Digital Genre: a Mechanism for Knowledge Sharing and Reuse in Business Clusters

<p>The purpose of this study was to identify the knowledge transfer mechanisms in project bidding for two business clusters in New Zealand, and how ICT played a role in facilitating a "virtual space" for sharing and re-use of these mechanisms. Genre Systems was the theoretical framework adopted to guide this inquiry and to build on further theory. Within the context of this study, genres are the knowledge transfer mechanisms that communicate information and knowledge to members of the community, following specific social rules. The genres and the way they are being employed contribute towards explaining how knowledge is shared and reused by a community. Action research methodology was used to direct data collection and analysis, and validate how the study was carried out. The study comprised of one action research cycle, which has been divided in five stages: Diagnosis, Planning, Development, Evaluation, and Specifying Learning. Mapping the clusters' collaborative interactions during project bidding helped to identify the knowledge transfer mechanisms. This allowed the identification of an ICT solution that could improve project bidding, and identification of how this knowledge could be stored for reuse in future bids. One of the clusters decided to work together with the researcher towards the design of a new portal to address their project bidding needs. The portal took six iterations to complete and went live in November 2005. A database, several "digital genres" (since these genres exist in an electronic medium), and some procedures were created to facilitate knowledge transfer for the cluster's project bidding process. The team had the opportunity to reflect on the whole experience, identify potential features and genres to incorporate in the portal, and start thinking how they could improve the development process in future interventions. The introduction of ICT encouraged the cluster to develop digital genres that were more dynamic and flexible than the ones used before then. The main finding of the study is a five-step process to create digital genres based on the activities carried out by the team: finding reference points for the digital genre; defining the social rules for the digital genre; embedding the social rules in the template; testing the template; and legitimising the digital genre. Further findings discussed the "natural" and "induced" ways for a cluster to increase its knowledge-base. The first instance takes place during the normal practices of cluster members working together towards business opportunities over a period of time, whereas the later instance is triggered by a specific event or initiative. In this study, the decision by the cluster to introduce website and database technology to assist in managing their knowledge-base provided an opportunity to explore the role of ICT in increasing the cluster's knowledge-base. Final findings showed that a project of this nature not only has to overcome the common IT development challenges (budget, project management, user buy-in), but also those derived from working with a team of volunteer people from different organisations, such as in the case of a cluster.</p>

Digital Genre: a Mechanism for Knowledge Sharing and Reuse in Business Clusters

<p>The purpose of this study was to identify the knowledge transfer mechanisms in project bidding for two business clusters in New Zealand, and how ICT played a role in facilitating a "virtual space" for sharing and re-use of these mechanisms. Genre Systems was the theoretical framework adopted to guide this inquiry and to build on further theory. Within the context of this study, genres are the knowledge transfer mechanisms that communicate information and knowledge to members of the community, following specific social rules. The genres and the way they are being employed contribute towards explaining how knowledge is shared and reused by a community. Action research methodology was used to direct data collection and analysis, and validate how the study was carried out. The study comprised of one action research cycle, which has been divided in five stages: Diagnosis, Planning, Development, Evaluation, and Specifying Learning. Mapping the clusters' collaborative interactions during project bidding helped to identify the knowledge transfer mechanisms. This allowed the identification of an ICT solution that could improve project bidding, and identification of how this knowledge could be stored for reuse in future bids. One of the clusters decided to work together with the researcher towards the design of a new portal to address their project bidding needs. The portal took six iterations to complete and went live in November 2005. A database, several "digital genres" (since these genres exist in an electronic medium), and some procedures were created to facilitate knowledge transfer for the cluster's project bidding process. The team had the opportunity to reflect on the whole experience, identify potential features and genres to incorporate in the portal, and start thinking how they could improve the development process in future interventions. The introduction of ICT encouraged the cluster to develop digital genres that were more dynamic and flexible than the ones used before then. The main finding of the study is a five-step process to create digital genres based on the activities carried out by the team: finding reference points for the digital genre; defining the social rules for the digital genre; embedding the social rules in the template; testing the template; and legitimising the digital genre. Further findings discussed the "natural" and "induced" ways for a cluster to increase its knowledge-base. The first instance takes place during the normal practices of cluster members working together towards business opportunities over a period of time, whereas the later instance is triggered by a specific event or initiative. In this study, the decision by the cluster to introduce website and database technology to assist in managing their knowledge-base provided an opportunity to explore the role of ICT in increasing the cluster's knowledge-base. Final findings showed that a project of this nature not only has to overcome the common IT development challenges (budget, project management, user buy-in), but also those derived from working with a team of volunteer people from different organisations, such as in the case of a cluster.</p>

