Communication Design Quarterly

3 articles
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March 2023

  1. Review of "Everyday Dirty Work: Invisibility, Communication, and Immigrant Labor by Wilfredo Alvarez," Alvarez, W. (2022). Everyday dirty work: Invisibility, communication, and immigrant labor. The Ohio State University Press.
    Abstract

    Wilfredo Alvarez's (2022) Everyday Dirty Work: Invisibility, Communication, and Immigrant Labor premises its thesis around "the vital relationship among work, social and cultural integration, and language acquisition" (p. 3) for many multiply marginalized immigrants in the United States, particularly Latin Americans. In his case study of Latin American immigrants who served as janitors at a predominantly white public institute---Rocky Mountain University (RMU)---and their interactional, intercultural, and organizational communications with their patrons (e.g., university faculty, students, or staff), Alvarez theorizes how facets of social identities, communications, languages, and workplace settings are intimately intertwined to generate and reinforce public imaginaries and readings of marginalized immigrant individuals and communities.

    doi:10.1145/3563890.3563895
  2. Exploring Healthcare Communication Gaps Between US Universities and Their International Students: A Technical Communication Approach
    Abstract

    US healthcare is a complicated system not just for US-born citizens but also international students in the US. While universities inform international students about how US healthcare functions, these students still struggle with navigating healthcare owing to the cultural and technical challenges they face with the system. This paper investigates how US healthcare information can be conveyed effectively by universities so that international students navigate healthcare with fewer challenges. This research was conducted using qualitative methods with 12 international student participants at a US university. Using the collected data, the study provides recommendations to improve healthcare communication on campuses and insights to increase the scope of this study to further investigate international students' healthcare access challenges.

    doi:10.1145/3563890.3563892

January 2019

  1. Designing for intersectional, interdependent accessibility: a case study of multilingual technical content creation
    Abstract

    Drawing on narratives (Jones, 2016; Jones & Walton, 2018) from bilingual technical communication projects, this article makes a case for the importance of considering language access and accessibility in crafting and sharing digital research. Connecting conversations in disability studies and language diversity, the author emphasizes how an interdependent (Price, 2011; Price & Kerchbaum, 2016), intersectional (Crenshaw, 1989; Medina & Haas, 2018) orientation to access through disability studies and translation can help technical communication researchers to design and disseminate digital research that is accessible to audiences from various linguistic backgrounds and who also identify with various dis/abilities.

    doi:10.1145/3309589.3309593