"I watch people work—in a non-creepy way": Applying genre and sociocultural theory to net work

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"I watch people work—in a non-creepy way": Applying genre and sociocultural theory to net work Clay Spinuzzi Clay.Spinuzzi @ utexas.edu 1
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    19-Oct-2014
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    Business

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description

A talk I recently gave at Utah State, discussing my approach to field research.

Transcript of "I watch people work—in a non-creepy way": Applying genre and sociocultural theory to net work

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"I watch people work—in a non-creepy way":

Applying genre and sociocultural theory to net work

Clay [email protected]

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WORK IS CHANGING

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Literacy is changing

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Classes of work are changing

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Mobility is changing

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Social media are changing

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… So work is changing

• Shedding noncore assets• Working across organizations• Projectification• Virtual organizations• Hyperconnectivity

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I WATCH PEOPLE CHANGE ALONG WITH THEIR WORK

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Understanding changes in work

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Net work

“the ways in which the assemblage is enacted, maintained, extended, and transformed; the ways in which knowledge work is strategically and tactically performed in a heavily networked organization.” (Spinuzzi 2008, p.16).

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GENRE

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Spinuzzi 2008, p.17

• “not just text types”• “typified rhetorical responses to recurring

social situations”• “tools-in-use”• “a behavioral descriptor rather than a formal

one”• Through their use, genres “weave together”

networks

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“typified rhetorical responses to recurring social situations”

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NOT just structure

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NOT Medium

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A “Tool-In-Use”

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Genres “evolve” (Spinuzzi 2003)

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Genres Developed Over Iterations

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Case: LinkedIn

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Case: Facebook

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Genres work together…

• juxtaposition (two texts attached to or overlapping each other)

• placing (two texts placed side by side, in a stack, or in regular places)

• annotation (writing or altering a text)• transfer (using one text as source for filling in another)• modeling (using one text as a model for another)• reference (using one text to interpret or operate

another)• And ???

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Genre ecology (2003)

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Genre ecology (2008)

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Genre ecology (2010)

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Genre Ecologies & Social Media

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LEVELS OF ACTIVITYGenre functions at three different levels.

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Genre at three levelsLevel Focus Chars Timescale Aware? Disruption

Macro Activity Culture, history; social action, social memory

Year, decades

No Contradiction

Meso Goal Tool-in-use; tactics

Minutes, hours

Yes Discoordination

Micro Operation Rules, habits Seconds No Breakdown

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Genre: The Macro LevelLevel Focus Chars Timescale Aware? Disruption

Macro Activity Culture, history; social action, social memory

Year, decades

No Contradiction

Meso Goal Tool-in-use; tactics

Minutes, hours

Yes Discoordination

Micro Operation Rules, habits Seconds No Breakdown

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Genre: The Meso LevelLevel Focus Chars Timescale Aware? Disruption

Macro Activity Culture, history; social action, social memory

Year, decades

No Contradiction

Meso Goal Tool-in-use; tactics

Minutes, hours

Yes Discoordination

Micro Operation Rules, habits Seconds No Breakdown

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Genre: The Micro LevelLevel Focus Chars Timescale Aware? Disruption

Macro Activity Culture, history; social action, social memory

Year, decades

No Contradiction

Meso Goal Tool-in-use; tactics

Minutes, hours

Yes Discoordination

Micro Operation Rules, habits Seconds No Breakdown

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Genre at three levelsLevel Focus Chars Timescale Aware? Disruption

Macro Activity Culture, history; social action, social memory

Year, decades

No Contradiction

Meso Goal Tool-in-use; tactics

Minutes, hours

Yes Discoordination

Micro Operation Rules, habits Seconds No Breakdown

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HOW DO YOU USE ACTIVITY AND GENRE TO SUPPORT NET WORK?

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