Web Directions Year round learning for product, design and engineering professionals

Many in the web professions will be familiar with (and rightly so) Joe Clark. He spoke at the first conference we were associated with in 2004, and is well known as one of the earliest web accessibility experts, and author of the groundbreaking Building Accessible Websites.

Joe has just released his latest book Organizing Our Marvellous Neighbours, a book about Canadian English. On the surface, you might think the book has little directly to do with the web. But as the web is a global medium, understanding issues of localisation/localization is increasingly important for web professionals. And localization is not simply about translating into foreign languages. It’s about understanding cultural and social norms and practices, and it’s often the smallest things that impact on the success of such projects.

I think the particular value many of the readers of this blog would get from Joe’s book is not so much the practical understanding of how Canadian English is a really interesting hybrid of British and US English, unlike Australian English which is much more closely associated with British English (particularly where spelling is concerned).

Rather, it’s in getting an understanding of the subtleties of language, and the attendant complexities associated with speaking to people in their own language.

Do check out Joe’s new book “Organizing Our Marvellous Neighbours”.