The Effects of Linking on Genres of Web Documents

Documents on the Web can be composed of multiple Web pages, suggesting the need to consider how linking between pages affects a document\u27s form. We illustrate this point by considering patterns of linking in a common genre of document, the Frequently Asked Questions file or FAQ. In a sample of 70 FAQs, we found four patterns of linking: no links, links within the page, links to pages on the same host and links to other hosts. We suggest that links that tie together document pieces simply recreate the already accepted FAQ genre, but links that provide navigation within the document or that link to other information sources begin to extend and adapt the FAQ genre to the needs and capabilities of the Web

The Representation of Knowledge Contained in Technical Documents: the Example of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

International audienceThis article deals with the representation of knowledge contained in FAQs. Various works showed that it is conceivable to categorise the various information units contained in technical documents according to the type of the information conveyed. Such a model based on various types of information units makes it possible to represent the knowledge contained in technical documents. Besides, this model proposes a method for the automatic recognition of the information units types contained in these documents. This model has been constructed for "traditional" technical documents and it has been validated with expert users of these documents. In this paper, we propose to validate and extend this model to FAQs by an experimental study with a group of users, expert of the technical field described in FAQs

Genre Analysis in Information Systems Research

In this paper we examine the information systems (IS) literature surrounding the use of genre analysis. We look at why IS researchers use genre analysis, the insights that using genre analysis brings forth, and the resulting impact the research has. We also show that genre analysis is successfully providing an identity for the IS discipline. We use this review to provide insight into new avenues that IS researchers might explore using genre analysis, as well as show how practitioners may be able to benefit from its use

Genres of Spam

Spam is currently the dominant form of communications on the internet, accounting for most e-mail traffic. Spam is a marketing device, it is also an expensive and time-consuming nuisance for industrires as well as a major vehicle for serious internet crimes. While considerable research has focused on the technical aspects of spam, how it works and how it can be blocked, our research aims to better understand why it works. We explore how genre theory can contribute to our understanding of ‘spam’. Our study consists of two parts. The first examined the content, form and specific features and considered the manifest relationship to existing genres of communication. The second part of the study focused on a detailed analysis of 111 Nigerian letters, a particularly noxious form of spam. Genre is generally considered useful because it makes communications more recognizable and understandable to recipients, helping readers process information. Our study suggests that spam is not a single genre but adaptations of many recognizable print genres. With spam, genre operates at several levels and is often used to mask rather than reveal intent. The paper concludes that spam exploits genre by conforming to known forms while at the same time breaching those norms

Dynamic recomposition of documents from distributed data sources

Dynamic recomposition of documents refers to the process of on-the-fly creation of documents. A document can be generated from several documents that are stored at distributed data sites. The source can be queried and results obtained in the form of XML. These XML documents can be combined after a series of transformation operations to obtain the target document. The resultant document can be stored statically or in the form of a command, which can be invoked later to recompose this document dynamically. Also, in case a change is made to a document, then only the change can be stored, instead of storing the modified document in its entirety. The purpose of this research was to provide a way to recompose dynamic documents. A solution is proposed at the level of algebra for update and recomposition of documents stored at distributed data sources. The issue of representation of a document by a command, i.e., a composition operator and/or an editing command along with one or more path expressions has also been researched. The construction of a dynamic document has three phases to it. The first one is the information retrieval. Phase two deals with building of real document: this includes the filtering of retrieved data by selecting relevant subset of a document and then applying update operations, and finally the ordering and assembling of the document. The final phase consists of displaying or storing or exchanging it over the web through a convenient means

Reproduced and Emergent Genres of Communication on the World-Wide Web

The World-Wide Web is growing quickly and being applied to many new types of communications. As a basis for studying organizational communications, Yates and Orlikowski [1, 2] proposed using genres. They defined genres as, “typified communicative actions characterized by similar substance and form and taken in response to recurrent situations” [1, p. 299]. They further suggested that communications in a new media will show both reproduction or adaptation of existing communicative genres as well as the emergence of new genres. We studied this phenomena on the World-Wide Web by examining randomly selected Web pages (100 in one sample and 1000 in a second) and categorizing the type of genre represented. Perhaps most interestingly, we saw examples of genres being adapted to take advantage of the linking and interactivity of the new medium, such as solicitations for help and genealogies. We suggest that Web site designers consider the genres that are appropriate for their situation and attempt to reuse familiar genres

