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Genre Systems: Structuring Interaction through Communicative Norms

MIT Sloan School of Management

Wanda Orlikowski

MIT Sloan School of Management

In this paper we demonstrate that teams may use genre systems-sequences of interrelated communicative actions-deliberately or habitually, to structure their collaboration. Using data over a seven-month period from three teams' use of a collaborative electronic technology, Team Room, we illustrate that genre systems are a means of structuring six dimensions of communicative interaction: purpose (why), content (what), participants (who/m), form (how), time (when), and place (where). We suggest that researchers and users may benefit from explicitly recog nizing the role genre systems can play in collaboration and from examining changes in these six dimensions accompanying changes in electronic technology.

Key Words: Genre • Genre System • Communication • Collaborative Technology • Electronic Media

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