SALIS

Biographical Details:

1991 - B.A. in Applied Languages (Translation, French and German) 1993 - M.A. by research in Language for Special Purposes, Text Linguistics and Machine Translation 1994 - Austrian Government Scholarship 1995 - 1999 Language Technology Consultant - Localisation Industry 2001 - IRCHSS Scholarship for PhD research 2006 - PhD in Controlled Language and Post-Editing Effort

Research Interests:

I am interested in translation and especially translation technology with a specific focus on Controlled Language, Machine Translation, Post-Editing and Localisation. I take a primarily empirical approach in my research and have used keylogging and eye-tracking to research the cognitive aspects of human-translator interaction. I am also interested in end users of translation and in concepts such as translatability, usability, readability, comprehensibility and the measurement of cognitive load. I have co-authored a book on research methods for translation studies. I have also collaborated on numerous projects with industry, specifically on the topics of machine translation, post-editing and the dynamic framework for quality assessment in the localisation industry. My industrial collaborators have included Symantec, Alchemy, VistaTEC and the Translation Automation User Society.

Selected Peer Reviewed Journals

• Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen, Susanne Goepferich and Sharon O'Brien (eds). 2013. Interdisciplinarity in Translation Process Research (Special Issue). Target, 25, 1
• Sharon O'Brien. 2013. The Borrowers: Researching the Cognitive Aspects of Translation. Target, 25:1,, pp5-17.
• Ana Guerberof Arenas, Heidi Depraetere & Sharon O'Brien. 2012. What we know and what we would like to know about post-editing. Revista TradumÁtica, 10,, pp211-218.
• Sharon O'Brien. 2012. Translation as Human-Computer Interaction. Translation Spaces, 1, 1, pp101-122.
• Sharon O'Brien. 2012. Towards a Dynamic Quality Evaluation Model for Translation. Journal Of Specialised Translation,
• Sharon O'Brien. 2011. Towards Predicting Post-Editing Productivity. Machine Translation, 25, 3, pp197-215.
• Sharon O'Brien. 2010. Eye tracking in translation process research: methodological challenges and solutions. Copenhagen Studies In Language, 38, , pp251-266.
• Doherty, Stephen, O'Brien, Sharon and Carl, Michael. 2010. Eye tracking as an MT evaluation technique. Machine Translation, 24, 1, pp1-13.
• Aranberri-Monasterio, Nora and Sharon O'Brien. 2009. Evaluating MT output for -ing forms: a study of four target languages. Linguistica Antverpiensia. Linguistica Antverpiensia, 8, , pp105-122.
• Fiederer, Rebecca and Sharon O'Brien. 2009. Quality and Machine Translation - A Realistic Objective?. Journal Of Specialised Translation, 11,
• Sharon O'Brien. 2008. Processing fuzzy matches in Translation Memory tools: an eye-tracking analysis. Copenhagen Studies In Language, 36, Looking at Eyes: Eye Tracking Studies of Reading and Translation Processing, pp79-102.
• Sharon O'Brien. 2007. Pauses as Indicators of Cognitive Effort in Post-Editing Machine Translation Output. Across Languages And Cultures, 7, 1, pp1-21.
• Sharon O'Brien. 2007. An Empirical Investigation of Temporal and Technical Post-Editing Effort. Translation And Interpreting Studies (tis), II, I
• Sharon O'Brien. 2006. Eye Tracking and Translation Memory Matches. Perspectives - Studies In Translatology, 14, 3, pp185-205.
• O'Brien, Sharon. 2005. Methodologies for Measuring the Correlations Between Post-Editing Effort and Machine Translatability. Machine Translation, 19, 1, pp37-58.
• O'Brien, Sharon & Dorothy Kenny. 2001. Language Technology in the Translator Training Curriculum: A Case Study. Language International,

Selected Books

• Sharon O'Brien and Gabriela Saldhana. Research Methods in Translation Studies (Forthcoming), St. Jerome, 2013.
• Sharon O'Brien (ed.). Cognitive Explorations of Translation, Continuum, 2011.

Selected Chapters

• Sharon O'Brien. 2013. Postédition.
• Sharon O'Brien. 2011. Collaborative Translation. Handbook of Translation Studies, Vol. 2, pp17-20.
• Sharon O'Brien. 2010. Controlled Language and Readability. Translation and Cognition - ATA Scholarly Monograph XV Series, pp143-165.
• Kenny, Dorothy and O'Brien, Sharon. 2006. Translation Technology in the Translator Training Syllabus. Language Education in Ireland: current practice and future needs, pp185-192.

