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Reproduced and Emergent Genres of Communication on the Reproduced and Emergent Genres of Communication on the
World-Wide Web World-Wide Web
Kevin Crowston
Syracuse University, School of Information Studies
Marie Williams
Web Architects, Syracuse NY
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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation
Crowston, K. & Williams, M. Reproduced and emergent genres of communication on the World-Wide Web.
The Information Society, 16(3), 201–215, doi: 10.1080/01972240050133652.
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The Information Society, 16:201
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215, 2000
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Reproduced and Emergent Genres o f Communication
on the World Wide Web
Kevin Crowston
School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA
Marie Williams
Web Architechs, Syracuse, New York, USA
The World Wide Web is growing quickly and being applied to
many new types of communications. As a basis for studying organi-
zational communications, Yates and Orlikowski
(
1992; Orlikowski
& Yates, 1994
)
proposed using genres. They de ned genres as “typ-
i ed communicative actions characterized by similar substance
and form and taken in response to recurrent situations”
(
Yates &
Orlikowski, 1992, p. 299
)
. They further suggested that communica-
tions in a new media would show both reproduction and adaptation
of existing communicative genres as well as the e mergence of new
genres. We studied these phenomena on th e World Wide Web by
examining 1000 randomly selected Web pages and categorizing th e
type of genre represented. Although many pages recreated genres
familiar from traditional media, we also saw examples of genres be-
ing adapted to take advantage of the linking and interactivity of the
new medium and novel genres emerging to t the unique commu-
nicative needs of the audience. We suggest that Web-site designers
consider th e genres that are appropriate for their situation and
attempt to reproduce or adapt familiar genres.
Keywords docume nt genre, World Wide Web, structuration theory,
web adoption
Re ceived 17 September 1998; accepted 18 February 1999.
We thank Louis Monier of Digital Equipment Corporation’s Palo
Al to lab fo r his assista nce in understanding Alta Vista an d for providing
t he sample of URLs, JoAnne Yates for her advice on this article, and
Devang Shah f or his assistance in coding the sample. Three anonymous
r eviewers a nd the editors provided useful suggestions for improving this
pa per.
An earlier version of this paper was pres ented at the Hawai’i Inter-
na tional Conference on Systems Science, 1997 .
Addre ss correspondence to Kevin Crowston, School of Information
St udies, Syracuse Universit y, 4-206 Centre for Science and Research,
Syra cuse, NY 13244-4100 , USA. E-mail: crowston@syr.edu
T he World Wide Web
(
or the Web
)
is an Internet client
–
ser ver communication system for retrieving and display-
ing multimedia hypertext documents
(
Be rners-Lee et al.,
1994
)
. Documents are identi ed by an address called a
uniform resource locator, or URL. The Web’s main ad-
vantages over earlier Internet systems are its merger of
re trieval and display tools, its capacity for handling for-
m atted text, embedded graphics, and other media, and
point-and-click links to other documents
(
hence the nam e
)
.
A lso, many browsers are capable of seamlessly retrieving
inform ation using older protocols
(
e. g., FTP, Gopher, and
U senet news
)
a nd automatically launching other applica-
tions to display diverse Internet data types
(
e. g., sound,
a nimation
)
.
O ver the past several years, the Web has clearly become
the most popular Internet application
(
at least in terms of
traf c
)
. For example, Bray
(
1996
)
reported that 223,851
ser vers at 89,271 sites provided 11,366,121 unique URLs
in N ovember 1995; Woodruff et al.
(
1996
)
c ollected
2.6 million Web documents. These numbers continue to
grow—current size estimates are in excess of 55 million
U RLs
(
P edram, 1997
)
—as individuals, businesses, and
other organizations rus h to establish Web presences.
W hat is less clear is how the Web can or will be use d
by these diverse groups. Many organiz ations see the Web
prim arily as a cheap mean s of publishing information and
a re simply moving existing documents to the new medium
(
so -called brochureware
)
. However, a few are experiment-
ing with its ca pabilities to communicate and interact
in novel ways, creating new genres of communication
(
C ampbell & Jamieson, 1978; Harrell & Linkugel, 1978;
M iller, 1984
)
. For example, Andersen Consulting is ex-
per imenting with a Web-based agent, Bargain Finder, to
a llow users to comparison shop for music CD s
(
K rulwich,
n. d.
)
.
201
202 K. CROWSTON AND M. WILLIAMS
T he purpose of our study was to describe the range
of genres of communication in use on the Web. Commu-
nicative genre is de ned as an accepted type of commu-
nication sharing common form, content, or purpose, such
as an inquiry, letter, memo, or meeting. Note that genre
is not simply the medium of communication. A document
w ith a memo genre may be realized on paper or in an
electronic mail message
(
two different media
)
, while the
electronic mail medium may be used to deliver memos
and inquiries
(
two different genres of documents
)
. How-
ever, mediu m does in uence which genres are accepted.
