icegov2012 proceedings

Social capital is often measured in terms of individual and
institutional trust and reciprocity, and divided into bonding and
bridging social capital. Trusting individuals lowers barriers to
participation and simplifies transactions, as there is less need for
written contracts and other control measures. Institutional trust
indicates that government institutions such as police, judicial
system and administration are functioning well. Reciprocity, the
degree in which people are willing to give something back when
they receive something, is another measure of social capital [31,
32].
There are several types of social capital. Bonding social capital is
the connections between individuals in a group, such as the
traditional village or a local community. Bridging social capital is
the connection between different groups, where individuals in a
group have ties to individuals in other groups [29]. A third type of
social capital is “maintained social capital”, the ability to keep
one’s connections also when one is physically separated from
them [33].
In Information Systems, social capital have been used to measure
both how technology affects social capital, and how social capital
affects development of technology [32]. Other studies have shown
that the characteristics and user population of social networking
services is important for the level of social capital and for the
outcome of political debate on such sites [34]. And that spending
time in front of screens can increase social capital, depending on
the activities we are conducting [35].
2.3 Genres of Communication
Genre theory has been applied to study communication patterns in
a number of eParticipation studies [36-39]. Genres can act as a
tool for studying the role of communication in social processes
[10]. Genres develop over time, in the interaction between
predefined rules for communication and the people that are
communicating. Genres are useful when studying social media
use in eParticipation, as the introduction of new media over time
often leads to new communication practices which genre theory
allows us to map and analyze [38]. By studying communication
genres instead of the technology used to communicate, we can
discover how communication changes and evolves over time [11].
Genres can be defined using the 5w1h-method By asking where,
why, when, who, what and how, we can uncover the purpose,
contents, placement in time, location, participants, structure and
medium for communication [40, 41]:
o Where tells us where the communication takes place, the
medium being used, or the physical location.
o Why explains the purpose of the genre, as understood by
those using it.
o When refers to the time where communication takes place.
For example, the “job application” genre is enacted when
applying for a job, and needs to be in by a set date.
o Who defines the actors involved in communication, the
sender and receiver of the genre.
o What is the content of the genre, and defines what is being
communicated, and any relations to other genres.
o Finally, How describes the technical needs for delivery of the
genre, for example which medium is being used, or any other
technical necessities.
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Genres are further identified by having a common content (themes
and topics of the conversation) and form (physical and linguistic
features), as well as technological functionality in genres enacted
through electronic media [12]. A common mistake is to confuse
genre and medium, especially when including functionality in the
analysis. E-mail is a medium, while the job application sent via email
is the genre [10].
It is possible to go beyond single genres, and look at the genre
system. Genre systems are collections of genres that belong
together [41]. For example, the previously mentioned job
application is part of a system where the job listing comes first,
followed by the job application and some kind of feedback on the
application. When examining an entire genre system, we can
analyse communicative practices over time, and how new genres
emerge and influence the ways we communicate [11].
By analysing the genre system of different media, we can see if
there are differences between how the genres are enacted, and
identify the genres that are most used by participants in an
eParticipation project (ibid.). By applying genre theory in the
study of new media forms, we get a more comprehensive analysis
than what we would get from only looking at the functionality of
the technology behind the new medium [11].
3. RESEARCH METHOD
The research was framed as a qualitative case study, of which this
paper is one in a series of planned publications. The objective of
qualitative research is “understanding…by investigating the
perspectives and behavior of the people in these situations and the
context within which they act” [42], and qualitative methods are
appropriate for exploratory studies and for examining how
something happens [42, 43]. The case study examines the
phenomenon in its “natural setting”, collects data from multiple
sources, and the researcher may have limited knowledge about the
outcome of the research [44]. Case studies are particularly suited
for research on new phenomena where the actors’ experiences and
interpretations and the wider context are important factors [45].
Our initial objective for the project as a whole was to explore and
understand how social media was being used by activist groups in
a Norwegian municipality. As part of that objective, the research
question for this paper is how are the genre systems of old and
new media used for activist communication, and how do these
genre systems fit with the public sphere ideal?
The urban planning case was chosen for the following reasons:
The process has a long history, dating back almost 30 years. This
provides rich insights into the process, and especially into how the
introduction of social media has changed the way the actors
communicate. The number of people involved also made access to
interview subjects easy. Further, the first author has followed the
case as a citizen over several years before engaging in it from a
research perspective, which leads to a thorough understanding of
the case context. There is a risk of bias, but we have attempted to
minimize this risk through a constant analysis and questioning of
our findings.
The data used in this case was collected between February and
November 2011. We made 12 semi-structured interviews with
representatives related to the case: Members of the city council
(4), officials from the city administration responsible for
developing the plans (2), the private investor’s representative (1),
local media (1 + informal meetings and e-mail with 2 others),