By Christie Fidura, SDL -- Presented at DocTrain East 2007. Globalization’ is the new buzz word, but what does this mean for a technical writer in the production of user documentation? In possession of specific skills, natural curiosity, and design abilities, technical writers are in a unique position to ensure their organization delivers information to a global audience that is accurate, consistent, and appropriate for local audiences. The efficient delivery of documentation is not the issue; instead, it is the efficient delivery of correct information across all content creators within the organization that is at stake. Technical writers are part of a larger organization due to hierarchical reporting structure. This silo approach does not encourage interactivity with other departments, leaving technical writers to wonder who is reviewing information that Marketing, Customer Support or Sales content. How can a technical writer affect change across the organization?

2. Christie Fidura Senior Product Marketing Manager for Terminology Solutions The Effects of Globalization on Technical Communication and Training

3. The SDL Mission We help corporations drive global brand consistency and accelerate time-to-market by providing software and services to manage the delivery of all corporate information into different languages We call this Global Information Management (GIM)

6. Brand Penetration We communicate with customers over multiple channels and in multiple languages Inconsistencies are easy to see from one channel to another

9. Geographically Distributed Resources Content Transactional Relationship EMEA Content Transactional Relationship Canada Content Transactional Relationship APJ Content Analytics Content Content Content Transactional Relationship Latin America Content Content Transactional Relationship US Content Transactional Relationship Product Group Authoring Authoring Illustration Illustration India Development

10. Development Silos Prevent Collaboration Initiatives Dev Areas Types of Docs Multiple Development Areas XML GMS Increase Productivity Version Control Reduce Costs Home Software Small Bus Large Bus Medium Bus Services Quick Install Guides Owner’s Manuals Installation & Service Guides Product Info. Guides Program Strings Getting Started Guides Improve Customer Exp. User Guides Tech. Sheets Read Me & Help Files Placemats Reference Manuals CD Artwork, Graphics, Icons

11. So what does ‘going global’ mean? Writing Content for a Global Audience

12. Writing with a Global Audience in Mind NOT…. Writing ..and then thinking of the rest of the world and different languages

13. Writing with a Global Audience in Mind … thinking of the rest of the world and different languages while writing, planning, etc. BUT…. The Bottom Line: Write for the Greatest Understanding

19. OK, OK, I’m Global Already! Wait… what about everyone else in my company?

21. The Impact of Inconsistency for Global Content

24. The 3 C’s of Globalization Centralization Collaboration Celebration!

25. What did we call this last time? Didn’t I just research this? I don’t like this translation. There are four different translations for this! What does this mean? Let’s just call it this for now. marketers engineers authors editors translators reviewers customers

26. Centralized Content Assets Web content, Online Help, User Guides, Marketing, Specs, etc. Translation memory Terminology QA Local Regional Offices Training and Education Sales Engineers Documentation Translators Corporate Marketing

30. Thank you Christie Fidura [email_address] Copyright © 2007 SDL PLC. All rights reserved. SDL and the SDL Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SDL PLC or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. This document is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as advertising. All warranties relating to the information in this document, either express or implied, are disclaimed to the maximum extent allowed by law. The information in this document is subject to change without notice.