Reviews

• Sharon O'Brien. 2013. Ilse Depraetere (Ed.). Perspectives on Translation Quality. Berlin-Boston: de Gruyter, 2011. 273pp. ISBN 978-3-11-025984-1. ¿99.95 [Text, Translation, Computational Processing, 9]. Target, (Forthcoming),
• Sharon O'Brien. 2011. Yves Gambier and Luc Van Doorslaer (eds): Handbook of Translation Studies John Benjamins, 2010, Vol 1, IX + 458 pp, ISBN: 978 90 272 03311. Machine Translation, 25, pp287-289.

• de Almeida, Giselle and Sharon O'Brien, Post-editing: Linking experience with performance, Third International Workshop on Translation Process Research, 21-JAN-13 - 23-JAN-13, Gran Canaria, Spain
• Moorkens, J., S. Doherty, D. Kenny & S. O'Brien, A Virtuous Circle: Laundering translation memory data using statistical machine translation, Tralogy II: Futures in technologies for translation, 17-JAN-13 - 18-JAN-13, Paris
• O'Brien, Sharon, Michel Simard and Lucia Specia (Eds), Proceedings of the Workshop on Post-Editing Practice and Technology, Workshop on Post-Editing Practice and Technology, 28-OCT-12 - 28-OCT-12, San Diego, California
• Doherty, S. and S. O'Brien, A user-based usability assessment of raw machine-translated technical instructions, The 10th Conference of the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas, 20-OCT-12 - 01-NOV-12, San Diego, California
• Doherty, S. & S. O'Brien, Assessing the Usability of Machine Translated Content: A User-Centred Study using Eye Tracking, Tobii Eye Track Behaviour Conference, 09-OCT-12 - 10-OCT-12, Leuven, Belgium
• O'Brien, Sharon, Organiser of special panel entitled: Translation, Technology, Status, 3rd Conference of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies, 23-JUL-12 - 27-JUL-12, Belfast
• O'Brien, Sharon, Eye tracking and process research: Opportunities and Challenges, International Conference on Translation Process Research: Breaking New Ground, 09-DEC-11 - 09-DEC-11, Birmingham
• O'Brien, Sharon, Translation Technology Panel, European Master's in Translation Conference, 30-NOV-11 - 30-NOV-11, Brussels, Belgium
• O'Brien, Sharon, , Translating and the Computer 33, 17-NOV-11 - 18-NOV-11, London, UK
• O'Brien, Sharon, The Post-Editing Challenge, TMT - The Future is Here: Conference of the Dutch Translators' Association (ATA), 09-SEP-11 - 09-SEP-11, Ede, The Netherlands
• O'Brien, Sharon, Research Methods for Post-Editing, 2nd International Workshop on Translation Process Research, 27-JUL-11 - 29-JUL-11, Giessen, Germany
• O'Brien, Sharon, The Post-Editing Challenge - Workshop for industry professionals, Translation Automation User Conference / Localization World, 13-JUN-11 - 15-JUN-11, Barcelona, Spain
• O'Brien, Sharon, Researching the Cognitive Aspects of Translation: Borrowing from Other Fields, 2nd Research Models in Translation Studies Conference, 29-APR-11 - 02-MAY-11, Manchester
• O'Brien, Sharon and Reinhard Schäler, Next Generation Translation and Localization: Users are taking charge, Translating and the Computer 32, 18-NOV-10 - 19-NOV-10, London
• O'Brien, Sharon, Minako O'Hagan and Marian Flanagan, Keeping an Eye on the UI Design of Translation Memory: how do translators use the concordance feature?, European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics 2010, 25-AUG-10 - 28-AUG-10, Delft, The Netherlands
• De Almeida, Giselle & Sharon O'Brien, Analysing Post-Editing Performance: Correlations with years of translation experience, EAMT 2010 - European Association for Machine Translation, 27-MAY-10 - 28-MAY-10, St. Raphaël, France
• Sun, Yanli, O'Brien, Sharon, O'Hagan, Minako, Hollowood, Fred, A Novel Statistical Pre-Processing Model for a Rule-Based Machine Translation System, In: Francois Yvon, Viggo Hansen ed.14th Annual conference of the European Association for Machine Translation, 27-MAY-10 - 28-MAY-10, St. Raphaël, France
• O'Brien, Sharon, Investigating computer-based translation via eye tracking, Tobii Eye Tracking Conference on Psychology and Linguistic Research, 25-JAN-10 - 26-JAN-10, Copenhagen
• Doherty, S. & S. O'Brien, Can MT Output be Evaluated through Eye Tracking?, MT Summit XII, 27-AUG-09 - 29-AUG-09, Ottawa, Canada
