Web-Mediated Genres
– A Challenge to Traditional Genre Theory
By Inger Askehave and Anne Ellerup Nielsen
This paper explores the possibility of extending the functional genre
model to account for non-linear, multi-modal, web-mediated documents.
It adds a two-dimensional perspective to the genre analysis model in
order to account for the fact that web documents not only act as text but
also as medium. A substantial part of the paper is devoted to a
discussion of the function of links; mainly because functional
approaches to links are scares and because regarding links as
constituents in the genre analysis model marks a significant departure
from traditional genre analysis. Most exemplary material for the
theoretical discussion is the homepage (the first, introductory page on a
website) and so the paper also provides a tentative characterisation of the
homepage as a web genre.
1. Introduction
Since its introduction in the 1980s, the concept of genre has been a matter
of considerable discussion in research communities throughout the world.
In Australia systemic functional linguists such as Martin (1992) and Eggins
(1994) have used the concept to complement the hallidayan notion of
register, in America Swales (1990) has developed his seminal model for
genre analysis which discourse analysts have welcomed with open arms
and not only used as a tool for analysing genres but certainly also criticised
and fine-tuned in order to make it even more fit for covering the
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
complexities of genres. And finally, in Hong Kong Bhatia (1993) has paved
the way for the practical application of genre theory by suggesting a
comprehensive framework for analysing non-literary genres – especially
ESP texts. While these genre studies offer important insights into the notion
of genre, it is also a well-known fact that the theoretical discussions and the
practical genre analyses tend to focus on genres transmitted through
speech or print whereas little has been done to use the genre model on
genres transmitted through one of the most significant digital media of
today: the World Wide Web. Recent years have seen a virtual explosion of
web-mediated communication, not least due to the immense popularity of
the Internet among businesses and organisations worldwide, and if
researchers want to account for the discursive practices in which people
engage in our society (which is the very idea behind the concept of genre),
digital genres must obviously be included in the analyses as well.
Consequently, we shall apply the genre model, pioneered by Swales (1990)
and developed by Bhatia (1993), to one of the newly emerged genres on the
World Wide Web: the homepage.
The aim of the paper is two-fold. First the paper serves as a theoretical
exploration of the genre model in general. It attempts to establish whether
the model is suitable for capturing the essence of web-mediated genres or
whether the digital context of web genres may call for a reconsideration of
– or at least provide new insights into – the constituents of the genre
model. Second, even though a systematic characterization of web-mediated
genres is outside the scope of this paper, we use the homepage as
exemplary material in our theoretical discussion and in that way provide a
tentative characterisation of the homepage as a genre. The reasons for
choosing the homepage are (i) it is a web-generated genre in the sense that
it came into existence with the advent of the WWW and has no direct
parallel outside the Web (as opposed to other texts on websites such as
extracts from annual reports, corporate brochures, etc.) and (ii) it is among
the first web-generated texts to have reached genre status which means
that the form and content of the homepage is now becoming
conventionalised after more than 10 years of “rhetorical anarchy”.
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Web-Mediated Genres
2. The Concept of Genre in Functional Genre
Theory
As mentioned in the introduction, the concept of genre has been a matter of
considerable discussion and research in recent years. Ever since the “new”,
functional genre movement began to gather momentum in the early 1980s,
there has been a widely-shared view that genres are best conceptualised as
goal-directed or purposive. This emphasis on functionality is clearly
reflected in the definitions of genre provided through the years – perhaps
most eloquently expressed in the words of the systemic functional linguist,
J.R. Martin: “Genres are how things get done, when language is used to
accomplish them” (1985: 250). One of the most extensive definitional
discussions of the concept of genre, however, remains that of Swales (1990):
A genre comprises a class of communicative events, the members of
which share some set of communicative purposes. These purposes are
recognized by the expert members of the parent discourse community
and thereby constitute the rationale for the genre. This rationale
shapes the schematic structure of the discourse and influences and
constrains choice of content and style. (Swales 1990: 58)
2.1 The Traditional Genre Model
The above definition does not only emphasise the purposive nature of
genres, it also makes an interesting claim concerning the way genres
“look”. The communicative purpose constitutes the rationale for the genre
which means that the purpose of a genre (what we try to accomplish)
triggers a particular text structure and – more often than not - a host of
conventionalised verbal and visual rhetorical strategies. To conceptualise
this interdependency, Swales suggests the following three-level genre
model whose three constituents capture the essence of what we call
“genres”:
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
Communicative purpose
Realised by
Move structure
Realised by
Rhetorical strategies
We shall now take a closer look at the constituents in the model as they
form the basis of our two-dimensional genre model in section 5.
2.1.1 Communicative Purpose
As appears from the definition above, genres are purposeful activities and
the functional genre movement suggests that the primary criterion for
classifying certain communicative events as a “genre” is a set of shared
communicative purposes1. In other words if we want to claim that the
homepage constitutes a “proper” genre, we obviously need to look for a
shared communicative purpose (or purposes) which the communicative
events (in this case the homepages) are intended to fulfil2. The
communicative purpose of a genre-text (i.e. a typical representative
example of a genre) cannot be determined by looking at the text in
isolation. If we want to establish what people accomplish by means of a
particular text, we have to turn to the context, the discourse community, in
which the text is used. if the researcher is a novice to this community, i.e.
have no previous experience and background knowledge of the
community activities, s/he obviously needs to talk to the expert members of
the discourse community who use the genre in question.
1
Though critical voices have been raised concerning the difficulty of using
communicative purpose as a privileged criterion (Askehave & Swales 2001).
2
This purpose should be recognised by the members of the discourse communities –
that is the companies who produce the homepage and the receivers of the homepage.
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Web-Mediated Genres
2.1.2 Move Structure
Genres are not only characterised by shared set of communicative
purposes, they are also highly structured and conventionalised in the sense
that the genres represent or lay down the way to go about accomplishing
particular communicative purposes. In other words when we use language
to perform a communicative event, we do so systematically; we go from A
to B - and draw on the conventionalised internal structure as recognised by
our discourse community. Thus the major linguistic reflex of
communicative purpose is in the staging structure by which a text of a
particular genre unfolds (referred to as the “schematic structure” or “move
structure”) 3. The move structure of a genre typically consists of several
functionally distinct stages or steps, the reason being:
[…] we cannot make all the meanings we want to at once. Each stage
in the genre contributes a part of the overall meanings that must be
made for the genre to be accomplished successfully. (Eggins 1994: 36
after Martin 1985)
Even though the structure of a genre is highly conventionalised, there is
obviously room for rhetorical variation and through the years researchers
have tried to incorporate this flexibility in the genre model, thereby
modifying the claim of a “fixed” staging structure with a specific number
of moves and a predetermined sequence. Today most researchers in fact
agree that instances of genres do not necessarily contain a fixed set of
obligatory moves. Instead the genre-texts select their structural elements
from a common move repertoire (see for example Ventola, 1989).
The notion of moves is particularly useful for displaying generic
conventions in terms of text organisation. However, the “utility value” of
the concept is somewhat hampered by the fact that strong disagreement
exists as to which criteria should be used for identifying move structure
(see Paltridge 1994). Swales (1990) appears to base his criteria on two
different systems namely lexicogrammar and rhetorical function (though
3
Lexical and syntactic choices are of course also constrained by the communicative
purpose (Swales 1990: 53).
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
most often the latter), Eggins (1994) relies solely on lexicogrammar, Martin
focuses on the layout of a text, suggesting that “titles, sub-titles, headings
and subheadings are commonly deployed to keep track of the composition
structure [of the texts]” (1992: 443), while Bhatia (1993) concludes that “the
ultimate criteria for assigning discourse values to various moves is
functional rather than formal” (1993: 87). In the analysis of the homepage
in section 6.2.1 we shall get back to the problem of move identification.
2.1.3 Rhetorical Strategies
As suggested by Swales (1990) the communicative purpose of a genre not
only shapes the schematic structure of the discourse, it also influences and
constrains choices of content and style. Therefore, the next step in the genre
analysis model is to explore the level of form – more specifically the
rhetorical strategies (verbal as well as visual) used to realise a particular
communicative intention. Generally, there is no one-to-one correlation
between a particular move and the verbal and non-verbal strategies used to
instantiate a move. However, texts belonging to the same genre often
deploy identical or at least very similar rhetorical features. For example
when we hear expressions like “mix well for approx. 5 minutes” or
“sections 35 to 46 of this Act do not apply to a tenancy”, we intuitively
presume that we are dealing with genres such as recipes and legal Acts
because the lexicogrammatical choices are extremely genre-specific. The
aim of the rhetorical analysis is to look for such regularities or standard
practices in the actual formulations of genres. This does not mean,
however, that there is no room for variation when writing a genre-text. In
the same way as writers may choose between moves from a “common
repertoire” when structuring their texts, writers choose between rhetorical
strategies from a whole network of linguistic/non-linguistic strategies and
end up with their (more or less) personalised versions of a particular genre.
