How does documentation and multilingualism intersect with inclusive global publishing? Get an inside perspective in this interview with Emma Uhl, PKP Documentation and Multilingualism Specialist.
In a global scholarly environment still searching for grounded, practical approaches to decolonizing knowledge, the Public Knowledge Project offers a meaningful contribution, due in no small part to our sustained investment in multilingualism, led with care and expertise by Emma Uhl.
In their 2022 article, Khanna, Ball, Alperin, and Willinsky highlighted the modest but significant forms of decolonial praxis made possible through the worldwide adoption of OJS. Their work demonstrates how open, community-run infrastructure broadens global participation in scholarly publishing and strengthens linguistic diversity within the research ecosystem.
Below, Emma Uhl outlines her experience, role, and PKP’s approach to supporting multilingual publishing and strengthening equitable participation across global research communities.
The Journey of Inclusive Open Publishing Documentation and Multilingualism in Emma’s Own Words
Can you share a little about your background and what led you to join the Public Knowledge Project?
Absolutely! My work background before PKP was the mess you expect from someone in their 20s, but I worked a lot of Japanese-to-English translation contracts to support myself throughout school. I was 27 by the time I finished my undergraduate degree as a first-generation student.
When it was time to graduate, one of my professors asked me if I’d ever considered becoming a graduate student. Although I think he wanted me to take up Japanese linguistics — sorry, Ono-sensei — he kindly helped me apply for the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program after I decided I should choose a path with more stable employment prospects (a decision likely influenced by the fact that I was raised by a university library employee who greatly resented the barriers on her career caused by a lack of access to post-secondary education).
Once I was an MLIS student, I was employed under Sonya Betz, the head of Library Publishing at the University of Alberta at the time. I was trained to use OJS to manage published journals and asked to represent the U of A at PKP’s Documentation Interest Group. The rest is history! I was recruited for a student position at PKP and eventually hired after my graduation during the pandemic.
As a Documentation and Multilingualism Specialist, your work likely spans a lot of different areas. Can you give us a snapshot of what projects you work on?
I manage the Documentation Interest Group (DIG) sprints, where PKP staff and community volunteers collaborate to improve our documentation. Because this is PKP’s longest-running collaborative group, I also help shape our strategy around interest groups and community outreach.
Since documentation is central to PKP’s educational resources, I often work across teams to “translate” information from developers or specialists into resources that make sense for everyday users. Educational strategy is a hot topic among many of us at PKP. For example, right now I’m helping out our Community Education Manager, Kate Shuttleworth, with the ALMASI project.
On the multilingualism side, I guide volunteer translators through our translation process. I help contributors navigate the tools, make regional language choices, and ensure contributions are made in the right places.
I also manage the platforms that support our documentation and translation work. For example, I’m currently working with a developer to move our documentation hub to a new platform with features we’ve been missing since the first launch. A big part of this role is lowering barriers for people with the skills to contribute but who aren’t familiar with software or GitHub.
Because of my background with the PKP Publishing Services branch, I also join their meetings to stay informed about client experiences and identify opportunities for collaboration with the Community team. Sometimes I still provide some good old-fashioned tech support, too.
Sometimes I describe myself as a “float”, as in someone who moves between stations depending on what’s needed in retail. My role naturally connects me with colleagues across PKP, and I like to dive into big cross-team projects and debate what could make our ever-growing team work even better. Maybe because I’m a bit of a dilettante at heart.
PKP has a global reach, and multilingualism is a key part of your role. How does language play into the accessibility and impact of the tools and resources you help PKP provide?
One of PKP’s major goals is to break down barriers both in terms of access and production of research, and this includes language barriers. Much has been written by wiser people than myself about English as the de facto language of research and tech.
Although we’re a very English-speaker-heavy organization, PKP does not want to fall into the trap of believing that English is “good enough for everyone”, especially when we want to encourage the types of regional innovation and network-building we see at home in Canada and from our friends abroad.
We want regions to take our software, learn it, and understand it through our resources. Then, they can mold it through the process of translation and documentation, code contribution, and user feedback. Consequently, PKP’s tools become part of their local publishing ecosystems rather than something imposed from outside.
To me, that’s the real impact of multilingualism. It makes open research infrastructure truly global, not just global in reach but in ownership.
Community plays a huge role in PKP’s work. How does community collaboration shape your approach to documentation and translation?
I came to PKP through a community/staff interest group as a mentee to a library publisher, so in a way, community collaboration is all I’ve ever known. There’s no point in writing documentation or offering translated software if it doesn’t address the needs of the community.
And the usefulness of the most carefully crafted software with infinite language offerings and supplementary documentation would still hinge on whether or not its user community is capable of achieving their goals.
PKP and its software are complicated things! But being in this role has really taught me the importance of being able to explain the complicated things that make us who we are at different levels of detail depending on what is most useful for the situation. My contact with so many distinct needs, desires, and issues across the world informs everything I do in the project.
What part of your work at PKP motivates you the most, and why is it so important to you?
Positive user feedback. It’s really that simple. When someone says Oh, I’ve been hoping PKP would have this type of educational resource, or that the documentation would better cover a certain feature, or that a commonly requested quality-of-life change would come to the software.
When we can give improvements to a user with all the information they need to leverage the hard work that went into them, and everything feels frictionless, it’s very gratifying and feels like a community-driven project at its best.
For our readers who are interested in documentation and multilingualism efforts at PKP, are there any upcoming projects you’re working on that they should keep tabs on?
Yes! The aforementioned change of platform for our documentation hub is going to be a huge one, and I’m super excited. We’ll finally have searchable documentation, and updates will be automatically reflected. We’re also hoping to capitalize on some other usability features as we build it out. Combined with the revamped Learning OJS 3.5, documentation will be in better shape than ever.
Are there any fun multilingualism stories or experiences that you’ve had at PKP that you’d like to share?
It’s just a small full-circle coincidence, but it’s fun for me. Years ago, I received a scholarship from a Japanese government organization to study in Japan, and recently I found myself using that same background to provide a bit of Japanese language support in a meeting with members of that very same organization. It was one of those “the world is really small” moments.
Outside of that, I’m sometimes reminded that multilingualism isn’t just about different languages… I have a lot of rural Saskatchewan sayings I got from my mother that regularly confuse my colleagues and myself.
Thank you, Emma, for sharing your story about how you came to PKP, the unique skills and experience you bring, and the considerations you make as you work on PKP documentation and multilingualism. Your leadership in developing open documentation to folks using PKP software, and in translation efforts, is paramount to empowering scholars worldwide in using OJS, OMP, and OPS independently for non-commercial, non-profit, discoverable, open access scholarly publishing.
- Check out the Documentation Interest Group (DIG)
- Check out the Multilingualism Interest Group (MIG)
- Check out the PKP Docs Hub
- Contribute to PKP translation efforts
- Checking out Learning OJS 3.5
Jump to other sections of the newsletter
📌 Sustaining open infrastructure together: A warm thanks to TIB
📌 Advancing open publishing: Feature highlights from three years of CRAFT-OA
📌 Inside 3.5 with UX / UI Designer Devika Goel: Part 2
📌 PKP update on its open infrastructure accessibility work
📌 Regional feature: Canada’s leadership in diamond open access
📌 Coalition Publica’s Tanja Niemann and Kevin Stranack on Canada’s diamond open access future
