Notes from IEEE IPCC99 Conference
New Orleans, Louisiana, September 7-10, 1999

Communication and Culture

Designing Web-Based Access for Multiple and International Audiences

Philip Rubens (presenter) and Sherry G. Southard (co-author on paper)
East Carolina University

Rubens came to East Carolina with 20 years of experience at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, preceded by service at Michigan Technological University. Southard's 10 years at ECU built upon 10 years' service at Oklahoma State University. Thus the co-authors together have served on the faculty for four highly regarded technical communication degree programs.

Session Description: This session reported on the results of a project at East Carolina University to develop techniques to support authors from a global community with varying professional training, technical and scientific interests, and writing abilities as they create information for similarly diverse audiences within the context of a Website. The subject matter focused on using the earth observatory as a model: observation deck, study, library, mission control, laboratory. Project results included creation of templates and an online style guide to assist authors and improve uniformity.

• The most powerful of the 7 satellite-based telescopes can identify whether there is a person standing in your backyard. Obviously, this capability can be used for noble or not-so-noble endeavors.
• Parameters for effective documentation: do it quickly, accurately, easily, cheaply
• Three communication problems were considered:
   
• Authors and authoring agencies
• Potential audiences and goals
• Existing NASA style(s)
• Authoring agents
   
• Belong to an international community (e.g., 5 of the 7 observation devices on the satellite come from non-U.S. sources)
• Represent various disciplines
• Present data in different ways
• Differ in publishing goals
• Potential audiences
   
• Varied demography and goals
• Levels of English-language ability (note: all NASA documentation is in English)
• Access to "sophisticated" technology (note: NASA is an all-Macintosh shop, but builds PC compatibility into all its publications and optimizes
for a wide range of platform capabilities)
• ADA has imposed an accessibility requirement for Web-based documentation, such as being able to be read to visually impaired users (Frames is not compatible with that requirement).
• Existing NASA conventions
   
• NASA fact sheets style (Note: NASA fact sheets are available on the Web in downloadable .pdf format. Most incorporate color in some fashion. Sometimes raw footage from satellite imaging devices is included: frame-grabs, etc. Sometimes data is processed into summary graphics.)
• QuickTime video
• Layout for accessibility
• NASA observatory Web site is at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/. All graphic buttons have ALT tags. Frames is not used (ADA requirement); instead, a hot-linked table provides secondary navigation on the right-hand side of the screen.
• Two-part solution:
   
• Style guide on Web pages (text-only; 8 screens)
• Downloadable templates: HTML format, RTF format, fact sheet format, etc. Intent is to allow authors to cut and paste into established formats.

Information Technology and Health Care Partnerships: Training Medical Professionals in Central and Eastern Europe and
the New Independent States

Julie K. Daniels
University of Minnesota

The author is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Rhetoric/Program in Scientific and Technical Communication.

Session Description: The session describes the speaker's experience with the American International Health Alliance (AIHA), a not-for-profit health care organization founded in 1992 and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The idea was to use Internet technology and computer-mediated communication to foster and enhance partnerships between U.S. hospitals and medical institutions in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the new independent states of the former Soviet Union.

• Overview:
   
• Diffusion of an innovation
• International healthcare organization
• Independent evaluator
• Observations on intercultural aspects
• American International Health Alliance (AIHA) was formed in 1992 as a non-profit organization to explore a means to improve health care in Eastern and Central European countries and the former Soviet states.
• Learning Resource Center (LRC) is the primary vehicle for the AIHA to introduce Internet technology to medical agencies in Eastern Europes to help them improve their internal and external communication and, ultimately, their patient services.
• AIHA partnerships
   
• Eastern European medical institutions and US hospitals... specific "sister" relationships were set up.
• Peer-to-peer relationships: not just West to East. Reciprocity is encouraged.
• Primary goal is to solve medical and health care delivery problems.
• Information technology is central.
• LRC Project
   
• Equipment and training
• There is one information coordinator in each Central/Eastern European and former Soviet state medical institution.
• Sustainability: a key goal is to provide autonomous capability on the learned technologies
• Diffusion of innovations
• Everett Rogers' template was used to assess success of the technology transfer. Reference: The Diffusion of Innovations, Everett M.Rogers, 1995.
• Innovation: an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new alternative for solving problems (Rogers). Innovation was not limited to hardware and software; practices and procedures played a role as well.
• Diffusion: the process by which a certain process is communicated over time through a social system (Rogers). Information coordinator had primary responsibility for moving information through the system, dealing with corruption, etc.
• Assessment of diffusion
   
• Relative advantage: economic, social prestige, convenience, satisfaction
• Compatibility
• Complexity
• Trialability
• Observability
• Assessment of diffusion applied to LRC Project
   
• Relative advantage: definite advantages were perceived in terms of economics and social prestige
   
• Economics: student user fees for computer access, increased client base for doctors based on greater capability, access to grants
• Social prestige: physicians felt LRC Project put them on a more equal footing with their Western peers; conferences brought both students
and doctors more into the "fold."
• Compatibility: marginal.Project largely reinforced Western values rather than accommodating the Eastern culture; pressing economic needs worked against fulfillment of program objectives.
• Complexity: successful.Both the users' actual familiarity with the technology as well as their perceptions of great complexity (e.g., computer-phobia) improved.
• Trialability: a significant obstacle. Limited equipment (one computer per institution) and limited time and money prevented extensive application.
• Observability: partial success. The hardware is observable; administrative practices and assumptions (a key factor in the medical trenches) are less so.
• Diffusion is a complex, challenging process.
   
• Diffusion was achieved mostly at the institutional rather than the individual level.
• Ideas are practices are more difficult to diffuse than hardware and software.
• Institutional cultures and infrastructures vary, not only from West to East, but even within the same country or city.
• Cultural values differ.
• Overall, the project was successful despite the formidable challenges: LRCs have graduated, and the project is expanding.