GENRE ANALYSIS IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH

Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application, 2003 by Firth, David R, Lawrence, Cameron

Several authors also show that if a user of a particular communicative format uses the appropriate genre for that format, context, or situation, then the communication will be better for all involved. How one defines "better" may vary, but it includes increased use of the system, increased understanding of the communicative intent, and increased ability to perform work functions. Each of these is clearly a desirable outcome. For instance Erickson (1999) suggests that genre analysis allows an examination of the influences, such as the interface, shaping computer-mediated communication (CMC). The implication is that through the use of genre analysis we can design a CMC interface to better interact with the genres that a user may be familiar and comfortable with, thereby increasing the use and effectiveness of the CMC itself.

Looking at the three types of communication (discourse, document and web pages) provides further insight into why genre analysis is useful. Common across the three types of communication is the notion that genres structure, shape, direct and organize communication. As a result, authors examining each type of communication suggest that IT should be designed with genre in mind, as the ability to use the appropriate genre for a communication is believed to enhance user satisfaction with the communication.

For discourse-based IT systems, authors suggest that designing the system around, or with consideration of supporting genres, should impact use and participation of these systems. This arises as people find them more relevant for the contexts in which they wish to use them.

For document-based IT systems, authors suggest designing the system with genre in mind should facilitate better classification of documents, leading to better storage of documents, and therefore an improvement in the results of document search. By having the IT systems designed in such a way that it supports the classification of documents, users should be able to more quickly recognize a document, if it is in a genre they are familiar with. If it is not a familiar genre, then they can know quickly that this document needs more time and energy to work with.

As with documents, genre classification of web pages should improve search. For instance if a user is able to specify the resume genre as part of a search criteria, and web pages have been classified based on genres2, our user should be fairly assured of his or her search results containing resumes, and not other potentially similar results such as job postings, which are in a different genre. Authors studying web page communication note that it provides the opportunity to deploy certain unique genres, for instance the ability to link to another page, file, image or object, by clicking on it3. They suggest that those designing communication for the web should not miss the opportunity to exploit these unique genres.

PROVIDING AN IDENTITY FOR THE IS DISCIPLINE

Our review of the use of genre analysis within the IS field, summarized in Table 1 above, shows that there are many ways in which it has improved our understanding of communication using IS-based systems, which, in turn, has increased our understanding of the IT artifacts. This approach of seeking theoretical insight into not only the social implications of technology, but also into the IT artifacts themselves, is consistent with Orlikowski and Iacono's call to theorize the IT artifact (Orlikowski and Iacono 2001). However, a recent article by Benbasat and Zmud (2003) highlighted another problem faced by the IS discipline as a result of "under-investigating phenomena intimately associated with IT-based systems and over-investigating phenomena distantly associated with IT-based systems." In Table 1 we highlighted the IT systems being studied to show that IT researchers using genre analysis are indeed investigating phenomena intimately associated with IT-based systems. Still, we feel that addressing the concerns of Benbasat and Zmud (2003) by determining whether genre analysis helps provide "an identity for the IS discipline" will only further strengthen the case for genre analysis being a useful tool for our field.