European Academic Colloquium
On May 6, 2023, the 8th European Academic Colloquium, organized by Sissi Closs, professor to the degree program Communication & Media Management (KMM), took place at the Faculty of Information Management & Media at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (HKA). Under the patronage of tekom - the Society for Technical Communication - this international conference is usually held every two years. The event offered an exciting and diverse program for interested researchers, teachers and students working in technical communication and related fields, such as multilingual communication, translation, localization, terminology, or information management. More than 100 people attended, including guests from Pwani University in Kenya, as well as students from the Communication & Media Management degree program (both atbachelor's and master's level).
With the theme "The next steps in digital transformation," this year's EAC provided a platform to present academic findings and the latest methods related to digitization. The program’s hosts were Prof. Sissi Closs (HKA) and Prof. Birgitta Meex (KU Leuven, Belgium). Among the top-notch speakers were former KMM students. They presented impressive advancements in Technical Communication and trends linked to AI-based systems.
The presentation by Dr. Munyaya and Prof. Mutiti on the new Master of Arts program in Communication and Media at Pwani University in Kilifi, Kenya was a special highlight. The degree program is being introduced under the DAAD-funded project "MCM" in collaboration with HKA. It is scheduled to start in September 2023 as the first master's program for this subject in Kenya. In Ireland, too, a new master's program "MSc in Technical Communication" - which is characterized by a strong focus on computer science - is being introduced at the University College Cork. The global trend of combining Technical Communication with cutting-edge technology is obvious.
The conference offered an inspiring atmosphere where professionals from different countries and disciplines came together to share their knowledge and learn from each other. The presentations of the latest research, best practices and innovative approaches clearly showed how Technical Communication and Digitalization continue to interconnect and shape the future. As the EAC conference unfolded it became evident that exchange and collaboration at the international level are crucial to addressing the challenges and opportunities of the modern communications landscape.
