Emerging personal media genres

Abstract

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.

Facebook – selvfremstilling, small talk og social regulering

“…Miller & Shephard (2004) haevder, at en genre opstår som en slags remix af tidligere traditioner og teknologier, der samtidig udgør et specifikt svar på sin tids saerlige kulturelle omstaendigheder (kairos), kommunikative udfordringer (exigence) og teknologiske muligheder. Lüders, Prøitz & Rasmussen (2010) ser i lighed hermed genren som en mediator mellem medie og (mul-Article: Facebook -selvfremstilling, small talk og social regulering Anne Scott Sørensen timodal) tekst, der ved at tilbyde genkendelige og fleksible formater afhjaelper kontingens og fremmer kommunikationen. Nogle af de traditioner, der indgår i "statusopdateringen", der også er blevet kaldt "micro-blogging", er de samme som for (we)bloggens vedkommende og vedrører de mange variationer, skriftlige som mundtlige, religiøse som sekulaere etc., af selvbekendelse og selvfremstilling (Sørensen, 2006(Sørensen, , 2008.…”

“…For en diskussion heraf, se bl.a. Lüders, Prøitz & Rasmussen, 2010og Lomborg, 2011. 2 Zylinska formulerede denne radikale etik på ACSIS-konferencen "Current Issues in European Cultural Studies", Norrköping, Sverige, 15.-17. juni 2011.…”

The Soundslide Report

“…The article follows the assumption that genres are analyzed through text analysis and evaluated through comparison and contextualization (cf. Lüders et al 2010).…”

“…Technological, social, and cultural changes involve both new affordances and new needs in terms of human communication, and because the genre conventions regulate our communicative behavior, changes of these conventions always involve new criteria for what constitutes efficient communication. Lüders et al (2010) believe that the strongest proponent of genre development today is the rapid development of media technology. Insights into the ways in which genres are subject to change in new digital environments thus represent a significant social capital in our culture.…”

“…It is the prevailing genre conventions that determine the social functions of the expression studied, and thereby also the kind of analytical approach that is most relevant. The approach chosen is based on a neo-rhetorical genre concept, meaning that genre is understood as a recognizable form of communication defined by a set of conventions developed through repeated use in certain types of social situations (Lüders et al 2010, Miller 1984. Genre conventions can be linked to both content and form, but it is the expression's function in the social situation that over time regulates the conventions concerning both form and content.…”