01927nas a2200181   4500008004100000245002900041210002900070260002000099300001400119520144300133653002001576653002301596653001001619653001801629653001201647100001901659856006701678       2002                        eng d00aModeling Genre Ecologies0 aModeling Genre Ecologies  bACM Pressc2002  a200–2073 aThe genre ecology framework is an analytical framework forstudying how people use multiple artifacts – such as
documentation, interfaces, and annotations – to mediate their
work activities. Unlike other analytical frameworks, the genre
ecology framework has been developed particularly for technical
communication research, particularly in its emphasis on
interpretation, contingency, and stability. Although this
framework shows much promise, it is more of a heuristic than a
formal modeling tool; it helps researchers to pull together
impressions, similar to contextual design’s work models, but it
has not been implemented as formally as distributed cognition’s
functional systems.
In this paper, I move toward a formal modeling of genre
ecologies. First, I describe the preliminary results of an
observational study of seven workers in two different functional
teams of a medium-sized telecommunications company (a subset
of a larger, 89-worker study). I use these preliminary results to
develop a model of the genres used by these two teams, how those
genres interconnect to co-mediate the workers’ activities, and the
breakdowns that the workers encounter as genres travel across the
boundaries of the two teams. I conclude by (a) describing how
formal models of genre ecologies can help in planning and
designing computer documentation and (b) discussing how these
models can be further developed.
10aactivity theory10acompound mediation10agenre10agenre ecology10atracing1 aSpinuzzi, Clay  uhttps://genreacrossborders.org/biblio/modeling-genre-ecologies01654nas a2200241   4500008004100000245009300041210006900134260000900203300001400212490000700226520090100233653001601134653002101150653001801171653001201189653001001201653001601211653001401227653001101241100001901252700001701271856012401288       2000                        eng d00aGenre Ecologies: An Open-System Approach to Understanding and Constructing Documentation0 aGenre Ecologies An OpenSystem Approach to Understanding and Cons  c2000  a169–1810 v243 aArguing that current approaches to understanding and constructingcomputer documentation are based on the flawed assumption
that documentation works as a closed system, the authors present
an alternative way of thinking about the texts that make computer
technologies usable for people. Using two historical case studies,
the authors describe how a genre ecologies framework provides
new insights into the complex ways that people use texts to
make sense of computer technologies. The framework is designed
to help researchers and documentors account for contingency,
decentralization, and stability in the multiple texts the people use
while working with computers. The authors conclude by proposing
three heuristic tools to support the work of technical communicators engaged in developing documentation today: exploratory questions, genre
ecology diagrams, and organic engineering.
10acontingency10adecentralization10adocumentation10aecology10agenre10aopen system10astability10asystem1 aSpinuzzi, Clay1 aZachry, Mark  uhttps://genreacrossborders.org/biblio/genre-ecologies-open-system-approach-understanding-and-constructing-documentation