‘Hello, this is Martha’: Interaction dynamics of live scambaiting on Twitch

The growth of the Internet has seen the emergence of elaborate examples of cybercrime in the form of ‘scams’. Alongside this, a resistance has also developed, with ‘scambaiters’ engaging in complex and deceptive scenarios to waste scammers’ time and educate others about online scams. This has been facilitated by the evolution of new media platforms inclusive of the live stream video-sharing site Twitch, where scambaiters take part in interactions with scammers in real time in front of large audiences. Such platforms present significant potential for diverse interaction and participation roles that move beyond those of other sites and audiovisual media. Scambaiting texts thus present a valuable opportunity to explore the complex interactive affordances of live stream video-sharing platforms. In this article, we aim to map an interactional framework for live-streamed video-sharing platforms by analysing a scambait call by the scambaiter ‘Kitboga’ on Twitch. The results show that the platform of Twitch and the novel context of a live-streamed scambait call offer new insights into online interaction within the context of emerging digital genres.

As relações de intertextualidade conforme as funções discursivas anafóricas no gênero digital comentário, no Facebook

RESUMO: Recente estudo sobre o nível microdiscursivo e o nível macrodiscursivo do gênero digital comentário, na rede social Facebook, comprovou que esse gênero é uma superestrutura discursiva. Pautado na análise de funções discursivas de Tedesco (2002) de expressões anafóricas diretas, foi possível constatar em sequências textuais do gênero digital comentário o fenômeno da intertextualidade, propriedade de coerência textual. A intertextualidade é uma propriedade reconhecida em hipertextos. No entanto, observa-se que abordagens sobre a intertextualidade em hipertextos, especificamente na Internet, são deficitários por não exemplificarem como a propriedade de coerência é desenvolvida em gêneros digitais. Neste sentido, o presente artigo tem o objetivo de discutir a intertextualidade e suas particularidades discursivas a partir das funções discursivas de expressões anafóricas diretas em textos verbais de comentários publicados em perfil público da jornalista Eliane Cantanhêde. As expressões anafóricas diretas apresentam significativa função coesiva em textos verbais, as quais são estratégias textuais e cognitivas que muito contribuem para a produção de sentidos do texto e, assim, refletem que a instabilidade dos objetos no uso da linguagem. Essa é uma abordagem fundamentada na Linguística Textual, a qual apresenta a concepção de língua com uma atividade de interação que pressupõe a existência do sujeito social. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: intertextualidade; funções anafóricas; gênero discursivo comentário; Facebook. ABSTRACT: Recent study on the micro-discursive and the macro-discursive levels of the digital genre comment, on the social network Facebook, proved that this genre is a discursive superstructure. Based on the analysis of discursive functions of Tedesco (2002) of direct anaphoric expressions, it was possible to verify the intertextuality phenomenon in text sequences of the digital genre comment, property of textual coherence. Intertextuality is a property recognized in hypertexts. However, it is observed that approaches on intertextuality in hypertexts, specifically on the Internet, are deficient because they do not exemplify how coherence property is developed in digital genres. In this sense, this article aims at discussing intertextuality and its discursive particularities from the discursive functions of direct anaphoric expressions in verbal texts of comments published in the public profile of the journalist Eliane Cantanhêde. The direct anaphoric expressions present a significant cohesive function in verbal texts, which are textual and cognitive strategies that contribute much to the production of meanings of the text and thus reflect that the instability of objects in the use of language. This is an approach based on Textual Linguistics, which presents the concept of language with an interaction activity that presupposes the existence of the social subject. KEYWORDS: intertextuality; anaphoric functions; discursive genre comment; Facebook.

