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Outsourcing Technical Communication: Issues, Policies and Practices
Edited by Barry L. Thatcher and Carlos Evia
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Baywood's Technical Communications Series, Series Editor: Charles H. Sides
You can read the
Introduction for free right now, just click here.
IN PRAISE OF
"This should be read by anyone attempting or intending to make a living in technical communications, those who train them, and those who hire them."
Book News Inc, (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
"Outsourcing Technical Communication is more than just a collection of articles that share a common topic. Barry Thatcher and Carlos Evia have organized 11 well-written, highly informative articles on offshore outsourcing from diverse perspectives into a unified, up-to-date (considering book publication timelines) portrait of a growing major economic trend. In his introduction, Evia characterizes this collection of articles as a "user's manual" (1) for students, teachers, and practitioners of technical communication. I recommend Outsourcing Technical Communication as a supplemental textbook for courses in editing, project management, and international communication, to name just a few areas. I see myself repeatedly consulting this book as a reference work on the culture, economic infrastructure, and witting training of destination regions for offshore outsourcing. I am sure I will have cause to reread particular sections that deal with the legal and political ramifications of outsourcing. Furthermore, I have discovered a rich source of additional works I plan to consult in the individual chapter bibliographies."
—Nancy Mackenzie, Professor, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Technical Communication, Volume 55, Number 3, August 2008
"This unique book is a valuable tool for technical-communication professors, students, and workers who want to teach, practice, conduct research, or succeed in this field. The authors explore the evolving problems in curriculum development, project management, privacy of intellectual property, and intercultu review some of the issues addressed in this text are available. However, the book provides information that is broader in context, well-referenced, and written by innovators in technical communication. This text is sure to become required reading in technical-communication courses that address what outsourcing is, what the
implications of outsourcing are, and how a writer is to succeed in this environment."
—Beatriz Manzor Mitrzyk, Regional Director for Clinical Practice Assessments
of the University of Florida, College of Pharmacy, Science Editor, November – December, 2008, Volume 31, No 6
ABOUT THE BOOK
This book examines the impact of outsourcing on the field of technical communication. Aided by new technologies and driven by
global market structures, technical communication products that were once developed in the United States or Western Europe
are now being developed in Asia, Eastern Europe, and other parts of the world. If technical communication follows other fields,
such as information technologies, electronics manufacturing, and even textiles, this "outsourcing" of technical communication
products and jobs will surely influence our profession—but how? What kinds of jobs will remain in the United States?
Which jobs are more efficiently handled outside the United States? How can U.S. technical communicators develop a "comparative
advantage" in the global economy? How can collaboration and joint development of information products be managed? What are the
ethical, cultural, social, and economic dilemmas created by outsourcing?
This collection is designed as a theory/practice book that addresses the needs of graduate students, faculty, and technical communicators who want to teach, practice, or conduct research in this area. It addresses technical communications and outsourcing in six different parts of the world, including the United States. It also explores issues of curriculum, project management, legal considerations, and intercultural communication problems.
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Technical communication professionals in academia and industry; managers, researchers, and teachers of documentation projects who are involved in offshore outsourcing situations and need to find best practices, strategies, or recommendations for being successful; technical writers (freelancers and corporate employees) working with international partners interested in how outsourcing can affect the future of their profession; non-U.S. writers working in outsourcing projects looking to perform satisfactorily in their jobs; undergraduate and graduate professors in universities and community colleges teaching courses in publications management, information design, international communication, and technical writing, and students enrolled in those courses; teachers and students in rhetorical theory and professional communication pedagogy courses; ESL (English as a second language) and ESP (English for specific purposes) readers.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Barry L. Thatcher is an associate professor of rhetoric and professional communication at New Mexico State University. He has worked in international technical communication for more than 12 years. He has taught technical communications in South America for four years, and currently he is researching and teaching cross-cultural technical communication along the U.S.-Mexico border. His work in Mexico focuses on the issues of technical communications needed for outsourcing new technologies to maquilas (U.S.-owned manufacturing plants in Mexican border cities).Thatcher has published numerous articles on cross-cultural issues in technical and professional communication.
Carlos Evia is an assistant professor of professional writing at Virginia Tech. He has conducted research and written about international technical communication and multicultural teams in workplace environments. He teaches and conducts research on developing user documentation and the intersection of writing and information technology. His research work analyzes communication in the workplace, specifically in workplace environments affected by globalization, diversity, and technology. Evia has workplace and academic experience in technical writing and localization of technological products.
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