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Genres on the Web pp 33–46Cite as

Conventions and Mutual Expectations

Understanding Sources for Web Genres

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Part of the book series: Text, Speech and Language Technology ((TLTB,volume 42))

Abstract

A useful starting point for genre analysis is viewing genres as artifacts. Genres are instrumental categories, useful for author and reader alike in forming the understanding of a text and in providing the appropriate intellectual context for information acquired through it. Genre distinctions are observable in terms of whom a text is directed to, how it is put together, made up, and presented.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Cf. Santini: “… cultural objects created to meet and streamline communicative needs” [12].

  2. 2.

    Or other information object: the obvious generalisations are to be assumed in the following.

  3. 3.

    The Wayback Machine – http://web.archive.org

  4. 4.

    Of terminological but somewhat tangential interest for this examination is the subcategory “Genres” under “Entertainment”, which consists only of the four entertainment subsubcategories “Comedy”, “Horror”, “Mystery”, “Science Fiction and Fantasy”.

  5. 5.

    Tested by χ 2, significantly higher click-through rates for the “food” and “eminem” queries separately (p > 0.999) as well as for all three examples taken together.

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Acknowledgements

The author of this paper gratefully acknowledges the help of Jan Pedersen, ConnieAlice Hungate, and Adrienne DeiRossi at Yahoo!, of Viggo Kann, Leif Dahlberg, and Oscar Sundbom at KTH for recruiting informants, and of course the generous contribution of the participants in the questionnaire studies. Thank you! Part of this research was conducted while visiting Yahoo! Research in Barcelona.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swedish Institute of Computer Science (SICS), Stockholm, Sweden

    Jussi Karlgren

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  1. Jussi Karlgren
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Correspondence to Jussi Karlgren .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Text Technology/Applied Comp. Ling., Bielefeld University, Universitätsstrasse 25, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany

    Alexander Mehler

  2. LS2 9JT Leeds, United Kingdom

    Serge Sharoff

  3. Varvsgatan 25, Stockholm, 117 29, Sweden

    Marina Santini

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Karlgren, J. (2010). Conventions and Mutual Expectations. In: Mehler, A., Sharoff, S., Santini, M. (eds) Genres on the Web. Text, Speech and Language Technology, vol 42. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9178-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9178-9_2

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