Building a Bridge to Europe

Early in April 2001, delegates from the European societies for technical communication met for the first time in Brussels, following a joint invitation by tekom - the German society -- and ISTC - the UK institute. Among the represented societies were CRT (France), FTI (Sweden), ISTC (United Kingdom), STD (Finland), STIC (Netherlands), TECOM (Switzerland) and tekom (Germany and Austria). The most important outcome was the formulation of a joint declaration of intent to found a European-wide 'umbrella' organisation.

Wirtz, Ursula. TC-FORUM (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Regional>Europe

Company Research: Effects of Recent European Union Company Legislation  

A considerable amount of company legislation has been added to the European Union (EU) statute book in the last few years. There have also been many initiatives to modernize existing law. Much of the legislation affects every type of company, but some is specific to listed companies, securities markets and financial institutions. It is all very significant for business information professionals, who need to follow these changes, monitor developments and understand the impact on their day-to-day work. This article reviews the major EU company legislation that has been implemented recently and looks at some calls for further controls on company activities and practices. Following a brief review of all the legislation, with links and references for further study, the main part of the article describes the effects and implications for the ongoing and future work of business information professionals.

James, Sylvia. Business Information Review (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Legislation>Europe

Constructing Public Support: EU Communication Challenges for the Process of Integration  

This study aims at providing a new perspective on the question of public spheres and the European Union. Previous studies on public sphere and the European Union dealt with general trends and patterns of news reporting in Europe, the national prospective of mass media reporting, or with mass media as vehicle of political participation and as a form of media culture, but few have tried to understand what journalists think about EU information and how media relations could be strengthen in order to increase public discourses. This study is based on findings of a current research project about EU communication strategies in Finland and in Italy. Specifically the statistical data gather in these two member states shows the necessity to improve media relations between EU institutions and their press offices and national mass media. In this paper I will discuss about the role of mass media in enhancing public debate on EU, the different types of public spheres for the European Union and their implications and EU’s necessity to strength public debate and citizens’ participation to its decision-making.

Valentini, Chiara. Chiara Valentini Communication Management (2006). Articles>Communication>International>Europe

CRT - in a New Look

Although CRT is small in numbers, it is already acquainted with the 'big' sister societies, such as tekom (Germany), ISTC (Great Britain) and other Technical Communicator groups in Europe. We were very pleased with the initial contacts made in Brussels early in 2001 aimed at establishing a new umbrella organization for technical communicators in Europe.

Flacke, Marie-Louise. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Editing>Regional>Europe

Euro 2002 Information Campaign: Analysis and Evaluation of the National Advertising Campaigns  

This research is aimed at analysing the mass media information campaigns carried out for the introduction of the Euro.

Valentini, Chiara. Chiara Valentini Communication Management (2003). Books>Language>Marketing>Europe

The Euro: What Will It Mean to the Desktop Publisher?

How will the character be inserted into typeset copy? Every time typesetters set a piece containing a monetary amount in Euros, they will have to type a character that doesn't exist in most typeface character sets. A partial remedy is the inclusion of a Euro character in the character set of Macintosh and Windows. For instance, starting in Mac OS 8.5, pressing Option-Shift-2 will insert the Euro character — but only in the fonts that come with the Mac. Older fonts will insert a different character.

Adams, Peter C.S. Makingpages.org (2002). Design>Document Design>Typography>Europe

European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations

EBLIDA is the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations. We are an independent umbrella association of national library, information, documentation and archive associations and institutions in Europe.

EBLIDA. Organizations>Documentation>Regional>Europe

European Design for All e-Accessibility Network

The European Design for All e-Accessibility Network is a network of 160 organisations in EU member states. The goal of the network is to support all citizens' access to the Information Society.

EDeAN. Organizations>Accessibility>Regional>Europe

The European Language Resources Association: Promoting Language Resources in Europe

The European Language Resources Association (ELRA) was founded in February 1995 as a membership association, by a number of leading academic and private-sector bodies in co-operation with the European Commission. As a non-profit making organisation, ELRA aims to serve as a focal point for the collection, marketing, distribution and licensing of language resources, as well as being a provider of general information in the field of language engineering. Day-to-day operations are run by the European Language Distribution Agency (ELDA), while the strategies and plans of ELRA are set by the member-elected board.

TC-FORUM (1998). Articles>Language>Regional>Europe

European Union Interinstitutional Style Guide

One of the European Union’s vital tasks is to circulate and disseminate information in 11 languages. People are not generally aware of the scale and complexity of this task, and the ever-increasing amount and multilingual character of the documentation to be distributed, and it is only through continual development of the techniques used and constant rationalisation that the task can be accomplished each day. The Interinstitutional style guide has been produced with these things in mind.

European Union (2004). Resources>Style Guides>Regional>Europe

Exchanging Medical Information with Eastern Europe Through the Internet      

The American International Health Alliance, a national not-for-profit healthcare organization initiated in 1992, uses Internet technologies to aid in the exchange of medical information between healthcare providers in the U.S. and their colleagues in Eastern Europe and the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union. A major role in the exchange is played by Information Coordinators--physicians, nurses, or administrators in the partnership institutions in the region. Through a questionnaire distributed during a training session in the U.S. and e-mail exchanges, we interviewed these Information Coordinators to learn how Internet technologies are being introduced, disseminated, and adopted in their institutions. We then applied Everett Rogers's theory of the diffusion of innovations to help interpret their responses. Although now only in its preliminary stages, this study shows that technical communicators must be aware of the cultural influences--economic, political, ethnic, and institutional--that accompany technology as they communicate about such innovations across borders of culture, expertise, and ideology.