As Bhatia says in his extension of Swales’ genre definition:
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Web-Mediated Genres
Most often it [the genre] is highly structured and conventionalised
with constraint on allowable contributions in terms of their intent,
positioning, form and functional value. These constraint, however, are
often exploited by the expert members of the discourse community to
achieve private intentions within the framework of socially recognized
purpose(s). (Bhatia 1993: 13)
In the actual genre analysis, one of the most interesting findings is to
explore the “common repertoire” of rhetorical strategies, i.e. all the
different possibilities which exist for saying practically the same thing
(realising the same move), and equally important - to establish whether
some expressions are more preferred, and therefore more genre-specific,
than others.
2.2 Genre Development
The homepage is a fairly new genre and, therefore, before we move on to
the actual analysis of the homepage, we should like to briefly address the
dynamic nature of genres, i.e. how genres evolve and mature. Already in
1968 Bitzer commented on this dynamism suggesting that:
From day to day, year to year, comparable situations occur, prompting
comparable responses; hence rhetorical forms are born and a special
vocabulary, grammar, and style are established… The situation recurs
and, because we experience situations and the rhetorical responses to
them, a form of discourse is not only established but comes to have a
power of its own – the tradition itself tend to function as a constraint
upon any new response in the form. (Bitzer 1968: 13 in Berkenkotter &
Huckin 1995)
In other words genres and genre rules do not appear overnight. As a matter
of fact it may take years before members of a discourse community agree
on a “conventional response” to a recurrent situation (and even then,
conventions are “open to negotiation” in the sense that genres undergo
constant change because the users perpetually shape the genres to better
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
serve their needs). The homepage is an interesting example in this respect.
Twenty years ago, homepages did not exist, the obvious reason being that
there was no need for a genre which could introduce the contents of a
website because the Internet had not taken on the role as a world-wide
distributor of digital information yet. However, as the world changed – not
least spurred by the enormous potential of the new technology – and as the
possibilities for communicating via the WWW arose, the need for webmediated genres emerged too. As with most genres, the homepage
developed gradually. In the beginning genre conventions for homepages
were almost non-existent. Even though the technological properties of the
Net, the choice of software programmes for website design, etc. had an
impact on the way texts on the Internet were presented, it was still up to
the individual web writer to exploit the potential of the Net and do what
s/he found best to fulfil the communicative purpose of a homepage.
However, as the use of web communication gained ground, and more and
more companies and organisations began to go on-line, genre patterns for
homepages gradually emerged. Two important methods were used for
generating and disseminating these genre conventions: (a) web writers
(unconsciously) “copied” the form and content of existing homepages
when making their own homepage or (2) they consulted the extensive
range of handbooks on web design and web writing, which began to
swamp the market. So today, we have not only reached a stage where we
can talk about the homepage as a genre in its own right, we also begin to
see the immediate generic effects: a standardisation of homepages where
genre conventions to a certain extent constrain the content, structural
design and rhetorical strategies of the homepage – no matter whether the
communicators/web writers are multinational corporations, public
institutions, private companies, societies, organisations or individuals.
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Web-Mediated Genres
3. The Homepage as a Web-Mediated Genre
The homepage can be defined as the top-level document of a website4
which performs two overall functions. First it introduces the user to the
general content of the site by presenting “informative” tables of contents
and providing “enticing” text bits. Secondly, it functions as the official
gateway of the website as it enables the reader to access and navigate the
site by providing navigational tools or links that branch off into the website
as a whole. This duality inherent in homepages may best be described by
conceptualising the homepage as a front door with a door sign. The door
sign indicates the name of the residents (i.e. the “content” of the house)
while the door itself is the gateway (the medium) which enables guests to
enter the house and visit the residents inside. Having said this, one must of
course bear in mind that there are other ways of accessing a site. In the
same way as people may choose the back door of a house, one may also
access the website through “unofficial” gates and need not be “let in” at the
main URL address.
Even though the homepage is a new genre, it would be wrong to
suggest that we have never seen anything like it. In fact some of its main
characteristics are replicates of well-established discourses from the world
outside the Net. Most prominent are its affinity with promotional and
news texts of which two stand out; namely the exordium and the
newspaper front page. The exordium is a promotional genre which goes
back to Aristotle and classical rhetoric. The exordium is the introductory
part of an oral speech which indicates the content and structure of the
presentation which is about to come, while at the same time serves as an
appetiser that identifies and promotes the speaker and his/her speech. Thus
in the exordium attention is drawn not only to the subject of the speech
(including its relevance and importance) but also to the speaker
him/herself. Being the first part of the speech, the exordium plays a very
significant role as the initial “meeting point” of the speaker and his/her
audience; it is here the speaker’s credibility is established and his/her
4
The use of the term ”top-level” presupposes, however, that the website content is
organised hierarchically, which may not always be the case.
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
ability to captivate the audience is tested. Although the exordium
originates from oration, its properties have been transferred to the written
mode and can be seen in a wide range of promotional/introductory genres
such as prefaces, introductions and forewords. Now, with the advent of the
Net, the exordium has found its digital realisation and the similarity
between the homepage and the exordium is obvious: the homepage also
displays an interesting mixture of promotional features intertwined with
content information where for example pictures, sound, music and
animation are combined with enticing summaries of website contents to
make the user stay and explore the site.
The other genre elements, which homepages seem to imitate, are those
of newspaper front pages. The newspaper front page also serves as a
promoter and content indicator (like the exordium) but where the
similarity between the exordium and the homepage lies mainly in terms of
similar purposes, the similarity between the front page and the homepage
concerns other elements as well, such as content, form, and lay-out. Thus
we often see the following characteristics of newspaper discourse on the
homepage as well: small summaries, key words, catchy headlines, tables,
frames, attention-seeking photos, and information value attached to the
placement of elements (e.g. the inverted pyramid format and given
information on the left and new information on the right)5.
So far we can conclude that even though we have presented the
homepage as a new genre born with the Net, it shares several features with
already existing genres and discourses from printed and oral media. This
does not mean, however, that the homepage is simply a digital version of
already existing genres. As we shall see in the sections to come, the fact that
the homepage draws on a new kind of medium, namely the WWW, adds to
it a distinctiveness hitherto unseen in “traditional” genres. Thus the WWW
as a medium conveys unique properties to the homepage as a genre and this
co-existence of genre and medium, which seems to be ignored in
traditional genre theory, is fundamental to web communication and must
5
See Kress & Van Leuwen (1998) for at description of given and new information in
newspaper front pages.
10
Web-Mediated Genres
not be overlooked with trying to determine the genre characteristics of the
homepage.
4. The World Wide Web as a Medium – Properties
and Characteristics
Due to the importance of the interplay between genre and medium when
dealing with web-mediated texts we shall now account for the properties
and characteristics of the medium through which the homepage is
distributed.
The World Wide Web provides a public space in which anyone with access
to the Internet is free to search for information and establish virtual
presence in cyberspace. The technology of the WWW allows for the
mediation of different software or media genres, such as chat, mail, Usenet,
and websites. It is well-known in media studies that “the medium is the
message”, as pointed out by Macluhan (1962) in the sixties. Therefore, the
World Wide Web should not be seen only as an important contextual
feature of web genres; rather the WWW is an integrated part of web genres.
This means that, although many web genres have printed counterparts
(e.g. an annual report may be published in print and on the Net), the
medium adds unique properties to the web genre in terms of production,
function, and reception which cannot be ignored in the genre
characterisation.
4.1 General Properties of the WWW
One of the most important properties of the World Wide Web is the overt
intertextuality where various virtual texts are connected by links allowing
the reader to move from one text to another in a very simple manner. The
embedded intertextuality of web texts gives them a particular property
compared to printed texts: the conceptualisation of one text depends on its
relation with other texts. I.e. the isolated text has no meaning in itself in the
overall textual system but must be seen in relation to the texts to which it is
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
linked (Mitra & Cohen 1999). Another property of the World Wide Web is
its global reach; authors of web texts may use the medium to reach a global
audience, and Internet users have immediate access to information
irrespective of distance and time. Immateriality is a third property of the
WWW. Web texts are not always “materialised” in a printed version - and
contrary to their printed counterpart, web texts tend to be of an extremely
dynamic nature; being changed, replaced or withdrawn within hours or
days. Finally, as the users of the WWW take active part in linking web texts
(thus creating their own “story”), the Web is also subject to vivid
discussions of where the limit between the reader and the author goes.
Authors of websites have no monopoly on the information on their
websites in the sense that a site is immediately accessible to all web users
throughout the world. And even though web authors might insert
instructions on how to use the site and how to navigate it, the users are not
obliged to follow the path thought out by the authors.
