2003 newsletter, International Technical Communication Special Interest Group, Society for Technical Communication
News of technical communication worldwide 2003
News of STC worldwide 2003
ITC SIG news 2003: membership reports
Letters to the editor 2003
News of technical communication worldwide 2003
Single source tools supporting multiple languages
STC member Byron Hills notes on the Single Sourcing SIG email list (November 18, 2003) that the following tools support single source publishing in multiple languages:
AuthorIT V4.1 (http://www.author-it.com)
Sibersafe (http://www.siberlogic.com)
FEMTI, the Framework for Machine Translation Evaluation in ISLE
FEMTI, the Framework for Machine Translation Evaluation in ISLE, is available for consultation at the following mirrored URLs: http://www.isi.edu/natural-language/mteval/ and http://www.issco.unige.ch/projects/isle/femti/.
FEMTI is a structured repertoire of methods used to evaluate MT systems. The first part of FEMTI enables evaluators to specify a context of use for the MT system to be evaluated, while the second part defines relevant quality characteristics and metrics.
FEMTI is a result of the ISLE Project, funded by the US National Science Foundation and the Swiss and Danish governments. A series of workshops provided valuable input to the framework (see http://www.issco.unige.ch/projects/isle/ewg.html). The framework is discussed in the Machine Translation article "Principles of Context-Based Machine Translation Evaluation" by Eduard Hovy, Margaret King and Andrei Popescu-Belis. The ISLE Project, E-mail: andrei.popescu-belis@issco.unige.ch, Web: http://issco-www.unige.ch/projects/isle/. Source: Multilingual News email newsletter from MultiLingual Computing & Technology. Posted October 2003.
Unicode Standard Version 4.0
The Unicode Consortium and Addison-Wesley announced publication of Version 4.0 of the Unicode Standard in August, 2003. For more information visit www.unicode.org/press/press_release-4.0Book.html. Posted September 2003.
Professional Association of Localization (PAL)
The Professional Association of Localization (PAL) has merged with The Institute of Localisation Professionals (TILP). PAL was founded in early 2001 with the primary mission to give voice to and provide representation for individual professionals in the fields of localization, internationalization and globalization. In April 2001, PAL was granted formal recognition as an international 501(a) non-profit organization. Posted May 2003.
Globalization and Localization Association (GALA)
The Globalization and Localization Association (GALA) was founded in early 2002 and now has approximately 60 member companies worldwide. Members offer translation, globalization, localization and internationalization services and products. STC senior member and past president of the Boston Chapter, Hans Fenstermacher, is chairman of GALA. GALA was voted ClientSide News Association of the Year in 2002. The second issue of the newsletter is online at this time at www.gala-global.org/GALA%20Newsletter.htm. Visit www.gala-global.org to learn about membership. Posted April 2003.
News of STC worldwide 2003
China
Lone Star chapter member Debbie Wiles visited China as part of a 2002 delegation. Her slides are posted at http://www.stc-dfw.org/newsletter/images/photo_journal_Wiles.ppt.
The Northern New England chapter newsletter for March 2003 includes a report on the China trip by delegation member Jeanne Hochstetler. The report is posted at: www.stc-nne.org/Noreaster/march03/meetings.htm. Please scroll down to the February 2003 report.
The Montreal chapter has posted a report on the China trip by delegation member Geoff Hart: www.stc-montreal.org/china_presentation2003.pdf.
STC in Israel
ITC SIG member Yisrael Woolf reports the Israel Chapter of STC hosted a magnificently planned and executed Technical Communicators' Convention on February 6, 2003. About 250 technical communicators attended this all-day event which included lectures, workshops, and showcases on a wide range of topics and tools that are of prime interest to all technical communicators.
Yisrael found it particularly rewarding that this event, the first of its kind in memory, was held during the current economic downturn. This gave encouragement to participants, and the keynote presenters shared practical ideas for coping with the downsizing prevalent in hi-tech.
Of particular interest to SIG members was a presentation entitled "Editing Tips for Writers of English in Israel," which addressed the language attrition experienced by native English speakers who live for a long period in a non-English speaking environment. This presentation also addressed some of the common subtle mistranslations that creep into the language of our subject matter experts, to which we become less sensitive over time.
The day ended with a real high: an inspiring one-man show (performed for the first time in English!) by an Ethiopian immigrant, exploring with humor and sensitivity the struggles and triumphs of this unique community. For further details and some of the presentation materials, visit the chapter website: www.stc-israel.org.il/. (Posted February 2003).
ITC SIG news 2003: membership reports
In December, 2003 the ITC SIG gained 36 members representing the following countries:
Canada 2
France 2
India 2
Monaco 1
United States 29
As of November 30, 2003 the SIG had 998 members. In September, October, and November the ITC SIG gained 121 members, representing the following countries:
Australia 1
Austria 1
Belgium 1
Canada 11
Denmark 2
France 1
Germany 3
India 1
Ireland 1
Israel 1
Italy 1
Japan 1
Netherlands 3
Nigeria 1
Saudi Arabia 1
Sweden 1
United Kingdom 3
United States 87
In June, July, and August 2003 the ITC SIG gained 40 members, representing the following countries:
Canada 5
Germany 1
Japan 1
United States 33
In May the ITC SIG gained 22 members, representing the following countries.
Canada 2
Switzerland 1
United Arab Emirates 1
United Kingdom 2
United States 16
In April the ITC SIG gained 42 members, representing the following countries.
Austria 1
Canada 2
France 2
Iceland 1
Italy 2
Slovenia 1
Switzerland 1
United Kingdom 1
United States 31
As of March 31, 2003 the ITC SIG had 826 members. Non-renewing members have been removed from the list of members. In March the SIG gained 76 members, representing the following countries.
Canada 1
Denmark 1
France 2
Greece 1
India 2
Italy 1
Netherlands 3
Norway 1
Sweden 1
United Kingdom 1
United States 6
In February, 2003 the ITC SIG gained 84 members, representing the following countries:
Australia 1
Belgium 2
Brazil 1
Canada 5
France 2
India 1
Israel 3
Japan 1
Netherlands 1
New Zealand 1
Sweden 1
United Kingdom 3
United States 62
As of January 31, 2003 the ITC SIG had just over 1190 members. In January, 2003 the SIG gained 89 members, representing the following countries:
Australia 2
Belgium 1
Canada 9
Finland 1
France 1
India 1
Israel 3
Italy 1
Japan 2
Netherlands 2
New Zealand 1
United Kingdom 1
United States 64
Letters to the editor 2003
Rochester Chapter member Sara Molyneux wrote:
The articles [in the Translation Kit] provide excellent information and are helping me to conduct a more educated search. "What type of translation agency staff is right for you?", "Choosing a Translation Agency," and "Taming the Translation Alligator" were particularly helpful. March 24, 2003
Austin Chapter member Shelly Orr Priebe wrote:
Global Talk Online is a well organized source of information with great
content. April 11, 2003.