Daniels, Julie K., Ruth J. Cronje and Beth C. Sokolowski. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Articles>Scientific Communication>Regional>Eastern Europe

Finnish and Italian Communication Strategies for the EU Information  

In the contemporary democracy the information to the citizens about the procedures and acts related to the public policies elaborated and implemented by the different government systems is having more and more importance. Also the European Union has felt this need of transparency and of information, and since 2001 it has started its new framework for co-operation on activities concerning the information and communication policy of the European Union. In this paper I will discuss the main characteristics of EU communication actions and its persuasive methodologies, taking into consideration the role of two Member States, Finland and Italy, as means of EU information diffusion. The strategies of these two countries will be compared in order to see which position these two Member States are taking in relations to EU legislation on communication and information, which communication strategies they are adopting and finally the different effects of EU campaigning on their citizens.

Valentini, Chiara. Chiara Valentini Communication Management (2005). Articles>Communication>International>Europe

Information Design: A European Perspective    

This commentary briefly outlines the evolution of information design in Europe, notes the differences between approaches to information design in Europe and the U. S., and speculates on reasons for those differences. Ultimately, however, those who are information designers seek to improve the quality of communication, respecting and improving the lives of others.

Taylor, Conrad. Technical Communication Online (2000). Design>Information Design>Regional>Europe

My Changing Approach to Localization  

As members of the Technical Communication Delegation to Russia and the Czech Republic, we had the unusual opportunity of discussing our communication concerns with Russian and Czech technical professionals who use many of our products and do or teach technical writing.

Cornette, Patricia K. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Language>Localization>Eastern Europe

STC European Job Openings Directory

The job list is a courtesy of the European STC chapters and STC Israel. Any jobs concerning the technical communication community can be posted here. There are no geographical restrictions or limitations to jobs in Europe or Israel.

STC. Careers>Job Listings>Regional>Europe

Subsidiary Reviews in the European Union  

Companies in many different industries are working at a feverish pace to produce translations of end-user documentation to meet EU deadlines, some of which are as early as December 2003. As a result of these deadlines, technical communicators in affected industries— such as medical devices and home appliances— are quickly overcoming many traditional translation hurdles. Documentation departments have formed solid relationships with translation agencies, streamlined documents to facilitate translation, and developed corporatelevel translation policies. However, challenges remain for documentation departments and translation agencies worldwide.

Balchunas, John. Intercom (2003). Articles>Documentation>Localization>Europe

A Tale of Two Initiatives

During the past few months, two new initiatives have been launched which could significantly affect everyone involved in website accessibility: EuroAccessibility and UKDeAN.

Kessler, Dennis. Accessify (2003). Articles>Accessibility>Standards>Europe

TCeurope

TCeurope is the European umbrella organisation for technical documentation, currently representing technical writers and illustrators in seven European countries.

TCeurope. Organizations>TC>Regional>Europe

TCeurope: A European Umbrella for Technical Communicators    

This paper presents TCeurope, the European umbrella organization for technical communicators and its activities in the past, including lobbying for technical communication at the European Parliament, formulating a European guideline for usable and safe operating manuals for consumer goods, and formulating a European guidelines for professional education and training of technical communicators in Europe.

Fritz, Michael, Michael F. Steehouder and Ursula Wirtz. IEEE PCS (2005). Articles>TC>Community Building>Europe

Technical Communication in Europe

When the Euro comes to bring the EU-countries closer together on the financial level, technical communication won't stay behind.

Wirtz, Ursula. TC-FORUM (2001). Articles>TC>Regional>Europe

Technical Communication in Russia and the Czech Republic: Observations and Opportunities  

In March 1998, twelve technical communicators and technical communication teachers visited Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Prague to investigate the status of the field of technical communication.

Shumate, Chona E., Sam Dragga, Lena Jacobson, Patricia Tegtmeier, Celia Patterson and Patricia K. Cornette. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>TC>Regional>Eastern Europe

Technical Communicators’ Forum (TC-Forum)

The idea for TC-Forum evolved during Forum 95. Forum 95 was an international conference organized by the international umbrella organization INTECOM, the International Council for Technical Communication. Forum conferences take place every five years. The first one was held in Malmö, Sweden, in 1975, the last one in Germany in 1995.

TC-FORUM. Resources>Collaboration>Community Building>Europe

Ten Myths about Working in Europe  

Debunks ten myths about working in Europe, giving Americans a realistic view of the difficulties of working abroad.

Koster-Lenhardt, Victoria 'Vici'. Intercom (2000). Articles>TC>Regional>Europe

TransAlpiner

TransAlpiner is the online archive of the newsletter of the STC TransAlpine Chapter.

STC Transalpine. Journals>TC>Regional>Europe

Translation and Localization Trends in the Baltic States  

When I first got into the business twenty years ago, most translation work was limited to the FIGS languages: French, Italian, German, and Spanish. But today, to reach markets opened by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the opening of the Chinese economy beginning in 2001, competitive businesses must tap into 'minor' languages.

Frievalds, John. Intercom (2004). Articles>Language>Localization>Eastern Europe