4.2 Properties of the WWW Influencing Web Text Production
and Reception
We shall now take a closer look at two media properties, namely multimedianess and hypertext/hyper-reading, which are of course also part of the
general properties of the WWW but whose characteristics have a
significant influence on the nature of web-mediated texts and therefore
become valuable concepts in our genre characterisation of the homepage in
section 6.
4.2.1 Multi-medianess
The WWW may be characterised as a main medium which integrate
various sub-mediums into one common format. Most web texts exploit this
huge potential of combining text, images, sound, and animations and the
result is a “text” (a screen page) which has more in common with a
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Web-Mediated Genres
television/video screen than with a text in its traditional sense6. As pointed
out by Mitra & Cohen (1999):
Improved technologies of video compression, developments in better
data transmission technology, and speedier processors in computers
are making it possible to supplement the written text of the World
Wide Web with streaming video and audio. Thus the written word is
not only hyperactive in the World Wide Web text, but its meaning is
constantly implicated by the multimedia images that accompany the
text. (op. cit: 188)
Not all web designers exploit the multi-media potential generated by the
WWW. But those who do, provide the web users with the possibility of
reading a text, listening to a piece of music or a speech, or watching a movie –
either separately or in combination, as we shall see in section 6.3 on
rhetorical strategies. The multi-medianess of the web tends to promote the
tabular and non-sequential reading process of web text. The reading
process is not only interrupted because of the graphical frame structure of
homepages (similar to newspaper front pages), but also by the users’
modal shifts – where they either read, listen, or watch depending on the
nature of the media. What is more, the multimedianess of web texts
supplies the texts with a rich polysemous potential where the web user is
“invited” to participate actively in assigning meaning in the process of text
consumption (Landow, 1997, Bolter, 2001).
4.2.2 Hypertext and Hyper-reading
Hypertext is the key medium used on the WWW to present information on
the Web. Hypertexts relate web texts to each other; thus enabling a nonlinear transmission of information. The general characteristics of hypertext
6
Obviously, we also find multi-modal features in printed text genres (e.g. a
combination of verbal and visual strategies), but what is peculiar to web-mediated
genres is the possibility of combining these strategies with other media e.g. sound and
moving images/flash films.
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
influence and constrain text production and reception on the Web and the
concept is therefore extremely relevant to consider when trying to
characterise web texts as genres. Hypertext is a system of non-hierarchical
text blocks where the textual elements (nodes) are connected by links. For
hypertext technologists dealing with hypertexts from a content-oriented
perspective, focus is on the textual structure formed as a “network” (a term
used to emphasise the non-linearity of hypertexts (Fritz 1998)). According
to many hypertext experts, hypertext is characterised as a non-sequential
text system. However, for many literary hypertext researchers, who apply a
more receiver-oriented perspective (for instance Landow and Bolter
(ibid.)), the definition of hypertext is not based on how hypertexts are
structured but on how they are accessed by the reader. Thus according to
Landow and Bolter (ibid.) there is no clear distinction between text
production and text reception on the Internet. They argue that the readers
can choose where to begin their reading and where to end it. They choose
their own path and thereby create their “own” text in the hypertext system
– becoming a kind of web author. So rather than basing their definition of
hypertext on the structural patterns, the literary approach tends to base its
definition on the reading process associated with hypertext.
So what is the effect of hypertext on the web-users and their approach
to web-mediated texts? Compared to traditional text, the hypertext system
places certain constraints on the reading pattern, which result in a new
kind of reading referred to as hyper-reading (Sosnoski 1999: 135). The most
obvious difference between “traditional reading” and hyper-reading boils
down to that of linearity; with hypertext reading being regarded as nonlinear (where the reader filters, skims and scans the text), and traditional
text reading being regarded as linear. Nevertheless, many researchers have
started questioning whether hyper-reading can be considered a new
reading technique that is born with and peculiar to the WWW. In fact, some
literary hypertext researchers consider hyper-reading a particular reading
mode, which can be found both in printed as well as in web-mediated text.
Finnemann (1999) suggests for example that the reading process of web
texts is in fact very similar to that of traditional texts; in printed texts we
also filter, skim and fragment the information (thus performing a nonlinear reading) and in web texts our reading process may also be
14
Web-Mediated Genres
characterised as linear because the user cannot connect to five nodes at a
time but must make each connection in turn:
In an ordinary text you are supposed to move from chapter 1 to
chapter 2 while in a hypertext you are supposed to choose your own
serial order at various stages on the journey. But even so, you still
have to choose, you have to determine the order in which you will
read the text and this order will always have to be sequential. The
optional freedom in hypertext systems is not a freedom from
sequentialized linearity, since the user cannot make more than one
choice at a time. (op. cit: 25) 7
4.2.2.1 Reading Mode and Navigating mode
Instead of operating with the linear/non-linear dichotomy, Finnemann
suggests that we regard hypertext as a text system which has the capacity
of activating at least two modal shifts in the reading process (1) the
“reading-as-such” being one mode (the reading mode) and (2) the
navigating mode (or linking mode) being the other8. The “reading mode”
leaves the user in a traditional reader position with sequential reading as
the guiding principle (similar to traditional reading, no matter whether the
actual reading is strictly linear or not). The “navigating mode” allows the
reader to navigate the site and actively construct his/her own reading path
through one or several sites. So when consuming web texts, the web user
employs two different cognitive capacities and demonstrates two different
types of behaviour when s/he shifts from the reading to the navigating
mode and vice versa.
The concept of “modal shifts” in hypertext reading offers an
interesting perspective on web genres and seems to be an extremely useful
7
For more on hypertext reading see for instance Landow (1997) or Bolter (2001).
In his paper Finnemann (2001) distinguishes between three modes, viz. reading,
browsing/navigating and editing modes. We have left out the editing mode, as this
mode is concerned with user-generated pages and other interactive processes which are
outside the scope of our analysis.
8
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
tool for a refinement of the traditional genre analysis model. We suggest
that the analysis of web genres should be centred round the two modes.
Thus when we consider the use of the text in the reading mode, the
traditional genre analysis model seems to be an appropriate tool for a
genre description (because in this mode, text consumption is in fact not
very different from traditional texts). What we need then is an extension of
the genre model to account for the fact that a web text also functions in the
navigating mode where the text, due to its media constraints, becomes an
interactive medium, used actively to navigate the website.
5. The Traditional Genre Model – Revisited
As mentioned above the genre model has proven quite useful for
describing the characteristics of one-dimensional genres or genres in which
media properties play a less significant role. However, due to the fact that
the hypertextual nature of web documents forms an integral part of the
generic properties and communicative purposes of these texts, one must
not overlook the media characteristics when describing web-mediated texts
as genres. As mentioned above we need to introduce a genre model which
captures the essence of text and medium simultaneously and thereby
provides a more complete picture of genres. To return to our door
metaphor, we need to consider both the characteristics of the door sign (the
text) and the door itself (the medium). Our solution is to reconsider the
genre model; keep the basic premises of the model (the three-level analysis
of communication purpose, move structure, and rhetorical strategies), but
add the hypertextual mode (i.e. Finnemann’s concept of navigating mode)
to all levels of analysis9, thus producing a two-dimensional genre model.
Schematically it looks like this:
9
Apart from introducing a two-dimensional perspective on genres, the model also
enables the analyst to consider the roles of both text producer and text receiver. Swales
and Bhatia’s genre analysis model is sender-oriented, i.e. the communicative purpose
and the functional moves are tokens of what the sender wants to achieve with the genre
in question. However, in spite of the fact that our model also considers the functional
properties of the text and the medium from the point of view of the text producer, it
also considers the role of the receiver. Thus the introduction of modal shifts in our two16
Web-Mediated Genres
MEDIUM
NAVIGATING
MODE
(zooming out)
Communicative
purpose
Links/Moves
READING
MODE
(zooming in)
Rhetorical
strategies
TEXT
Fig 1: The two-dimensional genre model
The model above is supposed to signify that web documents are twodimensional:
•
•
•
•
•
Users of web documents carry out modal shifts – shifts between acting
as a reader and acting as a navigator.
Shifts are circular – there is a constant change between reading and
navigating.
When in the reading mode, the reader zooms in on the text and uses the
web document as if it was a “printed” text (basically reads the text).
When in the navigating mode, the navigator zooms out of the text and
uses the web document as a medium (exploiting its navigation
possibilities).
an account of the generic properties of genres on the web involves a
three-level analysis of both modes:
− in the reading mode, the text must be characterised in terms of its
communicative purpose, moves, and rhetorical strategies.
dimensional model opens up for the discussion of the roles of receivers and provides a
broader perspective, and perhaps also more realistic view, on the communication
process and the complexities of communication as a whole.
