Publications

Published

Jones, H. (2023) "“Gua means scrape”: A conversation analysis of identity construction and negotiation in polylogal Wikipedia paratext", in K. Batchelor and C. Bucaria (eds) "Media Paratexts and Translation", Special Issue of Translation Studies 16(3): 379-397, DOI: 10.1080/14781700.2023.2229330.

ABSTRACT: This article contributes to multidisciplinary research exploring the role played by paratext in the construction of identities. First, it develops a theoretical and methodological framework inspired by recent scholarship on conducting conversation analysis in digital contexts and on the ways in which speakers claim positions of expertise through their turns-at-talk. Next, it presents a case study examining translation-focused discussion forum comments posted within the so-called “Talk” pages that surround the mainspace content of the online user-generated encyclopedia Wikipedia. The analysis highlights the often intensely interactive nature of digital paratext and probes the implications for participants’ identity work: I argue that the polylogal nature of this paratextual space requires the constant negotiation of identities as Wikipedia contributors relentlessly jostle with one another for recognition of their epistemic authority. In the final section, I discuss the implications of this Wikipedia case for broader areas of scholarship on translation and digital paratext.

Coming soon

Jones, H. (in progress) Knowledge Translation in Wikipedia: Exploring the Mediation of Medical Knowledge in Digital Culture. London & New York: Routledge.

ABSTRACT: This book showcases transdisciplinary perspectives on medical knowledge translation (KT), exploring how the case study of Wikipedia can illuminate the value of translation studies approaches to medicine and health. The volume outlines the current landscape of KT, understood as the efforts to bridge the gap between research and implementation, and accelerate the dissemination of scientific evidence between stakeholders and the wider public. Jones traces the ways in which theoretical and methodological frameworks from translation studies can extend existing debates within this field by going beyond a reductive view of translation to better reflect the complexity of challenges in KT. In focusing the discussion on Wikipedia, the book showcases the tensions between institutionally-led and citizen-led KT practices in an open-editing platform, one which plays an outsized role in contemporary digital culture and the dissemination of medical information. In so doing, Jones points the way forward for new directions for both translation studies and KT research by broadening our understanding of translation to a wider range of social practices and as a fulcrum for the production and circulation of health-related knowledge more widely. This book will be of interest to scholars in medical humanities, translation studies, science and technology studies, public health, and media studies.