization is necessary (and if so, to what degree). Be as specific as you can.
   
   
9. References: Bibliography (including Web sites), list of people resources, list of additional resources, anything else

Weekly Status Reports

TO: Nancy Hoft
FROM: your names
DATE: the current date
SUBJECT: Status Report, Week Ending date
PROJECT: Target Country, Industry

Work Completed

• List of what you've accomplished

Work in Progress

• List of what you're working on

Problems and Concerns

• Identify anything that can prevent you from meeting your deadline

Use a bulleted list to complete each section. Turn in only one status report for your group each THURSDAY. Be prepared to show me what you've accomplished in class on Thursdays. Bring what you've completed to class with you each Thursday.

Suggestion: Create a template with these headings in your word processing software. Each week, you just fill in the blanks. You will find that this makes writing your status reports fast and easy to complete.

Resources

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