Is MT software documentation appropriate for MT users?

David Mowatt, Harold Somers


Abstract
This paper discusses an informal methodology for evaluating Machine Translation software documentation with reference to a case study, in which a number of currently available MT packages are evaluated. Different types of documentation style are discussed, as well as different user profiles. It is found that documentation is often inadequate in identifying the level of linguistic background and knowledge necessary to use translation software, and in explaining technical (linguistic) terms needed to use the software effectively. In particular, the level of knowledge and training needed to use the software is often incompatible with the user profile implied by the documentation. Also, guidance on how to perform more complex tasks, which may be especially idiosyncratic, is often inadequate or missing altogether.
Anthology ID:
2000.amta-studies.1
Volume:
Proceedings of the Fourth Conference of the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas: User Studies
Month:
October 10-14
Year:
2000
Address:
Cuernavaca, Mexico
Venue:
AMTA
SIG:
Publisher:
Springer
Note:
Pages:
223–238
Language:
URL:
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/3-540-39965-8_26
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
David Mowatt and Harold Somers. 2000. Is MT software documentation appropriate for MT users?. In Proceedings of the Fourth Conference of the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas: User Studies, pages 223–238, Cuernavaca, Mexico. Springer.
Cite (Informal):
Is MT software documentation appropriate for MT users? (Mowatt & Somers, AMTA 2000)
Copy Citation:
PDF:
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/3-540-39965-8_26