Howard Duncan, Dublin City University
Introduction
Dublin City University is a new university in the North Dublin suburbs. Established in 1980, its focus has been on meeting the challenges of a growing and diversifying industrial sector in Ireland, and of changing needs in the community. As a consequence, new programmes derived from combinations or intersections of traditional disciplines are introduced from time to time.
As a discipline, localisation is very new, arising as it does from the increasing tendency to globalisation in the world of software. Localisation relies on two existing applied subjects – Software Engineering and Translation.
In DCU we have recognised the importance of the subject by including it in two applied post-graduate courses. These are the M.A. in Translation Studies, and the Graduate Diploma in Software Engineering. The M.A. in Translation studies has been running for a number of years, and some of its graduates have been taking up work as project managers or software testers in localisation operations. This year a new module – Translation Issues in Software Localisation – has been included in the programme, to help in preparing students for this area of work. I will discuss this module later.
The other programme to deal with localisation is the Graduate Diploma in Software Engineering. This is a new programme arising from a need for greater professionalism in all areas of software development and maintenance. It is hoped that increasing recognition of this need will lead to software practitioners concentrating on developing the professional skills they must have if they are to develop good quality software. The programme runs for two years as a part-time course for people who are already employed as software engineers. This obviously includes people employed in the localisation industry.
Overview of the Programme
The Graduate Diploma in Software Engineering is designed to support the development of the profession of software engineering in Ireland. It is a postgraduate qualification incorporating:
formal courses in software engineering
a full time two year industrial
training programme.
The programme is directed at software professionals working in industry, including localisation specialists. It is intended to form the basis for professional formation of software engineers.
Students complete a series of formal courses in software engineering, delivered in part-time mode over 3 semesters (18 months). Students are expected to be working full-time as software professionals, and acquire practical software engineering skills in an industrial or commercial environment working under the guidance of a mentor.
The programme is designed to ensure the development and use of best practices, resulting in
improved availability of high quality
computer personnel to service the needs of
the computer industry in Ireland
the promotion of Ireland as a centre of
excellence in software engineering
The entry requirement to the programme is normally an honours primary degree in computing with substantial software component. The industrial training component is a two-year full time programme involving industrial mentors, in which the experience of the candidates is validated to assess mastery of practical skills in a number of software engineering techniques.
Relevance to Current and Prospective Needs
In the highly competitive global software market, product quality has come to play a dominant role. This has led to programmes to formalise the profession of software engineering and bodies in both the US and Europe are active in this effort. This programme can be seen as a part of the support structure required is certification is to succeed.
There is an continuing need for individuals to update their professional skills and this diploma can be seen as a means of introducing best practices into many organisations through the individuals who want to progress their careers and skills.
The localisation industry, like other branches of software, depends on the professional disciplines taught on this programme. Topics such as Project Management, Quality Assurance, Legal and Professional Issues, HCI are as relevant to localisation practitioners as they are to application developers.
Applicants to this programme should normally have at least a minimum of an Honours primary degree in computing with a substantial software component.
In exceptional circumstances only, an applicant not in possession of the normal entry requirements may be proposed as a special case for admission to the programme subject to such applicant normally having a primary honours degree and having demonstrated substantial experience in the software industry.
Programme Structure and Content
The two-year programme consists of a series of taught modules in the first 3 semesters, and maintenance of a portfolio in parallel. The portfolio documents the relevant work completed on a project or under a learning contract in industry by the individual and is submitted for assessment at the end of the second year.
Taught Modules
Mandatory Project Management
Quality Assurance*Software Process
Software Process*Requirements & Specification
Requirements & Specification*Legal and Professional Issues
Quality AssuranceLegal and Professional Issues*
Software Design
Real Time Software Engineering *Computer-aided Software Engineering Systems
Computer-aided Software Engineering Systems*Real Time Software Engineering
Options (Choose 4) Safety and Security Issues
Human Computer Interaction
Engineering for Open Systems
Software Localisation Issues
Maintenance, Modification and Legacy Software
Content of the module on Software Localisation Issues
This is an optional module on the course, and is intended to address specific issues that arise in software localisation. As mentioned earlier, the software engineering disciplines are relevant to localisation, but there are some additional topics that are relevant.
The module aims to introduce participants to the techniques for designing software for use in different countries and how the software development process should be embedded in the wider product localisation process.
On completion of this module, participants should be able to:
Devise a modern localisation plan
Realise the objectives of a
localisation plan
Indicative Syllabus:
The Localisation Process
Quality Assurance and
Internationalisation
Designing for Localisation
WYSIWYG Tools and Globalisation
Engineering issues: character sets,
sorting, case conversion dialogue boxes, etc.
Linguistic and cultural issues
M.A. in Translation Studies
While the Graduate Diploma in Software Engineering is aimed at Computer Science graduates, the M.A. in Translation Studies is intended for language graduates, and is designed to develop translation skills. The topics it covers include: Translation Theory, Translation Practice, Translation Technology, and Language Skills Development. Students must take one of three additional courses: Software Localisation, Screen Translation or additional Language Skills Development in a second language.
As with the Software Engineering course, the relevance of this course to localisation is not confined to the particular module on that topic. The whole area of translation is obviously important in localisation, and as competition increases, so the skill of the translator in fitting the product to the culture of the target market becomes more important.
In contrast to the module on the Software Engineering course, which deals with the software design aspects of localisation, the localisation module on this course concentrates firstly on understanding the localisation process and the technological limitations on software translation, and secondly on the use of tools, and the tools available. It also covers some aspects of Project Management