Lynne Bowker
Director and Associate Professor, School of Information Studies
Associate Professor, School of Translation and Interpretation
Member of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and thereby authorized to supervise theses.Office: 200 Lees Avenue, room B153-C
Telephone: 1 613-562-5989
E-mail: lbowker@uOttawa.ca
Biography
I’ve always been fascinated by the interaction of language and technology. As an undergraduate student studying translation right here at the University of Ottawa, I was curious to learn how computer tools could help me to be more productive. In graduate school, I started to examine the question from the other side, considering how using tools might impact the quality of translation. Throughout, I developed a keen appreciation for what computers can and cannot do with regard to language processing, and I learned that one of their strengths is for modeling ontologies – a map of concepts/terms and relations in a specialized domain.
After completing my PhD, I first worked as a professor at Dublin City University in Ireland, where I taught on both the translation and the computational linguistics programs. In 2000, I returned to the University of Ottawa as a professor at the School of Translation and Interpretation, where I taught courses in technical translation and translation technologies. In 2007, the School of Information Studies was established as a new academic unit within the Faculty of Arts. The field of information studies is concerned with many aspects of managing information, including the organization of information. My interest and experience in terminology and ontologies was a natural intersection point, and I was given a cross-appointment, meaning that I now belong to both the School of Translation and Interpretation and the School of Information Studies. In 2010, I assumed the Directorship of the School of Information Studies, where I currently oversee the Master’s of Information Studies program. I’m very excited about the prospect of sharing my passion for language, technologies, and information organization with you!
University degrees
1991 - BA Hon, Translation, University of Ottawa
1992 - MA, Translation/Applied Linguistics, University of Ottawa
1999 - MSc, Computer Applications for Education, Dublin City University (Ireland)
1996 - PhD, Language Engineering, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (United Kingdom)
Fields of interest
- Organization of information
- Terminology and languages for special purposes
- Machine translation and computer-aided translation
- Corpus linguistics
Ongoing research
2007-present – SSHRC-funded CERTT (Collection of Electronic Resources in Translation Technologies) Project: www.certt.ca
2010-present – SSHRC-funded Text4science Project: www.text4science.ca
Courses taught
- ISI 5102 Organization of Information
- TRA 6985 Developments in Translation Studies II
- TRA 5903 Computers and Translation
- TRA 4133 Technical Translation from French into English (L1) II
- TRA 3133 Technical Translation from French into English (L1) I
Selected publications
2011 - Bowker, L. “Off the record and on the fly,” Corpus-based Translation Studies: Research and Applications (Eds. A. Kruger, K. Wallmach and J. Munday). London/New York: Continuum, pp. 211-236.
2010 - Bowker, L. and Fisher, D. “Computer-Aided Translation,” Handbook of Translation Studies (Eds. Y. Gambier and L. VanDoorslaer). Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 60-65.
2010 - Bowker, L. “The Contribution of Corpus Linguistics to the Development of Specialised Dictionaries for Learners,” Specialised Dictionaries for Learners. Ed. P. Fuertes Olivera) Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, pp. 155-168.
2010 - Bowker, L. “Repérage et analyse de l’information sur la santé sur Internet : le cas des CLOSM dans la province de l’Alberta,” Francophonies d'Amérique 28, 175-196.
2009 - Bowker, L. “Can Machine Translation Meet the Needs of Official Language Minority Communities in Canada? A Recipient Evaluation,” Linguistica Antverpiensia 8, 123-155.
2009 - Bowker, L. and Marshman, E. “Better integration for better preparation: Bringing terminology and technology more fully into translator training using the CERTT approach,” Terminology 15(1), 60-87.
2008 - Bowker, L. “Official languages minority communities, machine translation, and translator education: Reflections on the status quo and considerations for the future,” TTR – Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction, vol. 21(2), 15-61.
2008 - Bowker, L. “Terminology,” Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (2nd ed.) (Eds. M. Baker and G. Saldanha). London/ New York: Routledge, pp. 286-290.
2008 - Bowker, L. and Barlow, M. “A comparative evaluation of bilingual concordancers and translation memories,” in E. Yuste Rodrigue (ed.), Topics in Language Resources for Translation and Localisation (John Benjamins), pp. 1-22.
2007 - Bowker, L. « De la lexicologie à la terminologie : étude de la prosodie sémantique à l'aide de corpus » dans M.-C. L’Homme et S. Vandaele (dir.) Lexicographie et terminologie: compatibilité des modèles et des méthodes. (Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa) pp. 189-217.
2007 - Bowker, L. and Ehgoetz, M. “Exploring User Acceptance of Machine Translation Output: A Recipient Evaluation,” in Dorothy Kenny and Kyongjoo Ryou (eds), Across Boundaries: International Perspectives on Translation Studies (Cambridge Scholars Publishing), pp. 209-224.
2006 - Bowker, L. “Investigating semantic prosody in language for special purposes: A corpus-based study in the specialized field of labour relations with some implications for translation,” Translation Studies in the New Millennium vol. 4, 15-31.
2006 - Bowker, L. and Hawkins, S. “Variation in the Organization of Medical Terms: Exploring Some Motivations for Term Choice,” Terminology 12(1), 79-110.
2006 - Bowker, L. (ed). Lexicography, Terminology and Translation : Text-based Studies in Honour of Ingrid Meyer. University of Ottawa Press.2002 - Bowker, L. Computer-Aided Translation Technology : A Practical Introduction. University of Ottawa Press.
2002 - Bowker, L. and Pearson, J. Working with Specialized Text: A Practical Guide to Using Corpora. Routledge.
1998 - Bowker, L., Cronin, M., Kenny, D. and Pearson, J. (eds). Unity in Diversity? Current Trends in Translation Studies. St. Jerome Publishing.
