[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-171971-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":80,"doc-detail-171971-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","genres-without-writers-information-systems-and-distributed-authorship","Genres without writers - information systems and distributed authorship","","Examines how genre develops and stabilizes as social action, moving focus from isolated texts to the contexts and processes that produce and regulate them. Synthesizes work on genre assemblages, including informal document practices, and contrasts writer-centered accounts with perspectives where information systems mediate and structure textual work. Analyzes how automated document environments can regularize outputs while shaping what analysts can creatively innovate, using the BRILLIANCE information system as an example.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/","Template",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/","General",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/genres-without-writers-information-systems-and-distributed-authorship/171971/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/genres-without-writers-information-systems-and-distributed-authorship/171971.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":42,"@type":43},"wps_ap_test_251126_0180","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document","2026-09-27","2026-09-01",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":33},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"How does the document define genre in genre studies?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"Genre is treated as a form of social action, emphasizing the social processes by which genres develop, stabilize, and structure activities.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"What role do genre assemblages play in complex work activities?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"Multiple genres can intersect sequentially or in overlapping ways to support complex tasks, including the use of informal and ephemeral documents such as notes and lists.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"How does the document contrast writers’ agency with information-system mediation?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"Writer-centered views highlight individuals as initiators who shape genre use, while the document argues that information systems can function like environments or document factories that mediate and regularize textual work.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},171971,1788288355,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,88,93,98,103,108,113,118,123],{"id":84,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},11,"Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":89,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":94,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":99,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":104,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":109,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":114,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":119,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":124,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":125},158,"general-158",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":127},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":128,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":22,"category_id":124,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":33,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":104,"language":135,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":136,"faqs":137,"seo_title":138,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":79,"read_time":139},8796095027276,"https://avatar.qwps.com/avatar/d3BzX2FwX3Rlc3RfMjUxMTI2XzAxODA=","Genres without writers: information systems and distributed authorship\nIn the 30 years since Carolyn Miller’s landmark essay reanimated the notion of genre as a form of social action, the focus of genre studies research has shifted from the text in isolation to the context in which a text is produced (Miller, 1984). Current genre theory emphasizes the social processes by which genres develop, stabilize, and come to partially constitute activities. Historical studies, including Bazerman (1988) and Yates (1989), show how textual forms such as the academic journal article (Bazerman) and corporate memo and report (Yates) arise in response to particular social situations, and then, over time, come themselves to shape and regulate their associated enterprises. Scientific research experiments are designed to accommodate the accepted structural elements of journal articles, for example, because adherence to established genre conventions (such as clearly defined article sections for data collection methods) facilitates acceptance in peer review. Similarly, business outcomes are quantified according to metrics that are easy to express via the quickly scanned charts and graphs of executive summaries in business reports, and outcomes that are not amenable to such measurement accordingly become difficult to justify. In this approach to genre, writing knowledge involves more than the ability to construct precise, grammatically correct sentences and paragraphs. Expert writers are in a sense socially skilled; they are able to appropriately manipulate genre conventions to accomplish their rhetorical goals (Bawarshi, 2003). Genre mastery is ultimately demonstrated through the ability of texts to serve particular functions and facilitate the activities in which they are embedded.\nExtending this socially focused understanding of genre, one area of research has explored the ways in which multiple genres intersect to support and structure complex activities. Concepts such as genre sets, repertoires, systems, and ecologies have been advanced to consider how genres are deployed in both sequential and overlapping ways (Spinuzzi, 2004). To take full account of the activities structured by such genre assemblages, researchers have paid greater attention to informal, personal, and ephemeral forms of documents, such as to-do lists and scribbled annotations, and have placed less emphasis on traditional forms of writing, such as journal articles and business reports. To compare the various frameworks associated with genre assemblages (sets, systems, repertoires, ecologies) Spinuzzi presents the example of Ralph, a fictional employee at a telecommunications company. Ralph uses calendars, notebooks, sticky notes, customer lists, account databases, faxes, and more to accomplish the simple task of securing a customer’s late payment. Although Ralph uses a vast array of document genres in his work activities, his employment of these genres does not involve the kinds of formal writing skills associated with academic articles and corporate reports. Ralph writes names and phone numbers on a list, and annotates customer records with notes. Many of these textual acts, Spinuzzi suggests, are not primarily communicative in nature (they aren’t directed toward an audience) but are rather mediating (they support tasks).\nIf recent genre research has expanded to encompass many varieties and purposes of writing, however, it has remained oriented around writers as the purposeful initiators of genre development—even if these writers don’t describe the work they do as writing, nor do they present their innovations as skilled accomplishment. Spinuzzi’s scenario with Ralph, for example, focuses around the various texts he uses and produces to accomplish his work tasks. Although Ralph refers to customer records in databases, Spinuzzi frames these documents through Ralph’s perspective as the primary actor, or writer: Ralph adds notes to a record, for example, changing its content. Ra","cbCaioFhCtZFWLoA","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioFhCtZFWLoA","docx",216361,"English","# Genre as social action\n## Genre assemblages and document ecologies\n## Writer-centered accounts vs systems-centered mediation\n## Information systems as sites of creative manipulation","[{\"question\":\"How does the document define genre in genre studies?\",\"answer\":\"Genre is treated as a form of social action, emphasizing the social processes by which genres develop, stabilize, and structure activities.\"},{\"question\":\"What role do genre assemblages play in complex work activities?\",\"answer\":\"Multiple genres can intersect sequentially or in overlapping ways to support complex tasks, including the use of informal and ephemeral documents such as notes and lists.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the document contrast writers’ agency with information-system mediation?\",\"answer\":\"Writer-centered views highlight individuals as initiators who shape genre use, while the document argues that information systems can function like environments or document factories that mediate and regularize textual work.\"}]","Genres without writers - information systems and distributed authorship | DOCX",6]