We were particularly interested in studying how the adop-
tion of a new communication medium, the Web, is leading
to adaptation of existing genres and the emergence of new
ones.
T he article starts by discussing the concept of docu-
me nt genre and its applicabilit y to the Web. Succeeding
sections describe our methodology and discuss the gen-
res we found. Our speci c contributions are to document
the range of genres found in the sample of Web pages
and to identify possibly new genres in use on the Web.
We also hope to suggest how many uses of the Web have
evolved from earlier communicative practices rather than
being created de novo. We conclude by discussing how the
notion of genre can be useful to Web-site designers and,
as is required by the genre of this article, by considering
future research directions.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Rhetoricians since Aristotle have attempted to classify
com munications into categories, or genres, with similar
form, topic, or purpose. Numerous de nitions of genre
have been debated in that community
(
e.g., Campbell &
Jamieson, 1978; Harrell & Linkugel, 1978; Miller, 1984;
Sw ales, 1990
)
. Other groups have also struggled with the
notion of document types; for example, information sci-
entists have included rules for documen t types in Standard
G eneralized Markup Language
(
SG ML
) (
D ollar, 1994
)
.
More recently, Yates and Orlikowski
(
1992; Orlikowski
& Yates, 1994
)
proposed using genre as a basis for studying
com munications in organizations. They de ned genres as
“a distinctive type of communicative action, characterized
by a socially rec ognized communicative purpose and com-
mon aspects of form”
(
O rlikowski & Yates, 1994, p. 543
)
.
In other words, given a socially recognized need to com-
municate
(
i.e., a purpose; Bitzer, 1968
)
, individuals will
typically express similar social motives, themes, and top-
ics in a communication with similar physical an d linguistic
characteristics
(
i.e., form
)
; that is, they will communicate
in a recognized genre. Some genres are de ned primar-
ily in terms of purpose or function, such as a proposal or
inquiry; others are de ned in terms of the physical form,
such as a booklet or brochure; still others are de ned in
terms of the document f orm, such as lists or directories.
H owever, most genres imply a combination of purpose
and form, such as a newsletter, which communicates “the
news of the da y,” including multiple short articles an d is
distributed periodically to subscribers or members of an
organization.
T his article, for example, is an example of the social
science paper genre, commonly used when communicat-
ing scienti c results in a community of social scientists
to advance the state of knowledge in a eld
(
as well as
the authors’ careers
)
. It has a form familiar to a social
scientist: a title, authors and af liations, sections for intro-
duction, theory, method, data and discussion, directions
for future work, citations, a bibliography, and so on. Other
comm on genres include letters and memos, project team
me etings, and TV sitcoms, all immediately recognizable
by their typical purpose and characteristic form.
G enre Hierarchies. The notion of genre has been ex-
tended in several directions. First, as the examples illus-
trate, genres can be arranged in a hierarchy, as in the Art
and Architecture Thesaurus
(
Petersen, 1994
)
, for example.
T he social science paper is a special case of a more gen-
era l research paper genre, which in turn is a type of paper.
O ther types of research papers are computer science im-
plementation papers, biology research papers, and so on.
T hese genres share some similarities, such as a title, ab-
stract and bibliography, but differ in other particulars, such
as the expected section headings, types of arguments, and
so forth. Similarly, TV sitcoms are a special case of TV
shows in general, project team meetings of meetings, and
so on. Rather than argue abou t the prope r level of analysis
for a genre, we believe it is most useful to follow Yates and
O rlikowski and consider genre s at any of these different
levels.
E mbedded Genres and Genre Systems. Se cond, mul-
tiple genres may be linked or embedded to form a more
complex pattern of communication. As Orlikowski and
Yates
(
1994
)
pointed out, some communications us e mul-
tiple ge nres simultaneously, such as a proposal embedded
in a memo. Multiple communications may also be per-
form ed in a recognizable pattern, what Ba zerman
(
1995
)
called a genre system. Examples include the sequence of
examination and cross-examination in a trial, or the cycle
of article submission to a journal or conference, reviews,
nal acceptance or rejection letters, and publication. Fea-
tures of a genr e may enable their use in a genre system.
Fo r example, page numbers in a technical paper make it
possible to cite concepts or quotations from the paper, thus
binding the paper into the literature.
G enre Repertoires. Finally, Orlikowski and Yates
(
1994, pp. 546
–
547
)
introduced the notion of a genre reper-
toire, that is, the set of genres in use within a community.