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
− in the navigating mode, the medium must be characterised in terms
of its communicative purpose, links, and rhetorical strategies.
6. Analysis of the Homepage – Using the TwoDimensional Genre Model
In the sections which follow we shall put our two-dimensional genre
model into practice and show how our extension of the traditional genre
model may be used to account for the complexities of web-mediated
genres. For practical purposes we have decided to make a rather “linear”
presentation, which, unfortunately, does no do justice to our view of webmediated genres as dynamic documents with constant modal shifts. Using
the homepage as exemplary material, we shall perform the analysis in the
following way:
(1) Analysis of “communicative purposes”
a. First we shall consider the communicative purpose of the homepage in
the reading mode. In other words what is the purpose of the homepage as a
text genre? This analysis ignores the fact that the text is distributed through
the web medium and it focuses only on the attributes of the text genre as
“text” – similar to the approach in “traditional” genre analysis.
b. Then we shall consider the communicative purpose of the homepage in
the navigating mode. This analysis focuses on the purpose of the homepage
as a medium.
(2) Analysis of “functional units” used to realise communicative
purposes
a. First we shall consider the functional units in the reading mode; i.e. the
moves (cf. section 2.1.2) used to structure and organise the homepage in a
suitable and conventional way – this analysis is similar to the analysis of
“printed” text in traditional genre theory.
b. Then we shall consider the functional units in the navigating mode. For
this purpose we need to introduce a new concept which captures the
essence of functional units of the homepage in the navigating mode. We
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Web-Mediated Genres
shall suggest that “links” are the functional and structural units of the
homepage in the navigating mode. As this part of the analysis marks the
most significant departure from traditional genre theory, this section not
only accounts for the function of links on the homepage, but presents a
rather detailed discussion of the functional nature of links.
(3) Analysis of “rhetorical strategies” used to realise moves and links
a. First we shall consider the verbal, visual, audio strategies used in the
reading mode to realise functional moves of the homepage. This analysis is
similar to traditional genre analysis.
b. Then we shall consider the rhetorical strategies used in the navigating
mode to realise functional links. Here we shall attempt to come up with a
catalogue of potential strategies used to mark a link on the homepage
(change of colours, underlining, etc.).
6.1 Analysis of Communicative Purposes on the Homepage
Having defined web documents as two-dimensional, suggesting that an
important functional feature of such documents is their ability to perform a
communicative function in the reading as well as in the navigating mode,
we obviously have to account for the communicative purpose of web
documents in the both modes when making a genre analysis.
6.1.1 Analysis of Communicative Purpose in the Reading Mode
When the reader accesses the homepage s/he is usually in search of
information. The aim of the homepage is to assist the reader in this search.
Therefore, the homepage is a condensation of the most important
information on the site and serves as a swift, brief, and scannable site
introduction. The homepage does not provide the reader with a complete
overview of the entire site (which is the purpose of the site map). Instead it
presents a selection of topics – ranging from the names of very broad topic
categories such as “help”, “careers”, “about us” to more elaborate
summaries or leads (especially news summaries). The choice of topics
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
present on the homepage is governed by what the web author believes will
satisfy the immediate information need of the reader (the default
information) when the reader consults the web page. Thus from our
knowledge of the social practice related to the production and
consumption of homepages, we suggest that the primary communicative
purpose of the homepage in the reading mode is:
•
To introduce the site
However, as with many other “traditional” genres, the homepage fulfils
secondary purposes as well. These purposes cannot be said to constitute
the core function of the homepage, but seem to have emerged concurrently
with the increase in web communication among companies/organisations
and their publics. These secondary purposes are:
•
•
To create/consolidate the image of the sender
To present news (local or global news)
We have added the secondary purpose of image creation/consolidation
because one would miss the point if suggesting that homepages play a
purely informative role. To return to our “door metaphor”, and stretch it a
bit further, one could add that the “look” of the front door, says something
about the sender (is it the “shabby chick” look with patches of paint in pale
colours, is it “high-tech” with steel, glass and charcoal colours, or perhaps
the “past times” look with inlaid panels, glass panes and solid oak). In the
same way, the choice of information as well as the design and layout of the
homepage say something about the sender; i.e. play an image-creating role.
The other secondary purpose (to present news) should be related to our
discussion of the homepage as a kind of news genre. As mentioned above
the sender of the homepage chooses to highlight some of the website
content by relegating a “front page” position to part of the information.
Some of this information is permanent, e.g. the headings such as
“investor”, “press”, etc. which simply refer to the main content/topic
categories of the web and look the same whenever you access the
homepage. However, some of the information changes within the
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Web-Mediated Genres
hour/day, especially the information which takes the form of small news
summaries. The news summaries provide the reader with a quick overview
of the main news of the company/organisation or the daily news in general.
6.1.2 Analysis of Communicative Purpose in the Navigating
Mode
Drawing on our discussion of hypertexts in section 4, we suggest that the
purpose of all web documents in the navigating mode is to provide access
to relevant web pages and websites, i.e. to act as a means of transportation
allowing the reader to travel the WWW moving from one web page or
website to another10. Thus in the navigating mode, the hypertext system of
the homepage enables the navigator to use the links on the homepage to
access the rest of the website. Therefore, the main purpose of the homepage
in the navigating mode is:
•
To provide access to the website
As a result, we suggest the concept of communicative purpose in
traditional genre theory be broadened to account for communicative
purposes in the two modes, which means that we end up with a doubleedged purpose as well as a sub-division of one of the main purposes:
Before we address the question of communicative purpose in the navigating mode,
we should like to point out that, unlike Swales, who uses the concept of communicative
purpose as the primary tool for classifying genres, we consider the purpose of web
documents in the navigating mode to be constant and not genre specific, owing to the
fact that we are dealing with aspects of the WWW as a medium (more specifically that
of hypertexts) and the characteristics of the medium are the same irrespective of the
web documents with which we are concerned (be it a homepage, a company profile, a
FAQ, etc.).
10
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
Mode
Reading
Main
purpose
To introduce the website
Sub-
To consolidate/
purpose
create an image
Navigating
To provide access to the website
To present news
6.2 Analysis of Functional Units (Moves and Links) on the
Homepage
Now let’s turn to the way communicative purposes are realised in web
documents. According to Swales’ genre model (see section 2.1.2) a
communicative purpose is realised by a functional staging structure which
consists of a number of functional “chunks”. In the previous section we
concluded that the homepage has two parallel – yet distinct communicative purposes (depending on its modality) and we, therefore,
need to identify the functional “chunks” of each mode separately.
6.2.1 Analysis of Moves in the Reading Mode
The analysis of moves in the reading mode is straightforward and similar
to that of traditional texts. The moves are clearly distinct with boundaries
between them marked off by (i) changes in the type of information present
in the different sections of the homepage (content) - often supported by (ii)
changes in frames, empty space, shifts in colours, shifts in font size/type,
etc.11
Our analyses of several homepages suggest that the following moves
are quite common on the homepage in the reading mode:
However, to return to our discussion of move identification in section 2.1.2, it is
important to note that the label given to a move is functional – rather than content-based
– because the move is a functional unit whereas elements of content or layout are
rhetorical strategies used to realise a move.
11
22
Web-Mediated Genres
Attracting attention
This move is meant to attract the attention of the reader when entering the homepage.
Greeting
This move accentuates the door metaphor of the homepage; the purpose is to create a
feeling of welcoming someone at your doorstep.
Identifying sender
This move serves to identify the web-owner. The identification is quite important from
the point of view of both web user and web-owner; it enables the web user to orientate
him/herself and keep track of his/her whereabouts on the Net, and it plays an important
role as part of the web-owner’s image creating strategy. This move is often realised by a
logo.
Indicating content structure
This move, often referred to as the main menu, is one of the most fundamental
characteristics of the homepage. It provides the web user with a clear overview of the
content of the website.
Detailing (selected) content
This move provides more detailed information about the topics listed in the main menu
in the form of small news summaries. Apart from detailing information, the move also
realises the news presenting and image creating function of the homepage as news of
various kinds seem to be the preferred content of this move (be it international/national
news or news of the self-promotional kind (financial results, product news, latest events
in the company or community, etc.). However, it is extremely important for the web
writer to strike a balance between presenting news which not only promote the webowner but also seem relevant to the web user, to ensure that the user stays on the site.
Establishing credentials
This move is meant to establish a trustworthy image of the web-owner.
Establishing contact
This move enables the reader to contact the sender.
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
Establishing a (discourse) community
This move enables loyal or frequent web users to establish communities within the
website (often realised by a login facility).
Promoting an external organisation
This move promotes another company, product, etc. It usually takes the form of a
banner advertisement.