Gêneros Textuais Digitais em Livros Didáticos de Espanhol

Este estudo analisa as duas coleções de livros didáticos de língua espanhola voltadas ao Ensino Médio indicadas pelo Plano Nacional do Livro Didático. O objetivo foi identifcar se os livros abordam os gêneros digitais e, se sim, de que maneira eles são trabalhados. Para embasar a investigação foram utilizados vários teóricos que discutem os conceitos de gêneros textuais/digitais e de letramento digital, entre eles Mikhail Bakhtin, Luiz Antônio Marcuschi, Antônio Carlos dos Santos Xavier e outros. Após a elaboração da fundamentação teórica, são feitas análises quantitativas e descritivas das coleções escolhidas. A quantitativa consiste em observar a incidência dos gêneros nos livros das coleções, e as descritivas buscam evidenciar as principais características dos gêneros digitais encontrados na coleção Enlaces, a partir de vários estudiosos dos gêneros discursivos e comparar com a maneira que são propostos nos livros. Ficou claro que a abordagem dos gêneros digitais ainda é recente e alguns livros não os mencionam. Quando isso é feito, abordam de maneira descontextualizada. Porém, observou-se um avanço em relação ao trabalho com os chamados gêneros tradicionais, pois todos os volumes buscam discuti-los quanto à composição, à temática, ao estilo e às condições de produção e circulação.Palavras-chave: Gêneros Digitais. Gêneros Textuais. Letramento Digital.AbstractThis study analyzes the two collections of Spanish-language textbooks directed to high school indicated by PNLD 2015. It aims at identifying whether the books approach digital genres and, if so, how they are applied. In order to support the research, several theoretical frameworks were used to discuss the concepts of textual / digital genres and digital literacy, among them Mikhail Bakhtin, Luiz Antônio Marcuschi, AntônioCarlos dos Santos Xavier and others. After the elaboration of the theoretical basis, it is made a quantitative and descriptive analysis of the chosen collections. The quantitative approach consists of observing the incidence of the genres in the books, and the descriptive ones aim at evidencing the main characteristics of the digital genres found in the Enlaces collection, from several scholars of the discursive genres and compare with the way they are proposed in the books. It has become clear that the approach of digital genres is still recent and some books do not mention them. When this is done, they approach them in a decontextualized way. However, an advance was observed in relation to the work with the socalled traditional genres, since all volumes seek to discuss them as to composition, theme, style and conditions of production and circulation.Keywords: Digital Genres. Textual Genres. Digital Literacy.

An Analysis of Multimodal Interaction in a Webinar: Defining the Genre

From a Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) perspective (Kress and Van Leuween, 2001; Kress, 2003; O’Halloran, 2004; Baldry&amp;Thibault, 2006; Jewitt, 2009; Querol-Julián and Fortanet-Gómez, 2012) each semiotic resource (i.e., speech, image, writing, movement, gaze, sound, layout, among others) contributes to the meaning-making process. Linguistic and non-linguistic information is integrated in multimodal texts, and especially so in digital genres (Shepherd &amp; Watters 1999; Crowston &amp; Kwasnik 2004; Askehave &amp; Nielsen 2005; Villanueva et al. 2008), where complex relationships are conveyed by the use of multiple resources.One of these new digital genres is the webinar or web seminar. Webinars help to disseminate knowledge, facilitate collaboration and communication, and enhance performance among students and instructors, employers and employees and specialist in dispersed locations (Wolf, 2006; Forrester, 2009; Bandy, 2010; Kokoc, Ozlu, Cimer &amp; Karal, 2011). Its main characteristic is that it is online and it often consists of a number of lectures streamlined and/or recorded to be watched off-line, and there are several participants located in several places, who can contribute online or offline through different communication modes (written or spoken with or without video). In this sense, it is clear that webinars include a wide array of multimodal resources, both verbal and non-verbal. But how do they work together? To what extent are they integrated? Are users responsive to these multimodal resources and to what extent?In order to answer these and other questions, we analyse in this paper a dataset of several sessions of a research webinar organized by the Group for Research on Academic and Professional English in 2015 on the topic of Multimodal Discourse Analysis. Our interest is to study all the multimodal components in the discussion sessions in this seminar and the different strategies used by participants for online and face-to-face interaction.