T hey note d that different communities use different genres
GENRES OF COM MUNICATION ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB 203
in their com munication, and use common genres with dif-
f erent frequencies. These differences provide one source
of insight into the communicative
(
and other
)
pra ctices of
the community. For example, a community of social sci-
e ntists and computer scientists can be distinguished by the
f requency of use of different paper genres as well as by
the paucity of computer programs and program documen-
tation created in the former, re ecting different modes of
r esearch.
G enres are useful because they make communications
m ore easily recognizable and understandable by recipi-
e nts. Because we drew on the social science paper genre,
f or example, another social scientist can more quickly de-
ter mine the purpose and content of our communication
a nd begin to evaluate its contribution . On the other hand,
a genre may be unfa miliar or hard to understand for some-
one outside of the community. In fact, recognition of a
par ticular genre is on e sign of membership in a particular
c ommunity. Freedman and Medway
(
1994, p. 14
)
suggest
that incomprehensible genres may even be used deliber-
a tely to defend positions of privilege.
Genre Change
D rawing on Giddens’s
(
1984
)
structuration theory, Or-
likowski and Yates
(
1994, p. 545
)
argued that “People
produce, reproduce and change genres through a process
of structuring.” As members of the community draw on
their knowledge of a genre repertoire to communicate,
they reinforce the use of these genres, making them more
a ppropriate or legitimate for use in the given situation. For
exam ple, by creatin g an order entry Web page that draws
on the genre of an order form, a designer reinforces the
a ppropriateness of the order form genre for this typ e of
c ommunication, making its use in future situations more
likely. In other words, the set of genres in use
(
i.e. , the
genre repertoire
)
is both a product of and a shaper of the
c ommunicative practices of a community.
R eproduced G enres. Orlikowski and Yates
(
1994,
p. 547
)
suggested that in a new situation individuals will
typically draw on their existing genre repertoires, repro-
ducing genres they have experienced as members of other
c ommunities. For example, traditional genres such as the
book or academic article have moved intact to the Web.
T hese reproductions may be immediately accepted, or
there may be a transition period during which the limits
of the genre are renegotiated. For example, the electroni-
c ally distributed journal article is still in transition
(
K ling
& Covi, 1995; Harter, 1998
)
. It is being used, but this
a dapted genre is not yet completely accepted or consid-
e red legitimate for all purposes
(
e.g., as evidence for a
tenure case
)
by the academic community as a whole.
A dapted Genres. However, people are also free to
m odify a genre and communicate in a way that invokes
only some of the expected aspects of a form. If these
c hanges become repeatedly used, they too may become
a ccepted and used together with or instead of existing
genre s, thus extending or altering the genre repertoire.
For example, the journal article will likel y change as it
m oves onto the Web to take advantage of the possibilitie s
of linking or embedding information; the eventual form
m ay bear only passing resemblance to the self-contained
20- to 25-page articles of today. Also, modi cations of
genres that are parts of genre systems may require corre-
sponding changes to the rest of the system. For example,
c hanges in citation habits will be necessary before page
numbe rs can be dropped from the technical paper genre.
S uch interdependencies between genres will tend to slow
the adoption of a new genre.
B ecause the de nition of genre relies on social accep-
tance, it is impossible to de ne the exact point at which
a new genre emerges from the old one. Acceptance may
take many years. However, a fter some period of coexis-
tence, the new combination of form and purpose may be-
c ome generally recognized and named as a separate genre.
For example , the FAQ
(
f requently asked questions
)
ha s
e merged as a distinct genre on the Usenet and Web. An
A lta Vista search indicates approximately 170,000 Web
pages with FAQ or “Frequently asked questions” in their
title. Also, genres may be accepted in different commu-
nities at different rates. The emergence of distinctive new
genres would be one sign of the form ation of a new com-
m unity with new communicative practices.
Why Study Genres on the Web?
T he Web provides a particularly interesting setting in
w hich to study the use and development of genres an d
genre repertoires. First , the capabilities of the new medium
seem likely to resul t in the development of new genres of
c ommunication. Furtherm ore, the rapid development of
this medium suggests a high level of experimentation with
potential genres. Bea rman
(
1994, pp. 160
–
161
)
, for exam-
ple, notes the rapid evolution in what he refers to as “forms
of material” in electronic media in general.
Se cond, because the majority of Web sites are public,
m any examples of Web communication are easily avail-
a ble for study. Furthermore, because there is no central
m anagement of the Internet or the Web, there is no ex-
plicit management or enforcement of genres of communi-
c ation, as might happen in the introduction of a commu-
nication system in a corporate environment
(
O rlikowski
e t al., 1995
)
. Instead, individual Web site developers indi-
vidually choose how to present their information, drawing
on their understanding as members of a community, what
O rlikowski et al.