As the name suggests the move structure of a text indicates a preferred way
of organising the text in order to realise a particular communicative
purpose – most notably obtained by creating a sequence of moves through
which to go when writing and later reading the text (Bhatia 1993: 30).
However, this view is only partly applicable to homepages. The homepage
is a genre which exploits the entire spectrum of rhetorical creativity – also
in terms of text structuring. There is a vague tendency towards a preferred
text organisation which is similar to that of newspaper front pages: the
most important information first and the least important last. However, to
suggest a conventional or prototypical move structure of the moves on the
homepage is not particularly relevant. As mentioned in section 4.3, web
documents (including the homepage) are texts in which sequence and
linearity seem to be suspended. The web text is not intended to be read in
its entirety but rather scanned by the reader before s/he finally decides
which elements to read. Thus the author of the homepage may have
decided on a particular path for the reader to follow when entering the
homepage but in the scanning process the reader selects the element which
will be read first, second, third etc. thus making his/her own personalised
move structure.
6.2.2 Analysis of Links in the Navigating Mode
The next step in our genre analysis is to analyse the realisation of the
communicative purpose in the navigating mode. In the reading mode, and
within traditional genre analysis, communicative purposes are realised by
moves, as we saw in 2.1.2. However, in the navigating mode we cannot use
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Web-Mediated Genres
this unit as a structural/functional criterion. The communicative purpose of
providing access to the website is not realised by moves, but by hyperlinks
witch tie together the text chunks into a web structure. And since
hyperlinks are an inherent property of the web medium as such - and not
related to specific text genres - we suggest an investigation into the
functional value of links on the web in general.
A link may be defined as a clickable object (for example appearing as
an icon or as underlined/highlighted text as in “read more”) which allows
the navigator to go from one place to another on a webpage or a website.
Present day research into the functional value of links seems to focus on
how one (mostly the text producer) links documents on the website in
terms of two variables: (1) “what should come first and what should come
last” i.e. using structural links to organise the information on the website
hierarchically, or (2) “what would the reader like to know more about”, i.e.
organising the documents in an associative manner, adding associative links
which allow the navigator to go from e.g. a site containing cooking recipes to
a site with information on food ingredients (i.e. information which may be
related semantically, but is not organised in terms of one document being
more general or specific than the other).
However, our notion of the functional value of links is concerned with
the relationship established between the two chunks of information being
connected; i.e. what is text B (the textual point of destination) doing in
relation to text A (the textual point of entry)? Links do more than simply
guide the navigator from one place to another. Links add meaning to the
chunks of information which they connect, as they postulate a relationship
between the two information units connected by the link. As Tosca (2000: 3)
suggests: “every link communicates a presumption of its own optimal
relevance. […] Links don’t interrupt the flow of meaning; on the contrary,
they enliven it”. In other words – if there is a link, it is because the
information, which the navigator gets access to through the link, is relevant
to the information which has just been read. It is this notion of links as
meaningful, functional units that allows us to regard links as equivalent to
“moves” in printed text.
When we want to assign functional values to a link such as “read
more”, we need to broaden our research object and include both node
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
(textual point of entry or “text A”) and anchor (textual point of destination
or “text B”) and investigate the way in which the anchor is related to the
node i.e. to consider the information we get “here” in relation to the
information we get “there”. For example does B identify the information in
A (describe what A is) or does B elaborate on the information in A by
explaining, narrating, exemplifying aspects of A?12 So we intend to set up a
framework (based on theories of text typology) which accounts for the
function of links by considering the links (or rather the node and the
anchor in combination) as functional text types.
6.2.2.1 Functional Text Typology
Within text linguistics, researchers have for years been trying to assign
functional values to linear texts (text types) in order to investigate semantic
and pragmatic aspects of language in a textual perspective. Many
approaches to functional text typologies exist and we shall not go into a
detailed discussion of text typology research. Instead we shall focus on the
work of the French linguist, Jean-Michel Adam, (Adam 1992) whose text
type model draws on speech act theory and functional linguistics. For
Adam a text type is a text unit composed of text sequences appearing in
structural configurations of a semantic relational network. The text
sequences are autonomous text units composed of propositions forming
semantic patterns of macro speech acts or macro-propositions. The macropropositions can be defined as the basic units which combine pieces of text
into specific semantic configurations of text sequences which in turn fulfil
specific pragmatic functions. Adam (op.cit.: 33) operates with five different
text types (descriptive, narrative, argumentative, explicative, and
It goes without saying that the functional relationship which may exist between two
chunks of information is open to interpretation, and research also shows that people
often assign different types of functional relations to the same chunks of text (Harrison
2002: 3). However, if we can account for functional relations between chunks of
information in linear texts, we may also be able to explain the functional value of the
relational structure of links in hypertext.
12
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Web-Mediated Genres
dialogical) which reflect the prototypical forms of linguistic, structural
patterns we use when describing, narrating, arguing, etc.
In the following we shall take a brief look at each of the basic text
types in Adam’s text typology model.
The descriptive text type
The most important text type is description, because description is a basic
element in all the other text types. Adam operates with two main types of
description: explorative and expository description where the former is
concerned with description of state of being and the latter with description
of acts.
Explorative description describes an object, person or event by going
into a detailed account of its properties and parts and answers the
question: “What/who/where is x?” The explorative/descriptive text type
contains two main macro-propositions namely topic anchoring and
aspectualisation. The function of the topic is to set the scene, anchor the
topic, and tell the reader what the text is about. Aspectualisation is where
the actual description takes place. This macro-proposition often involves
two things, properties and parts, which means that a particular topic is
described in terms of its general properties (i.e. attributes) or by dividing
the topic into parts (sub-topics), which again are situated in time and space.
The following text from www.danfoss.dk is a prototypical descriptive
sequence:
Topic
anchoring
Danfoss
Aspectualisation:
Property 1
Danfoss is a global enterprise,
Property 2
created by the efforts of dedicated people with a reputation for using
advanced technology in products and processes and for awareness of
environmental problems.
Part
All Danfoss factories are or will be certified according to ISO 14001 .
[…]
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
Expository description describes the development of a procedure rather
than identifying an object, a person or an event. Therefore, this particular
form of description is often found in recipes, manuals, etc. Expository
description answers questions like: “how to proceed” or “how to go about
doing something” and contains the following macro-propositions
introduction and procedural steps. Here is an example from
www.movabletype.org.
Introduction
Creating a New Weblog
When creating a new weblog, you will need to perform the following
steps:
Step 1
1. Create the directory where your weblog will be stored. If you wish
to store your archive files in a directory other than your main weblog
directory, create a directory to hold your archives, as well. Set the
permissions (CHMOD) of both directories to 777 (unless you are
running Movable Type under cgiwrap or suexec).
Step 2
2. In the Main Menu, click Create New Weblog; then configure the
required settings in the weblog creation screen--name your weblog, set
up the paths and URLs, and select a timezone for the weblog. When
you are done with your weblog configuration, press SAVE.
Step 3
3. […]
The narrative text type
The narrative text type is based on the structure of the fairy tale in which
we have an initial situation (orientation) forming the beginning of a frame of
action in which an event representing a conflict takes place (complication). It
is followed by a chain of acts (action) and/or an evaluation procedure
calling for a solution (resolution) which eliminates the problem, puts an end
to the conflict, and brings us back to the original situation or a new series of
acts. Moral implications of the story (moral) may round off the sequence.
Here is an example of a narrative sequence from scholastic.com
/harrypotter.
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Web-Mediated Genres
Orientation
The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry
Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft
and Wizardry.
Complication But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a
strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter
returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.
Action
And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh
torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new
professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who
haunts the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron
Weasley's younger sister, Ginny […]
Resolution
[not present here]
Moral
[not present here]
The argumentative text type
Argumentation is structured in terms of macro-propositions representing a
datum as an argument, a claim as a conclusion and a warrant as the
inferential link between the two. The prototype of argumentation follows a
causal structure including a judgement component, which may not
explicitly visible in the structure, as in the following example from
www.danisco.com.
Claim
We create value for the societies in which we operate
Datum
by acting as a responsible neighbour, by integrating sustainability into
our operations, and by being a good employer.
Warrant
(implicit) responsible neighbours etc. create value for societies
The explicative text type
The explicative prototype is a causal text unit composed of two macropropositions, effect and cause representing a why-because relation in a
successive semantic scheme. It differs from the argumentative prototype in
that it does not articulate any judgement. It simply states that A causes B to
exist. It does not leave any traces of the pro’s and con’s of the writer or the
reader for that matter. Here is an example from www.caregiver.org.
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
Problem
(why)
we were the first to know that the HD gene actually mapped to
chromosome 4.
