Conventions and Mutual Expectations -- understanding sources for web genres

TL;DR

This paper explores how understanding genres can be enhanced by examining reader and author behaviors, bridging sociological and objective perspectives to inform genre variation and change.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach focusing on behavioral sources rather than text analysis to study genre variation and change.

Findings

Highlights the importance of reader and author behavior in genre studies

Proposes a combined sociological and objective framework for genre analysis

Suggests new directions for research in information and language technology

Abstract

Genres can be understood in many different ways. They are often perceived as a primarily sociological construction, or, alternatively, as a stylostatistically observable objective characteristic of texts. The latter view is more common in the research field of information and language technology. These two views can be quite compatible and can inform each other; this present investigation discusses knowledge sources for studying genre variation and change by observing reader and author behaviour rather than performing analyses on the information objects themselves.