(
1995
)
called implicit structuring
(
in this
204 K. CROWSTON AND M. WILLIAMS
case, from the point of view of the Web-page developer
rathe r than the recipient of the communication
)
.
Finally, there are many communities meeting on the
Web, bringing experiences with different genres and us-
ing the Web for many different purposes. The Web is
sometimes used for direct communication where someone
w ith a Web server “delivers” a document to members of a
known com munity by giving them a URL. For example,
some academics use the Web to communicate with col-
leagues by publishing their own papers, and with students
by publishing syllabi and assignments. Another example
of communication within a predictable community is com-
puter companies’ announcing new products, publishing
catalogs, or providing troubleshootin g tips online for their
customers. Since computer users by de nition have the
com puter necessary for Web access, computer companies
have been early and heavily into Web-site development in
expectation of directly reaching their customers.
H owever, in many other cases th e audience is unpre-
dictable. Unlik e the Usenet or electronic mail groups, there
is no clear separation of communities into different chan-
nels of communication
(
as is the case for journals or talks
given at conferences, for which the audience is likely to
have shared interests
)
. Indeed, it is unlikely that there is
a single Web com munity at a ll. Therefore, the resulting
genre repertoire of a collection of Web pages will be the
result of interactions among c ommunities. In some cases,
a genre may act as a type of boundary object
(
Star &
G riesemer, 1989
)
, providing a common point of contact
betw een different groups
(
Fre edman & Medway, 1994
)
.
In others, this mixing may lead to genre confusion, mean-
ing that there is a practical need to understand the way
genre s enable communication. Fo r example, organizations
have used the Web to publish information such as prod-
uct brochures, annual reports, country, state, an d city home
pages, government agency press releases, and so on. These
organizations tend to use existing genres when putting in-
form ation on the Web. H owever, a person happening to
rea ch a document on one of those Web sites has a good
chanc e of bein g outside the community in which that genre
evolved. As a re sult, the docum ent may be confusing and
the communicative purpose lost.
METHOD
To document the range of genres currently in use on the
Web, w e sampled and classi ed randomly selected Web
pages. We chose the individual Web page a s the unit of
analysis for several reasons. First, we had no way to cre-
ate a random sample of Web sites, since the available
databases of Web sites
(
e .g., Yahoo!
)
are typically manu-
ally create d and re ect the editorial biases of their creators.
T here are also signi cant dif culties in drawing bound-
aries around a Web site, as we discuss in the conclusion.
Instead, we sampled pages without regard to where they
appeared in a site . As a result, our sample included parts
of documents as well as whole documents, allowing us to
see adaptations of existing genres in different parts of an
electronic document. However, this procedure means that
w e were more likely to choose pages from sites with many
pages. Our sample contains mostly pages fr om the interior
of sites, sinc e there are many interior pages and typically
only a few top pages.
(
Bra y
[
1996
]
found that the majority
of pages are pointed to only by other pages at the same
site
)
.
Sample
O ur sample of Web pages was created by selecting 1000
U RLs from the pages indexed by the Alta Vista search
engine. The developers of Alta Vista provided us with a
random sample of about 8000 URLs drawn from their
database, from which we randomly chose 1000 for this
study. The sample of URLs was taken in February 1996.
A t that time, Alta Vista attempted to record essentially all
U RLs
(
or at least, all of th e publicly accessible parts of the
Web, a point we return to in the conclusion
)
. Because of
A lta Vista’s comprehensivenes s at that time, we did not feel
it was desirable to add pages chosen from other sources,
since that would have resulted in a sample that drew more
heavily from pages found in th e smaller databases. Nev-
ertheless, in ligh t of the limitations of our sample, we
ma ke no statistical claims about the composition of the
entire Web. Also, since no search engine still attempts to
provide universal coverage, this procedure would not be
effective today.
T he Web pages and graphics were captured in May 1996
(
the delay between sampling and capture was caused by
the need to develop and debug th e spider used to cap-
ture the Web pages and their graphics
)
. By tha t time, the
sample included 128 obsolete URLs
(
err or 404
)
and 35
U RLs to which the server did not respond, leaving a total
of 837 pages to be studied
(
of these, a further 11 were
“Custom 404s,” as discussed later
)
. We have continued to
snapshot this sample every 6 months, although the analysis
presented here concerns only the initial snapshot.
Coding
In their study of genres in electronic mail, Orlikowski and
Yates
(
1994
)
coded the purpose of ea ch message as well as
speci c features such as the pre sence of embedded mes-
sages, subheadings, or lists. They then de ned genres in
terms of combinations of these features. Such an approach
was necessary to inductively identify speci c genres. Their
study required such precision because their messages were
mostly quite similar, because the differences in the forms
of the genres were small
(
e.g., all were e-mai l messages
)
,
