A visual lingua franca: communication in the oil and gas industry

Author

Lombard, M.D.

Author_Institution

Northwestern Univ. in Qatar, Qatar

fYear

2012

fDate

8-10 Oct. 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

This paper addresses theories and best practices of visual information design and delivery within the context of gas processing operations in the Middle East. Communication in this situation is complex as the majority of the workforce are non-native speakers of English and from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds. A model for visual content development is outlined and applied to this workplace case study. The paper contextualizes content that blends visual frameworks with relevant text in the region´s lingua franca, English, to create a visual lingua franca in the workplace.

Keywords

computer aided instruction; cultural aspects; gas industry; natural languages; organisational aspects; personnel; petroleum industry; production engineering computing; visual communication; Middle East; cultural backgrounds; educational backgrounds; gas industry; gas processing operations; nonnative English speaker workforce; oil industry; visual content development; visual information design; visual lingua franca; workplace; Companies; Employment; Standards organizations; Usability; Visual communication; Visualization; Industrial communication; information usability; lingua franca; participatory design;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Professional Communication Conference (IPCC), 2012 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Orlando, FL

ISSN

2158-091X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4577-2124-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IPCC.2012.6408629

Filename

6408629