%0 Book Section %B Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Science %D 2005 %T Autopoietic Cybergenres for e-Democracy? Genre Analysis of a Web-Based Discussion Board %A Sæbø, Øystein %A Päivärinta, Tero %E Sprague, Ralph H., Jr. %K cybergenre %K democracy %K e-democracy %K genre %X

The paper discusses genre theory in the field of e-Democracy. A framework for analysing communicative genres related to four stereotypical e-Democracy models is suggested. A case study of a web based discussion board in a municipality illustrates the implications of applying the genre lens to the e-Democracy research and practice, with lessons learned to considered in the future efforts on e-Democracy. Based on observations from the case, a theoretical concept of autopoietic cybergenre is suggested and its potential significance for future e-Democracy initiatives is addressed. An autopoietic cybergenre, such as a web-based discussion board, includes inherent capability for meta-communication enabling continuous structuring of the purpose(s) and parts of the form of the genre in question itself.

%B Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Science %I IEEE Computer Society Press %C Los Alamitos, CA %P 98c– %8 2005 %G eng