Social media as a tool for terminological research Anita Nuopponen - University of Vaasa Niina Nissilä - University of Vaasa VII EAFT Terminology Summit. Barcelona, 27-28 november 2014

1. Social media as a tool for
terminological research
Niina Nissilä &
Anita Nuopponen
University of Vaasa
EAFT 2014 Seventh Terminology
Summit “How does social
networking affect terminology
work?”, Barcelona on November 27-
28, 2014.

2. Background: Call for papers
– Should social networks be a source in terminological
research?
– Identification of organised specialist networks,
– Social networks as a possible mechanism to access
• expert opinions,
• consultation and
• response
– Social networks as a possible source of recent neologisms
[+ discussions on them and their formation]
=> Social media as a tool for finding information and
information sources for a research project.
Yes, of
course!

3. Structure of the paper
• Scope
• Social media
• Special features of the social media in focus
• Information types
• Conclusion

4. Scope
• How to utilize social media to find relevant
information for a research project concerning
terminologies and concepts on user
interfaces?
• Case: TermFace research project:
– how users and experts/designers reflect on
terminological problems on user interfaces

5. Social media as an information source
for our research project
• communication
• acquiring and disseminating information
Red = types of social media in
focus here

6. Search process
• Keywords and tags: e.g.
”terminology”,
”interface”,
”localisation”, and
combinations
Twitter
Blogs
Q&A
forums
Quora
StackOverflow
UX Stack Exchange

7. Special features of Twitter
• 140 characters
• Offering/disseminating,
compiling information:
tweet, retweet, favorites,
lists, following
• Linking to other
information sources, e.g.
blogs: links, #hashtags,
@other twitter accounts
• #terminology, #t9y, #l10n,
#i18n, #xln or #t9n, #UI

8. From a tweet to a blog posting
Tweet: Link to the blog:
Alexandria Library @Alexandria_xl8 [Article] "Software
localisation: functionality and readability is the key" -
dld.bz/dxG8M by @DkPawlak #l10n
Beyond the words
Maria Pia Montoro @WordLo Aug 28 What about a world-
ready website #UI #terminology? | @scoopit sco.lt/8KyYSX
WordLo by Maria Pia
Montoro
Tech Comms @TechComms · Aug 13 latest cybertext: Scary
error message bit.ly/Y1Xaha
CyberText Newsletter
Oleksandr Pysaryuk @alexpysaryuk · Sep 23 The minimum
you need to know about internationalization (not lost in
translation) bit.ly/1x43YtE #i18n
not lost in translation
(Oracle)
IdentityMine @identitymine 30 Apr 2013 Office 2013 and
Windows Phone 8 product terminology and #UI translations
published ow.ly/kxqJc #microsoft
Microsoft Language
Portal Blog

9. Blogs writing on terminology on UI

10. Types of terminology related
information found in blogs
• giving information on term lists or terms of
the products of the company, or
• discussing principles, e.g:
– expressing opinions on various terminology
related subjects on interface design
– giving advice based on experience, or
– arguing for the benefits of e.g. linguistic testing,
terminological consistency, or localization or
internationalization of interfaces.

11. Relevant blog postings

12. Q&A forums
• Quora: forum for any kinds of questions
about any kind of theme
• Stack Overflow: forum for professional and
enthusiast programmers
• User Experience Stack Exchange: forum
specialized in user experience

13. Searches on Q&A forums
• quora.com & stackoverflow.com
– searches on keywords: terminology, terminology
usability, UI terms
• ux.stackexchange.com
– searches on more specific keywords possible: e.g.
usable terminology, consistent terminology,
correct term, synonym, terminology goals

14. Q&A: Special features
• Quora:
– term = a) specialiced word, b) point of view
– example: What works or doesn't work in terms of Social Media Marketing?
• Stack Overflow:
– term, terminology = “programming commandos”
– example:
– closed questions
• User Experience Stack Exchange the right forum for our interests
– terminological questions frequently discussed
– various perspectives on terminological questions
– example: How to create a taxonomy?

15. Types of terminology related information found
in Q&A
• How is this this concept/object/thing called?
• Are these terms synonyms? Which one should I use, why? Is there a
synonym for the term x?
• Here is a term, what is the concept behind (definition)?
• What is the difference between these objects/concepts/terms?
• Is there this kind of resource (glossary, vocabulary, guide)? Where do I
find information?
• Which aspects should I consider when labeling these things?
• How do I explain this concept/function to a layman? How do I make
this information understandable?

16. Concluding remarks:
social media as information source
• Each of the media we studied has their own characteristics:
• Twitter is used for disseminating information: I’ve read this, I find this
interesting/important/worth sharing.
• Both Twitter and blogs are used to give visibility to different themes, and
provide up-to-date information on a special field.
• In blogs, own opinions are more explicit, the writers concentrate on the
themes that they find interesting and important.
• In both blogs and Q&A forums the information is some more persistent
and easier to find than in Twitter. They all are places for discussion, and
can therefore be used for scanning different expert views.
• For asking information on more specific questions, Q&A forums give
information on the relevant problems.

17. Further work
• Future work:
– Other social media (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, collaborative wikis, discussion
fora..)
– Other languages other than English (e.g. Finnish, Swedish etc.)
• To summarize: Social media can give some preliminary
insights in term, concept and usability related issues that are
considered relevant by the experts. The information can be
utilized when planning e.g. interviews with the different
expert groups.

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