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 My PhD research? Oh it's very complicated and you
probably wouldn't be interested! Suffice it to say that it involves
establishing whether cognitive engineering can be used to improve the
quality of technical documents - whether they are original language texts
or translations. This will be achieved by discussing the role of
Iconic Linkage in the translation of software user guides.
Click here to read the abstract.
The purpose of my research is to investigate whether cognetics (also known
as cognitive engineering) can have a positive effect on translation
quality.
Cognetics is a kind of "ergonomics of the mind" and it's purpose is to
take into account the capabilities and limitations of the human mind when
designing a user interface, or in this case a user guide.
My research concentrates on whether we can incorporate an
understanding of human cognitive processes and mechanisms into the
translation process in order to improve the quality of translated user
guides. The ultimate goal is to make user guides more user-friendly,
easier to understand and easier learn from. Naturally, I also investigate ways
in which this can be achieved.
My thesis starts off by examining the need for technical documentation and
how traditional technical communication and technical translation are
inextricably linked by customer needs, business practices and indeed EU
law. I then discuss in detail the whole genre of user guides and examine what are regarded as
being "best-practices" in the field of technical writing.
The next stage was to thoroughly investigate the field of cognetics,
cognitive science and user interfaces. Oh, and of course I'll explain the
whole concept of iconic linkage! When all of this was
completed, I conducted a series of laboratory-based usability tests to test my theory.
I assessed usability on the basis of how efficiently users performed
tasks (i.e. how many mistakes they made), how quickly they performed
their tasks and how satisfied they were with the user guide and their
performance. If
you are interested and you want to know more, please click
here for a brief overview of my research. Don't
hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.
Other Research Interests
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Technical
Communication, Technical Translation, Usability and Technical
Communication, Usability Evaluation, Human-Computer Interaction and
Texts,
Software Localisation, Cognitive Psychology, Controlled Language,
Website
Design, Translation Technology, Translation as a Business, Translator
Training. |
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