Interculturalité et fonctionnement des flux d’information dans l’écriture hypertextuelle. Réflexions pour une approche pédagogique

En este estudio describimos cómo se teje la estructura interna de dos sitios web (uno francés y otro inglés) al mismo tiempo que formulamos hipótesis sobre el funcionamiento de los flujos de información que aparecen en ellos. Mostramos los aspectos plurilingües y multiculturales sobre los que se sustentan y avanzamos algunas hipótesis sobre las relaciones entre los modelos ideológicos y los modelos discursivos que emanan de los flujos de información que se ofrecen a los visitantes- lectores de dichos sitios. De este análisis se deriva una serie de reflexiones que nos permitirán elaborar propuestas pedagógicas para la enseñanza-aprendizaje de lenguas.This study describes how the internal structure of two websites (in English and French) is interwoven, and formulates a series of hypotheses on the operation of the information flows extant in each of them. Apart from showing the multilingual and multicultural issues upon which these hypotheses are built, this study puts forward a series of discourse models derived from the information flows presented to the visitorsreaders of those sites. This analysis yields a series of reflections that will allow researchers to elaborate pedagogic proposals focused on the teaching and learning of languages

Tackling genre classification: the case of HTML research articles

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras/Inglês e Literatura CorrespondentePesquisas recentes sobre comunicação científica têm revelado que desde o final dos anos de 1990 o uso de periódicos acadêmicos passou da mídia impressa para o mídia eletrônica (Tenopir, 2002, 2003; Tenopir & King, 2001, 2002) e, conseqüentemente, há previsões de que por volta de 2010 cerca de 80% dos periódicos terão apenas versões online (Harnad, 1998). Todavia, essas pesquisas mostram também que nem todas as disciplinas estão migrando para a Internet com a mesma velocidade. Enquanto que áreas como as Ciências da Informação, Arquivologia, Web design e Medicina têm mostrado interesse e preocupação em entnder e explicar esse fenômeno, em Lingüística Aplicada, particularmente em Análise de Gênero, os estudos ainda são escassos. Neste trabalho, portanto, procuro investigar em que medida o meio eletrônico (Internet) afeta o gênero artigo acadêmico no seu processo de mudança da mídia impressa para a mídia eletrônica. Mais especificamente, examino artigos acadêmicos em HTML nas áreas de Lingüística e Medicina com vistas a verificar se esse hypertexto é um gênero novo ou não. A abordagem metodológica adotada nesta pesquisa deriva da proposta de Askehave e Swales (2001) e de Swales (2004), na qual o critéro predominante para a classificação de um gênero é o propósito comunicativo, o qual só pode ser definido com base em uma análise textual tanto quanto em uma análise contextual. Dessa forma, neste estudo foram coletados e analisados dados textuais e contextuais e os resultados de ambas análises revelam que o artigo acadêmico em HTML é um gênero novo, cujo propósito comunicativo é realizado por hiperlinks e portanto, esse gênero é profundamente dependente da mídia eletrônica

Social Network Model for Accessing and Sharing Expertise During Disasters

Whether human-made or natural disasters, both could typically followed by chaos, this often results from an inadequate overall response. Preparedness is the best response to emergencies, and a multi-agent-based approach to coordination decision support systems often plays a significant role in disaster management and response. Using an integrated approach to facilitate coordination is considered important in dealing with disasters. Often, there are different kinds of coordination, such as physical coordination between emergent agencies or local agencies, and administrative coordination. While traditional disaster management studies have focused on coordination of managerial or government policy approaches, this study focuses on the direct local-based advice network used by emergency personnel (such as managers and volunteers) to understand how the properties of such human networks affect the ability to access and share expertise during a disaster incident in order to ensure prompt and accurate decisions. The key motivating question guiding this research is: how can the multi-level study of properties of social networks at network, actor and tie level help us understand the coordination that enables expertise access and sharing during disasters? Moreover, this study also asks: To what degree is this relationship associated with expertise coordination in a negative or positive manner? How are centralisation and efficiency in an individual’s social network associated with coordination? Do network constraints and tie strength in an individual’s social network negatively or positively affect coordination? This study uses novel theoretical approaches to suggest an empirical-based framework and methodology for exploring the relationship between the properties of social networks and coordination of expertise during disasters