In this article we argue that the concept of genre has a valuable function within sociological theory, particularly for understanding emerging communicative practices within social and personal media. Genres span the whole range of recognizable forms of communication, play a crucial role in overcoming contingency and facilitate communication. Their function is to enhance composing and understanding of communication by offering interpretative, recognizable and flexible frames of reference. As such, genres generate a sense of stability in modern complex societies. Genres ought to be seen as an intermediary level between the levels of media and text, however influenced by both. They operate as interaction between two interdependent dimensions, conventions and expectations, both of which are afforded by media and specific texts. In this article these relationships are illustrated through two cases of emerging personal media genres: the online diary and the camphone self-portrait.

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SAMMENDRAG Hvordan reguleres og forhandles det rundt ungdoms dataspilling i familier med ikke-vestlig bakgrunn i Norge? Dette er spørsmålet som utforskes i dette kapitlet, som utforsker kilder for konflikt og modeller for konfliktløsning knyttet til dataspill i et familieperspektiv. Et kvalitativt empirisk materiale blir analysert i lys av diskursteori. Funnene viser at de mest harmoniske modellene er de som baserer seg på dialog, tillit og gjensidig deltaking fra ungdom og foreldre.

This article explores the consequences of ethnographic practice when social and mobile media are used both as tools for research and sites of study. We draw on incidents from our fieldwork practice to reflect on the research intimacies that are produced when digital media technologies bring different spheres of researchers’ worlds in close proximity. We show how managing the unstable rhythms and temporal structures of ethnographic fieldwork practice might involve dispensing a considerable amount of affective energy.