Carlos Evia

Beyond Compliance Participatory Translation of Safety Communication for Latino Construction Workers

Developing effective workplace safety and risk communication materials for Latino construction workers poses a challenge for technical communicators. These workers are at a disadvantage because of culture and language differences on many job sites. Furthermore, low levels of literacy in any language and lack of proper training compound their job site communication problems. This article builds on cultural studies-based recommendations to develop discourse in workplace safety and risk that these workers can fully understand. The authors in this study used direct creative input from Latino construction workers in order to create safety and risk communication products that were evaluated as effective and culturally relevant for these workers and their peers.

Occupational injury and work organization among immigrant Latino residential construction workers

BACKGROUND Rates of occupational injury among immigrant workers are widely believed to be underestimated. The goal of this study was to enhance understanding of the burden of occupational injury and the work organization factors underlying injury among immigrant Latino residential construction workers. METHODS Prospective data were obtained from a community-based sample of Latino residential construction workers (N = 107) over a 3-month period. RESULTS Twenty-eight participants were injured, resulting in an injury incidence rate of 55.0/100 FTE (95% CI = 41.4-71.6) during the 3-month observation period. The injury rate involving days away from work during the observation period was 3.9/100 FTE (CI = 0.2-7.2). Injuries were elevated among roofers relative to framers and general construction workers. Roofers had elevated exposure to a variety of deleterious work organization factors. CONCLUSIONS Although imprecise given the small sample, our results suggest a threefold to fourfold underestimate of the injury burden to immigrant Latino construction workers. Work organization may contribute to elevated rates of non-fatal occupational injury, particularly among roofers.

Feasibility of interactive voice response methods in health behavior research with immigrant Latinos.

OBJECTIVES Determine the feasibility of using interactive voice response (IVR) for conducting daily diary research with immigrant Latinos. METHODS Baseline data containing demographic, health, and job-related characteristics were obtained from immigrant Latino construction workers (N=119). Participants also completed an IVR-based daily diary for 21 consecutive days. RESULTS Over one third (37%) of the sample adhered to the 21-day protocol; a comparable percent-age (38.7%) initiated but did not adhere to the protocol; and 24% never began the diary protocol. Adherence was generally not predicted by demographic, health, or job-related characteristics. CONCLUSIONS IVR technology makes diary studies with Latino samples feasible.

Incorporating Component Content Management and Content Strategy into Technical Communication Curricula

Technical communication (TC) students who are familiar with component content management (CCM) and content strategy have better opportunities for job placement and for making carefully thought-through, rhetorically grounded choices in the workplace. In this article, we describe four ways of incorporating elements of CCM and content strategy into existing classes in TC. We demonstrate that even without a dedicated CCM/content strategy class, educators can help students gain familiarity with related methodologies, processes, standards, and technologies.

Evaluating a workflow for authoring multimodal DITA

This poster presentation reports on preliminary evaluation of OVID (Online Video), an open source DITA Open Toolkit plug-in that allows insertion of HTML5 video tags in web help topics. OVID converts DITA inline links into multimedia HTML5 tags (video, audio, and canvas). Students in an advanced undergraduate technical communication course participated in a quasi-empirical evaluation of the authoring workflow needed to create OVID-enhanced DITA topics and maps. Findings suggest that the process of identifying, tagging, and coding video elements does not represent a serious burden to authors, and participants described it as being easier and faster than writing DITA topics and maps.

Structured authoring meets technical comics in techcommix

TechCommix is an XML grammar and GUI that allows technical communicators to build comics based on the principles of structured authoring. TechCommix XML uses elements of two markup languages--ComicsML and DITA--the combination of which offers a means of tagging elements connected to a comics narrative (such as speech, action, narration) and to structured technical documentation (such as context, step, example). The resulting language allows a technical writer to differentiate between instructional and entertainment content, facilitating content analysis and reuse. Additionally, the TechCommix GUI provides assisted means of building web comics from DITA input. In this online environment, a technical writer can transform an XML file into an HTML deliverable with multiple presentation options--extending usability and accessibility beyond the current standard of image-based web comics. Future work will examine the efficacy of these comics in communicating procedural information.

Authoring standards-based intelligent content the easy way with lightweight DITA

Lightweight DITA (LwDITA) is a proposed standard and methodology for authoring intelligent technical content. LwDITA aims to ease adoption of the open standard Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) in industry and academia by reducing its dependence on robust XML structures and allowing authors to develop content in a variety of markup languages. LwDITA is designed after three primary authoring formats: 1) a subset of DITA XML elements aimed at an audience of technical communicators (XDITA), 2) an HTML5 format for web content creators (HDITA), and 3) a Markdown format for developers and plain-text aficionados (MDITA). LwDITA is still under development, but some plugins compatible with the DITA Open Toolkit make it functional enough for evaluation and early adoption.

Design of an inclusive science learning system for Appalachian children

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education continues to be challenged by socioeconomic barriers and a lack of inclusive pedagogies. The Appalachian region serves as an appropriate test bed for inclusive design of STEM-based learning systems. Our goal was to design an inclusive learning system to support exposure to physics concepts for Appalachian children aged 3–5 years. Two methods were used to extract user requirements. First, a front-end evaluation elicited requirements from experienced Head Start teachers/social workers. Second, focus groups were used to elicit user requirements from parents. Results demonstrated unique requirements, including the need to design for the broadest developmental ages due to financial constraints and the importance of relying on household items to support learning. Parents provided recommendations for best practices for research in rural, low-income regions. A logic model was developed to evaluate inclusive programme and product designs.

Advancing safety in construction: an organizational, systemic, and cultural approach

This panel will focus on addressing the current challenges of the construction industry within the context of Macroergonomics field research. Organizational, systemic and cultural strategies to overcome these challenges will be described. A brief introduction focusing on the unique characteristics of the construction industry and how they relate to the macroergonomics approach will be provided followed by a comprehensive overview of the breadth of the problem. Panelists will highlight successful projects or approaches related to cultural issues, immigrant and aging workforce, training effectiveness and safety culture that have a great potential to enhance safety and health in the construction industry.

Work in Progress: Development and Implementation of a Web-Based Resource to Prepare International Faculty for the American Classroom

This paper presents preliminary results of an ongoing faculty study group project on developing an international faculty support system at Virginia Tech. The first stage of this long-term project consists of a Website that will serve as a repository of teaching materials and resources to help new and interested international faculty succeed in the American classroom. While it has been established that students need to be culturally competent in the era of globalization, international faculty are challenged by lack of available resources to prepare themselves for a culturally different classroom. Teachers have expressed interest in the relationship between cultural differences and teaching effectiveness [e.g. issues arise in teaching large engineering classes may be due to cultural barriers that exist between students and teachers]. Developed by the collaborations of the International Faculty Study Group and students from a Web writing course, this Website will serve as the gateway for a more comprehensive international faculty support system