Genre containers: Building a theoretical framework for studying formats in information behavior
26 Oct 2021-Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd)-
About: This article is published in Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology.The article was published on 2021-10-26. It has received None citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Information behavior.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a conception of genre based on conventionalized social motives which are found in recurrent situation-types is proposed, and the thesis is that genre must be conceived in terms of rhetorical action rather than substance or form.
Abstract: This essay proposes a conception of genre based on conventionalized social motives which are found in recurrent situation‐types. The thesis is that genre must be conceived in terms of rhetorical action rather than substance or form.
2,796 citations
01 Nov 1993
TL;DR: In this paper, Schon's theme is replayed several octaves lower and the fundamental frequency is barely to be heard, even though it is a real and long awaited music.
Abstract: I should like to respond to Professor Schon's chapter by replaying his theme several octaves lower. In my opinion, he has struck exactly the right set of notes. “Problem setting” should indeed be considered the crucial process, as opposed to “problem solving.” And the “stories that people tell about troublesome situations” do set up or “mediate” the problem. And “frame conflict” between various stories should be studied in detail, precisely because it is quite often “immune to resolution by appeal to the facts.” It is hard to think of a better overture to genuine advance in the social and behavioral sciences than this. At the same time, it seems to me that Schon has managed to sound these excellent notes only in their overtones, so that the fundamental frequency is barely to be heard – even though, to my ears at least, Schon's kind of thinking is real and long awaited music. Quite simply, what I believe is missing is the application of Schon's wisdom – this paradigm-consciousness – to human communication itself. It may seem predictable that I, a linguist, would take such a position. But, if I do, it is hardly disciplinary narrow-mindedness that motivates me. In 1954, Norbert Wiener, one of the originators of information theory, and the “father of cybernetics,” stated quite flatly: “Society can only be understood through a study of the messages and communications facilities which belong to it” (Wiener, 1954, p. 16).
1,475 citations
01 Jan 1997
1,020 citations
TL;DR: This article proposes that the authors' information literacy instruction programs are extended to include tenets of genre theory as a way to move toward a more critical stance in their pedagogy.
Abstract: This article proposes that we extend our information literacy instruction programs to include tenets of genre theory as a way to move toward a more critical stance in our pedagogy. By developing an anthropologist's sensitivity to culture, academic librarians can learn the characteristics of the academic disciplines and then help students learn these characteristics as a way for them to understand the rhetorical practices in these fields. In making tacit practices visible, librarians can facilitate students' transitions into the cultures of their chosen disciplines. In this way, we can help students see that information is constructed and contested not monolithic and apolitical.
200 citations
TL;DR: To demonstrate how information‐literacy is to have knowledge about information sources and that searching and using them is determined by an insight into how knowledge is socially organized in society, the paper takes a point of departure in Habermas' theory of the public sphere.
Abstract: Purpose – To provide some theoretical considerations concerning information literacy so as to contribute to a theoretically informed point of departure for understanding information literacy and to argue that to be an information literate person is to have knowledge about information sources and that searching and using them is determined by an insight into how knowledge is socially organized in society.Design/methodology/approach – Using concepts from composition studies that deal with the question of what a writer needs to know in order to produce a text, the paper outlines some ideas and key concepts in order to show how these ideas and concepts are useful to our understanding of information literacy. To demonstrate how information‐literacy is to have knowledge about information sources and that searching and using them is determined by an insight into how knowledge is socially organized in society, the paper takes a point of departure in Habermas' theory of the public sphere.Findings – Concludes that ...
90 citations