Solution
(because)
Because we were the first to see the results off the computer,
Conclusion
[not present here]
The dialogical text type
Dialogue is based on a conversational scheme reflecting the turn-taking of
participants interacting with each other. The dialogue is a complex
structure divided into sequences covering phatic components of
conversation (e.g. opening and closing scenes of conversation) and the
transactional sequences representing the core element of the conversation.
Here is an example of a dialogical text with the core elements question and
answer from www.ikea.co.uk.
Question
Who can apply for an IKEA Home Card?
Answer
Anyone who is over 18 years of age and a permanent resident in the
UK
6.2.2.2 A Functional Typology of Links
In the following section we shall use Adam’s notion of “text types” to
establish a functional link typology. As mentioned above we suggest that
the two text units (A and B) act as units (macro-propositions) in a text
sequence. This text sequence forms a certain semantic pattern, which in
turn correlates with a particular function/macro speech act (such as
describing, explaining, etc.) In text A we identify a link and interpret the
link as the first macro-proposition of a given text type sequence. Then we
click on the link and reach text B where we “complete” the text type
sequence by identifying the remaining macro-propositions of the text type.
For example the link “who can apply for an IKEA Home Card” in text A
equals the first macro-proposition in the dialogical text type. And when we
click on the link and move to text B, the next macro-proposition in the
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Web-Mediated Genres
sequence appears, namely an answer: “Anyone who is over 18 years…”.
Thus on the basis of the text sequence – constituted by texts A and B - we
conclude that the link “who can apply for an IKEA Home Card” not only
provides access to text B but does so simulating dialogue with the web user
and thus performs a dialoguing function.
6.2.2.2.1 Generic and Specific Links
We claimed above that a functional typology of links requires an
investigation into the semantic relation between the two texts connected by
the link. Nevertheless, as text analysts, we adopt a “linear” approach in our
analysis and take our point of departure in the link itself, i.e. the clickable
objects on the homepage in text A. We shall, therefore, begin our analysis
by investigating the link types in text A and introduce a division of links
into two main categories which account for the nature of links in very
broad terms; namely: Generic links and Specific links.
Generic Links
Generic links correspond to an entry in a traditional library catalogue
where the entry takes the form of subject terms. In this sense they provide
access to the main topics on a website and they often appear at upper levels
on a website. Due to their general, topical status, generic links are also
frequently inserted in the top section of a web document (e.g. in the
navigation bar or a hyperlinked table of contents) where they provide
shortcuts to the main subject areas of the website as in the example below
from www.danisco.com.
home13
products about us sustainability
13
people
press
investor
contact
For practical reasons we underline the actual links (the clickable objects) in our
examples.
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
This placement leaves the generic link with a particular high information
value as ideal and salient information14 which is in line with the abovementioned pragmatic relevance value of links in general. Many of the
generic links are static – in the sense that they act as navigation bars on the
entire site; and not only on the homepage. Generic links are always of a
descriptive nature as the function of a generic link is to bring the navigator
on to an information chunk which identifies a general topic. In other words
the link brings the user from a point of entry of the topic (A) to the topic
itself (B). The link is a kind of “empty” content category – waiting to be
“filled out”; which also means that the generic link is thematically
“decontextualised” in the sense that it points to nothing but its own topic at
a “deeper” level on the website (hierarchically speaking) and contains no
explanation of its relevance besides the one given to it by its status as link.
Linguistically, generic links are often realised by a noun phrase (as e.g. the
term “investor” in the navigation bar above) and if the link is accompanied
by a text, the text is usually a meta-discoursal text providing navigational
information, not information about the topic, as in the example below:
You can also download the report as a PDF file.
Specific Links
The homepage is more than a table of contents; it is also meant to evoke
curiosity in the navigator, making him/her want to enter the site. For this
particular purpose the web producer provides his/her homepage with
specific links which function as appetizers or previews of what is to come.
Specific links are thematically contextualised – they are usually introduced
by “leads” which explain the relevance of the link and which, together with
14
According to Kress & Leeuven (1998: 193) ideal information is usually placed at the top
of a front page and is defined as information “presented as the idealised or generalized
essence of the information, and therefore also as having ideologically one kind of
salience”. Elements placed at the bottom are identified as real information presenting
“more specific information (e.g. details) and/or more ‘down to earth’ information …
and /or more practical information (e.g. practical consequences, directions for action,
etc.)” (op. cit.).
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Web-Mediated Genres
the link itself, constitute the first macro-proposition in a particular text type
sequence (cf. section 6.2.2.2 above). In other words where the link in
generic links was an “empty” category, specific links (not least because of
their leads or “paratexts”) not only introduce the topic itself, but provide
us with information about the topic and show the relevance of the link. The
link takes the navigator to B where s/he may find a text chunk with a more
elaborate description, a causal explanation, an argument or a brief story,
etc. in support of the topic in A. Specific links are often inserted further
down the homepage primarily containing real information and the links
are of a changeable nature; text connected by specific links change by the
hour, day or week which helps accentuate the dynamic nature of web texts
as opposed to printed text. Here is an example of a specific link from the
danisco.com homepage:
Press release
Danisco Venture invests in
Dutch biotech company
Dutch biotechnology company
CatchMabs BV announces the
closing of its second round of
Financing including Danisco
Venture.
read more
The specific link, as we define it here, consists of the lead and the clickable
object. The lead presents the topic – sets the scene, so to speak, and gives
the navigator an idea of what type of information to find behind the link
whereas the link is the actual “gateway”. In the example above the link and
the lead constitute the first macro-sequence in a narrative sequence – i.e.
the orientation stage. It sets the scene, but to complete the story, the
navigator has to click on “read more” and be transferred to text B where
the entire news report - the press release - can be found. In other words the
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
specific link functions as a “reading guide” suggesting the relevance of a
link and acts as an appetizer, a taste of what is to come.
Now if we relate the notion of generic and specific links to the text
types introduced in section 6.2.2.1, it appears that generic links only sets
the scene for a topic (e.g. a link such as “products” does not include any
information about the topic apart from the topic itself). This explains why
generic links must be of a descriptive/explorative type. They anchor the
topic as in “products” but they don’t start explaining what “products” is.
Specific links, on the other hand, embrace all text types. This is due to the
fact that specific links call for more than a direct “repetition” of what has
already been said. Specific links suggest to us why a particular link is
relevant and how we should conceptualise the information we get in text A
and B (as a description, a story, an explanation, an argument, etc.). Thus
when adding the concept of text types to our two main link types we end
up with the following combinations – and a functional link typology has
appeared.
Function
Generic Links
Specific Links
Descriptive – explorative
x
x
Descriptive – expository
x
Narrative
x
Argumentative
x
Explicative
x
Dialogical
x
The table reads as follows: In web documents, the structural units (which
we have defined as “links”) perform the following functions: Generic links
describe something (descriptive/explorative). Specific links perform a
number of functions such as describing, arguing, narrating, explaining, etc.
We shall now exemplify our link typology and consider the functional use
of links on a number of different websites15.
15
Although a description of the entire website is outside the scope of this paper, we
need to consider other web pages apart from the homepage because specific links are
more common at lower levels on the website.
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Web-Mediated Genres
6.2.2.2.1.1 Analyses of Generic and Specific Links16
Generic Links: descriptive/explorative
A substantial number of links on the homepage are generic links. For
example the links in the navigation bar below from www.danisco.com are
all of the generic type, as they do nothing except for pointing to their own
topic at a “deeper” level on the website (hierarchically speaking).
TEXT A
home
products about us sustainability
people
press
investor
contact
If we click on one of the generic links – for example “products”, we are
immediately transferred to text B which provides us with a descriptive list
of Danisco’s product range and a brief description of the company productwise.
TEXT B
Choose a path to our products
Danisco is the world's leading supplier of food ingredients and one of the largest and
most efficient sugar producers in Europe. We are also a significant supplier of
speciality sweeteners and a leading global supplier of enzymes, betaine and flavours
to the animal nutrition industry.
Emulsifiers
Flavours
Distilled monolycerides
Fruit flavours
Mono and diglycerides
Essences, extracts and oleoresins
Esters
Fragrance raw material
Thus the link inserted here in text A perfoms a descriptive function: Topic
is “products” introduced in text A, and the aspectualisation - i.e. the list of
different product types (i.e. “parts” of products) - are dealt with in text B.
16
The actual link, the clickable object in text A, will be underlined in the actual analyses.
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
Text A (Topic anchoring)
Text B (Aspectualisation)
Products
(Aspectualisation: parts)
Emulsifiers
Distilled monoglycerides
Mono and diglycerides
Esters
[…]
Here is another prototypical example of the generic/descriptive/explorative
link. The link in text A indicates the topic, “sustainability”, and the text
which we arrive at when clicking the link (text B) describes what
“sustainability” is.
