icegov2012 proceedings

Genres of Communication in Activist eParticipation:
A Comparison of New and Old Media
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we examine the genres of communication in an
activist case in a Norwegian municipality. As genres evolve over
time, and the emergence of new genre properties is a sign of a
mature technology, we compare the genres used in traditional
paper-based media with the genres used in social media, to
examine the maturity of social media as a medium for activist
eParticipation. We also discuss the usage patterns of traditional
vs. social media, and their relation to the public sphere. Our
findings indicate that so far, the genres used for activism in social
media are very similar to their offline counterparts, with some
new genres and genre characteristics emerging. Social media is
moving towards maturity, but still has a way to go.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
K.4. [Computers and Society]
General Terms
Measurement, Documentation, Human Factors, Theory
Keywords
eParticipation, Social Media, Genre Theory, Public Sphere
1. INTRODUCTION
Our media and communication habits are increasingly moving
towards the digital domain and to social media. While political
communication has been lagging behind, this area is also
increasingly becoming digitized [1, 2], and as such is forced to
change in order to adapt to the logic of two-way communication
media [3]. This move towards new media has been hastened by
what is perceived as a lessening of civic engagement in traditional
channels. Voter turnout is in decline [4], there are fewer members
of political parties, and less interest for political participation and
debate [5]. These perceived threats to democracy have led
government towards a number of projects where digital media is
used in an attempt to boost participation and civic engagement [2,
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ICEGOV '12, October 22 - 25 2012, Albany, NY, United States, NY, USA
Copyright 2012 ACM 978-1-4503-1200-4/12/10…$15.00.
Marius Rohde Johannessen
University of Agder, dept. of Information Systems
Service box 422, NO-4604 Kristiansand, Norway
+47 38 14 17 14
marius.johannessen@uia.no
48
6, 7].
The public sphere, said to have disappeared in the age of mass
media, has re-emerged online [8, 9]. But how new is the online
public sphere? How much has political communication online
been adapted to the two-way, inclusive logic of “new” media?
To answer this question, we look towards genre theory. Genre
theory tells us that communicative acts recurring over time, with
similar form and function, can be analyzed and categorized into a
set of communication genres [10]. Genres used within an
organization or a given context can further be categorized into a
repertoire of suitable genres for a given context [11].
When moving from “old” to “new” media, genres from the old
medium will typically be copied as-is and used for some time in
the new. After some time, new genres emerge, and old ones are
adapted to fit the new medium. The maturity of a medium can to
some degree be measured by examining the genres of the new and
old medium [12]. Maturity is in this case understood as the degree
to which the actors involved in using the medium agree on the
conventions and rules for the medium, as well as the emergence of
new genres, or old genres which are adapted to the functionality
of the new medium.
In this paper, we identify the genre systems used for political
activist communication in new and old media, through a case
study of an urban development project in a mid-sized Norwegian
city. The actors involved in the case have used both traditional
print media, social media and the Internet in their communication,
and this allows us to categorize the same message as different
genres in different media.
In addition, we discuss these findings against the ideals of the
public sphere [13]. Are the new media mature enough to cater for
a public sphere, or are we still in transition between the “old” and
“new”? And if there is an online public sphere in this case, what
kind of public sphere is it? Finally, we discuss how social capital
impacts participation and the public sphere.
The rest of the paper is structured as follows: Section two presents
our theoretical foundation, consisting of the public sphere, genre
theory and social capital. Sections three and four outline the
research method we have applied, and presents a thick case
description. In section five we present our findings, which are
separated into the genre analysis of the new and old media, and an
analysis of the extent to which these genre systems support a
public sphere. Finally, we present our conclusions, limitations and
some possibilities for future research.