• O'Brien, Sharon, Translation Memory Interfaces and Attention Shifts, Eye-to-IT conference on translation processing, sentence processing, and the bilingual mental lexicon, 28-APR-09 - 29-APR-09, Copenhagen
• O'Brien, Sharon, Eye tracking in translation process research: methodological challenges and solutions, 1st International Research Workshop "Methodology in Translation Process Research", 06-APR-09 - 08-APR-09, Graz, Austria
• O'Brien, Sharon, Challenging Translation Technology, 2nd Athens International Conference on Translation and Interpretation: Teaching and Researching the Practice, 10-OCT-08 - 11-OCT-08, Athens, Greece
• O'Brien, Sharon, 10 Years of Localisation Teaching in Ireland: Challenges, Outlook and Fruitful Industrial Collaboration, Teaching Localization for Global Business Readiness: The LISA-Lessius Forum, 10-DEC-07 - 12-DEC-07, Antwerp, Belgium
• O'Brien, Sharon & Johann Roturier, How Portable are Controlled Language Rules? A Comparison of Two Empirical MT Studies, In: Maegaard, Bente ed.Machine Translation Summit XI, 10-SEP-07 - 14-SEP-07, Copenhagen Business School, 345 - 352
• O'Brien, Sharon, "The Link Between Controlled Language and Post-Editing", Transadaptation, Technology, Nomadism, 08-MAR-07 - 10-MAR-07, Montréal, Canada
• O'Brien, Sharon, "Investigating Translation from an Eye-Tracking Perspective", Second Conference of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies, 12-JUL-06 - 14-JUL-06, Cape Town, South Africa
• O'Brien, Sharon, Machine Translatability and post-editing effort: How do they relate?, 26th Translating and the Computer Conference (ASLIB), 18-NOV-04 - 19-NOV-04, London, UK
• O'Brien, Sharon, Methodologies for monitoring post-editing activity, 4th International EST Congress, 26-SEP-04 - 29-SEP-04, Lisbon, Portugal
• O'Brien, Sharon, Methodologies for Monitoring Post-editing activity, First Dublin City University Postgraduate Conference in Translation Studies, 01-APR-04 - 02-APR-04, DCU
• O'Brien, Sharon, Translatability Assessment in a Controlled Language Environment, Translation Seminar Series, Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies, University of Manchester, 23-MAR-04 - 23-MAR-04, Manchester, UK
• O'Brien, Sharon, Controlling Controlled English: An Analysis of Several Controlled Language Rule Sets, Joint Conference combining the 8th International Workshop of the European Association for Machine Translation and the 4th Controlled Language Applications Workshop, 15-MAY-03 - 17-MAY-03, Dublin City University
• O'Brien, Sharon, Teaching Post-editing: A Proposal for Course Content, The 6th International Workshop of the European Association for Machine Translation, 14-NOV-02 - 15-NOV-02, Manchester, UK
• O'Brien, Sharon, Preparing translators for a variety of career paths, Society for Automotive Engineers' TOPTEC forum, 01-OCT-02 - 02-OCT-02, Nashville, TN, USA
• O'Brien, Sharon, Translation Technology - The Next Generation, Translating and the Computer 21, 10-NOV-99 - 11-NOV-99, London
• O'Brien, Sharon, Alpnet's TSS/Joust: Project Management, Production Support and Integration with Machine Translation, The Localisation Industry Standards Association, 25-AUG-98 - 28-AUG-98, Madrid
• O'Brien, Sharon, Practical Experience of Computer-Aided Translation Tools in the Software Localisation Industry, Unity in Diversity: Recent Trends in Translation Studies, 01-MAY-98 - 02-MAY-98, Dublin
• O'Brien, Sharon, Katharina Macke, Alphabet Soup: TM-MT-CAT-MAT in Localisation, Software Localisation Interest Group, 25-MAR-98 - 25-MAR-98, Dublin
• O'Brien, Sharon, Localisation Workflow and CAT Tools, The Localisation Industry Standards Association, 04-JUN-97 - 06-JUN-97, Washington DC, USA
• O'Brien, Sharon, Sublanguage, Text Type and Machine Translation, 9th European Symposium on LSP, 02-AUG-93 - 06-AUG-93, Bergen, Norway
• O'Brien, Sharon, Sublanguage and Text Type Analysis, IRAAL "Research in Progress" Workshop, 15-MAY-93 - 15-MAY-93, DCU
• O'Brien, Sharon, Sublanguage: Characteristics and Selection Guidelines for MT, 5th Annual Conference on AI and Cognitive Science, 01-AUG-92 - 02-AUG-92, Limerick