Text A (Topic anchoring)
Text B (Property)
Sustainability
Sustainable development is
...development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own
needs. […]
Even though generic links are always of the explorative type, the two
examples above clearly demonstrate that the linguistic strategies for
realising the description may vary. In the first example we find a
descriptive list; in the second example the description constitutes a
“running text”. However both linguistic strategies answer the typical
descriptive question “what/who/where is x?”.
Specific Links
Specific Link: descriptive/explorative
The specific descriptive link connects two texts where both texts contribute
to a description of a particular topic. The difference between generic
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Web-Mediated Genres
descriptive links and specific descriptive links lies in the fact that the
aspecualisation in specific links is anticipated in text A. Thus instead of
simply stating the topic (as is the case in generic links), the actual
description of properties or parts (the aspectualisation) begins in text A.
Here is an example from the homepage of danisco.com. On the homepage
the reader is being introduced to the concept of “partnerweb” and the
description (in terms of an aspectualisation) begins in text A. The reason
why the web producer may choose a specific descriptive link here – as
opposed to a generic descriptive link, which simply states the topic, may be
that s/he is unsure whether the term “partnerweb” is familiar to the reader.
Text A
Text B (Aspectualisation: of property 1)
(Topic)
Danisco e-business services
What is: partnerweb
Danisco's e-business services are
exclusively for existing Danisco customers.
(Aspectualisation: property 1)
Presently our services are open to
A service for customers
European, African, Middle Eastern,
Australian and New Zealand customers. This
source of online food industry information
(Aspecualisation: of property 1)
shows a way for improved efficiency and
Our e-business services are for existing more profitable product development and
Danisco customers. It is a source to purchasing.
knowledge and news about food
ingredients as well as a centre for
managing all your food ingredients
purchases. Want to know more?
read more
Specific Link: descriptive/expository
The link below originates from the danisco.com homepage. It is a
specific/descriptive/expository link because the link (text A) constitutes the
first macro-proposition in the expository text type, the introduction, and it
transfers the navigator to a text (in this case a downloadable video) which
describes the procedures (steps) used when working with dialogue in the
company (rather than simply describing what dialogue is).
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
Text A (introduction)
Text B (Steps)
We believe in dialogue
View our video presentation on what
dialogue means to Danisco and how we
work with dialogue.
[Text B is a video which describes how
Danisco works with dialogue – i.e. the
procedures involved].
view English version
view Danish version
The descriptive/expository link plays an important pedagogic and
persuasive role on the webpage. Rather than simply describing something
(e.g. “what is dialogue”), it enables the navigator to actually see how
Danisco works with dialogue. Thus the expository link becomes a valuable
pedagogic tool which is likely to evoke interest and persuade the navigator
to click on the link and enter the site.
Specific Link: narrative
Here is an example of a narrative link from www.ikea.com (from the
section called “about ikea”). As it appears the narrative sequence is quite
short as a number of macro-propositions (complication, resolution, and
coda) has been left out. Thus text A introduces the navigator to the story
and the link transfers him/her to the story itself – which centres on the
chronological actions performed by the founder of the company. This
sequence is hardly surprising as Ikea wants to present the uncomplicated
version of the company history to the navigator.
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Web-Mediated Genres
Text A (Orientation)
Text B (Actions)
It's been six decades since IKEA began in
a small farming village in Sweden. This is
a history of how IKEA went from the
woods of southern Sweden to 31
countries around the world.
1926
The founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, is
born in Småland, in the south of Sweden.
He was raised on a farm called Elmtaryd,
near the small village of Agunnaryd. Even
as a young boy, Ingvar knew that he
wanted to develop a business. He started
by selling matches to neighbours from his
bicycle. He found that he could buy
matches in bulk very cheaply from
Stockholm and sell them individually at a
very low price but still make a good profit.
From matches, he expanded to selling fish,
Christmas tree decorations, seeds and later
ball-point pens and pencils.
The full story
Specific Link: argumentative
Our next example is the specific/argumentative link. Text A is from
grundfos.com. It is not from the actual homepage but from the first page in
the products and solutions section.
Text A (claim)
COMMERCIAL
SERVICES
Text B (data)
BUILDING Grundfos Commercial Building Services (CBS) is
ready to become your professional partner
One reliable partner…
We are a team of highly educated people with many
years of experience of pump systems, technical as well
as commercial. We aim to help you make the best
Providing the right pump choice for your customers.
systems
for
commercial
buildings
The specific link (and lead) on page A contains the following propositions:
1.
2.
Grundfos is a reliable partner
Grundfos provides the right pump systems for commercial buildings
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
1 and 2 can be considered claims in an argumentative sequence. When
clicking on the link in A, the screen page, text B, appears. In B we get a
reformulation and an elaboration of the claim in A. More importantly,
however, we also get the items which help us complete the argument,
namely the macro-proposition data:
3.
4.
We are a team of highly educated people with many years of
experience of pump systems, technical as well as commercial.
We aim to help you make the best choice for your customers.
Thus 3 and 4 follow up on the claims in A suggesting that Grundfos is a
reliable partner who provides the right pump systems because it has a
team of highly educated/experienced people and because it actively assists
the customer in making the right choice. The implicit warrant of this
argument is something like: “highly educated, experienced, and serviceminded people are more reliable and likely to provide the right solutions
than people with no education and experience”.
Specific Link: explicative
Here is an example of a specific/explicative link from the website
www.faced.ufba.br where the link has been added to explain something to
the navigator17.
Text A (Problem/why)
Text B (Solution/because)
Why I Authored this Site
Why did I author this site?
Because I get it! By that I mean that I
recognize the profound implication of the
WEB, not just on the Internet, but on
society itself.
17
Example from: Guay (1995):“WEB Publishing Paradigms”,
http://www.faced.ufba.br/~edc708/biblioteca/interatividade/web%20paradigma/Paradig
m.html
40
Web-Mediated Genres
Text A is formulated as a question and realise the problem of the
explicative text sequence. When clicking the link, the navigator is provided
with the explanation (in this case formulated as an answer). The explicative
link is again used here to “activate” the navigator – to catch his/her interest
and make him/her enter the site. What is more, the question/answer
formulation (which is also a dialogical feature) makes the text more
interactive and informal.
Specific Link: dialogical
The web medium is an interactive medium which, in some cases, allows for
direct contact between web producer and web user. Therefore, traces of
dialogue are quite common on the website – even though the direct
address, as in the example below from www.my-siemens.com, may only
simulate dialogue between web producer and user. In text A the rhetorical
question “fun with new ring tones?” is posed. When clicking on the link
the ‘dialogue’ continues with yet another question: “How about being rung
up by the tune of your favourite pop song?” and the answer: “Here you can
get it!”
Text A (question)
Text B (question/answer)
Fun with new ring tones?
Monophonic Ring tones
Download your favourite…
You want to have more entertainment in
the range of your ring tones. How about
being rung up by the tune of your
favourite pop song? Here you can get it!
Explore the world of ring tones for mobiles
and download your favourite.
More
[link to country- specific information]
It is of course quite clear that the dialogical link has not only been placed
here to create dialogue, because in text B the web user also gets important
information, namely access to a list of links with country-specific
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
information on ring tones. However, the semantic relation between text A
and text B is that of asking a question and providing the answer.
The Distribution of Generic and Specific Links on the Homepage
After having analysed different link types from various web pages, we
should like to return to the homepage and comment on the distribution of
link types on the homepage itself. As mentioned in section 6.1.2 the
purpose of the homepage in the navigating mode is to provide access to the
website. Both generic and specific links fulfil this purpose – though in
rather different ways. Generic links give an overview of the main topics
covered on the website, which is quite important considering the fact that
the navigator tends to use the homepage as a gateway to the “real stuff”
and so the “serious” navigator needs generic links as a sort of navigational
map to work his/her way through the website in a systematic way. It is,
therefore, hardly surprising that generic links are more frequent on the
homepage compared to specific links. Specific links, on the other hand,
function as appetizers, they are previews of what the website contains;
their primary function is not to provide an overview of the website content
but rather to “lure” the navigator into accessing the site. The links have
been placed here to make the homepage more interesting and relevant to
the “daring” or perhaps “hesitant”, navigator, whose way into the website
is not guided by a particular route, but who is more prone to act on specific
links with enticing leads.
