Call for Contributors

Negotiating International and Cross-Cultural Technical Communication: Stories of Technical Communicators

Summary

We request story proposals of 300 words for an upcoming collectionNegotiating International and Cross-Cultural Technical Communication: Stories of Technical Communicators. This collection is designed for technical communicators to tell their stories working in international and cross-cultural contexts, working for/with clients/colleagues from diverse cultural backgrounds, or writing/designing for audience from diverse cultural backgrounds.

We hope this collection will be a venue for contributors to share their experiences and lessons-learned, to inform and educate fellow practitioners, and to demonstrate their value-add to employers and clients. Submissions that meet the scope of the collection will be followed up for full-length stories.

Editors

Han Yu, Assistant Professor, English Department, Kansas State University. Han’s research focuses on workplace writing, intercultural technical communication, and more specifically, technical communication in China. Her work has appeared in Technical Communication, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, andBusiness Communication Quarterly. Han has worked as an editor for State Farm Insurance, as a technical writer for the Laboratory for Integrated Learning and Technologies at Illinois State University, and as an editor and translator for New Oriental Publishing Group in Beijing. She has received numerous grants and awards for her research and teaching.

Gerald Savage, Professor, English Department, Illinois State University. Jerry’s research focuses on the ethics and politics of technical communication, workplace practices, and issues of social justice in international technical communication. His work has appeared in Technical Communication Quarterly, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, Journal of Business and Technical Writing, and as chapters in a number of essay collections. He is co-editor with Dale Sullivan of the book Writing a Professional Life published in the Allyn & Bacon Technical Communication Series and co-editor with Teresa Kynell Hunt of the two-volume collection of essays Power and Legitimacy in Technical Communication published in the Baywood Technical Communication series. He has worked as a freelance contract writer, researcher, and editor for numerous organizations and government entities, including Eaton Software, Epicenter Press, Alaska State Operated School System, University of Alaska Museum, City of Bloomington, IL, and The Journal of Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, among others.

Themes

We welcome a wide range of stories from technical communicators who work within or outside the U.S. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Working as technical communicators outside of U.S.
• Non-U.S. technical communicators writing or designing for clients or audiences outside of the communicators’ own countries or cultures
• U.S. technical communicators working with clients, subject matter experts, writers, or editors from various nations or various cultural backgrounds within the U.S.
• U.S. technical communicators writing or designing for audiences from various nations or various cultural backgrounds within the U.S.
• Coordinating or managing technical communication projects that span national or cultural borders
• Involvement in outsourcing, translation, localization, or globalization projects
• International and cross-cultural stories from various technical communication fields such as business communication, science writing, engineering writing, medical writing, nonprofit organizations or NGOs, government writing, usability testing, technical translation, etc.

Payment for Contributors

Contributors will receive a free copy of the book and book royalty shares. Specific amount of the share will be determined when a book contract is finalized with the publisher. 

What to Submit Now

• Story synopsis (300 words)
• Biographical note (150 words)

Timelines

• Submission of story synopsis and biographical note: July 31, 2010
• Notice of synopsis acceptance: August 31, 2010
• Submission of 1^st draft full-length story: November 30, 2010
• Notice of draft acceptance: January 31, 2011

Submission of final draft full-length story: June 30, 2011. Submissions and inquiries can be sent to:

hyu1@ksu.edu

Attached are guidelines for writers.