Researching Online Intercultural Dialog in Business: Using Established Methods to Create New Tools

Abstract

Within a single business day, technical communicators may be challenged to work with colleagues located in a variety of nations. In such interactions, they use several kinds of communication technologies and must constantly adjust in order to effectively communicate with colleagues from other cultures. This is the realm of online intercultural dialog (OID), or online textual conversation between interlocutors from different cultures. Preparing individuals to work effectively within such contexts, however, is no easy task. This chapter will discuss the importance of doing research on such situations, present a methodology for gathering evidence based on widely accepted practices in technical communication, and show how the results of the research can be applied to business and academic practices worldwide.