As it appears from the examples above it is possible, and fruitful, to
add a functional dimension to links. Our findings show that adding links
to the homepage is not simply a question of enabling the navigator to
“move on” but rather a question of connecting items on the web page in a
meaningful and sensible way, setting up a semantic relation between text A
and text B. The notion of functional links may thus prove useful for the text
producer when designing his/her homepage as it provides him/her with an
idea of which information warrants a generic and a specific link. And, if
choosing a specific link, what kind of semantic relation works best. I.e.
should s/he introduce a topic such as “sustainability” by using a generic
link which suggests to the navigator that “on this site you can find
42
Web-Mediated Genres
information on sustainability” or should s/he anticipate a discussion of the
topic already in text A and use a specific link which already presents the
information from a particular angle? By approaching links from this
perspective they come to play the exact same role as moves (or stages) in
traditional genre analysis:
[…] we cannot make all the meanings we want to at once. Each stage
in the genre contributes a part of the overall meanings that must be
made for the genre to be accomplished successfully. (Eggins 1994: 36
after Martin 1985)
In the same way we cannot (or it does not make sense to) enter the website
by means of one link or one link type on the homepage. We need a variety
of links, with different functions (describing, explaining, arguing, etc.),
which ensure that the communicative purpose of the homepage in the
navigating mode is accomplished.
6.3 Analysis of Rhetorical Strategies Used to Realise Moves and
Links
We have now reached the final stage in our extended genre analysis model
– i.e. the way moves and links are realised in web documents. Here we
need to consider the rhetorical strategies (verbal and visual) available to the
web user in each mode. However, we do not intend to account for the
plethora of strategies which web producers may use to express themselves
when for example “detailing selected content” or “indicating content
structure” in the reading mode or “providing explanatory information” in
the navigating mode. Instead we shall make general observations about the
most characteristic strategies available to the web writer in the two modes,
leaving detailed analyses for later research.
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
6.3.1 Analysis of Rhetorical Strategies in the Reading mode
In order to account for possible rhetorical strategies in the reading mode
we shall take a closer look at homepage of the Danish Sugar and Distillery
Company, Danisco, www.danisco.com. Limits of space do not allow us to
make an in-depth analysis of all the rhetorical strategies on the homepage.
Therefore we shall restrict our analysis to the rhetorical realisation of two
moves, namely: “attracting attention” and “establishing credentials”.
6.3.1.1. Analysis of Rhetorical Strategies Used in the Move:
“Attracting Attention”
The “attracting attention move” is usually realised by a combination of
verbal, visual and/or audiovisual elements. Pictures with extraordinary
vibrant colours, flash effect, and particular typographical elements etc. are
commonly used to attract the reader and make him/her stay on the
homepage. However, strong verbal elements such as catchy slogans,
jingles, puns, news vocabulary such as “new”, “recent”, “today”, etc.
sometimes replace or complete visual design elements in the realisation of
the attracting attention move. The attracting attention move, placed in the
top frame of the Danisco homepage, is one of the most important moves on
the homepage, from the web designer’s point of view, as it may determine
whether the reader leaves or stays on the site. Maybe as a result of its key
role, the attracting attention move on Danisco’s homepage has chosen to
exploit the media potential of the WWW to its full. Here the flash technique
is cleverly used to combine video, text and graphics and thereby create an
optimal, attention-grabbing effect. The flash sequence begins when four
cups of coffee, representing four different flavours, enters the “scene” (by
means of the flash technique). A text appears saying that “Today coffee is not
just coffee” and a bottom text adds: “you can enjoy it with many tasty
flavours”. A smaller picture appears on top of the first illustrating two
female researchers in a laboratory, dressed in white coats, one of them
holding a bottle of liquid. A new text appears saying: “It takes human
knowledge to produce”, followed by another text saying: “A variety of flavours
44
Web-Mediated Genres
for a variety of people”. A second picture pops up which shows a man lying
on a patio working on a lab top with a cup of coffee beside him. The
sequence ends with a final flashing text: “We are proud of adding flavour to
your day”. It is also relevant to notice that the choice of type size in the text
is also used to attract the attention of the reader; e.g. key words are
highlighted by an increase in type size.
6.3.1.2. Analysis of Rhetorical Strategies Used in the Move:
“Identifying Web-Owner”
The purpose of the “identifying web-owner” move is of course to reveal
the identity of the sender using verbal and/or visual design elements which
can be associated with the sender. For organisations and companies, such
as Danisco, the logotype serves as an obvious rhetorical strategy for
identification, sometimes complemented by a picture of the company, its
buildings, the founder and/or its staff. Apart from logotype and pictures,
colours and typographical elements are also used as a means of
identification and recognition because websites often adopt the
conventions of the design programme of the company in general and
thereby create a familiar and identifiable look. On the Danisco homepage
logo, colours and typographical elements are used to identify the webowner. Thus in the top frame of the page, next to the “attracting attention”
move, we find the Danisco logo followed by its slogan “First you add
knowledge…”. What is more, the page employs the fonts and colours of
Danisco’s design programme which again leads to an easy identification of
the sender.
6.3.2. Analysis of Rhetorical Strategies in the Navigating Mode
The realisation of a link lies in the technological properties of the Net; in
order to establish a link between page A and B, the author has to encode
the document. The codes are not immediately visible to the user but may
be accessed if required. However, obviously, links also need an “external”
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
realisation which indicates to the navigator that a gateway is available. In
“traditional” genre analysis, moves are realised by both verbal and visual
strategies. In the navigating mode the “external” realisation of links is
almost exclusively realised by visual strategies, which may be (a) implicit –
i.e. hidden at first sight18 or (b) explicit – i.e. readily visible to the reader.
Implicit link realisation
The implicit realisation is not visible to the web user when s/he enters the
web page. The user has to navigate the document using the mouse – more
specifically the curser. When the curser “hits” a gateway, it transforms itself
into the “pointed hand” icon. Apart from the pointed hand we may also see
a transformation of other elements when the curser hits a gateway such as
a change in colour or shape of (1) a text, (2) a picture or (3) a navigation
button box, and/or in combination with a mouse-over effect which reveals
a sub-menu or a brief link text indicating the content of the menu. But the
realisation is still implicit because movements are needed to disclose the
link.
Explicit link realisation
To produce more reader-friendly websites, the author often adds an extra
explicit dimension to the realisation where the link indication is
immediately visible to the navigator. Concomitant with the increase in
web-mediated communication, a “common repertoire” of explicit
rhetorical strategies has gradually emerged and the following strategies are
more or less universal on the website:
•
Icons:
− iconic icons (e.g. envelope icon (indicating link to mail facilities) or
pictures/photos in general (e.g. )
− symbolic icons (e.g. the house icon – indicating link to homepage)
18
Though it should of course be added that the implicit and explicit rhetorical strategies
simply indicate that a link is available; the actual activation of the link requires a mouse
click.
46
Web-Mediated Genres
•
•
•
Underlining of text (e.g. “introduction”)
Colour shifts in text
Meta-text (e.g. “read more” - combined with colour shifts or
underlining)
In the present analysis we have not looked into the relationship between
link type and rhetorical strategy. But it may be worth exploring whether
generic and specific links (and the sub-categories descriptive,
argumentative, narrative, etc.) differ in their choice of rhetorical strategy.
7. Conclusion
The aim of this paper was to “up-grade” the genre model and suggest ways
in which the traditional model could be extended to account for webmediated texts. It appeared that the web medium forms an integral part of
web documents and this fact calls for a solution which incorporates
medium-related features into the genre model. Therefore, the notion of
modal shifts - where the web user alternates between reading the text and
navigating the medium - was introduced. The notion of modal shifts led to
the development of a two-dimensional genre model whose constituents are
more or less similar to the traditional genre model but which accounts for
the characteristics of web documents in two modes – first as traditional
texts and then as a medium providing access to the entire website. The
most significant addition to the traditional genre model was the
introduction of links as functional constituents in web documents. Our
findings suggest that adding links to the homepage is not simply a
question of enabling the navigator to “move on” but rather a question of
connecting items on the web page in a meaningful and sensible way,
setting up a semantic relation between text A and text B. Our analyses
showed that there are indeed different ways of fulfilling the
communicative purpose of web documents in the navigating mode, in the
same ways as a whole list of moves may be used to realise the
communicative purpose of web documents in the reading mode.
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Inger Askehave & Anne Ellerup Nielsen
A systematic characterization of web-mediated genres was outside the
scope of this paper, but we used the homepage as exemplary material in
our theoretical discussion and ended up with a tentative characterisation of
the homepage as a genre in our analysis. Due to an “innate obsession” with
linearity when performing text analysis, our exemplary analysis did not do
justice to our dynamic conceptualisation of web genres. From the way we
chose to present our analysis, one might get the impression that we see a
sharp division between web documents in the reading and in the
navigating mode. However, this is not the case. The homepage, as a
hypertext, provides two reading modes which are present simultaneously
in the production and consumption of web documents and their functional
realisations (communicative purposes, moves/links and rhetorical
strategies) are, therefore, also present at the same time – though not
necessarily “activated” at the same time by the web user19. This conflation
of text and media may not be obvious from our analysis, but it is in fact the
most significant contribution to the extension of the genre model and that
which now enables us to account for the new genres brought about by the
WWW medium.
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