Article

Playing in genre fields: a play theory perspective on genre

Authors:

David M. Christensen,

Jason L. Cootey,

Ryan M. MoellerAuthors Info & Claims

SIGDOC '07: Proceedings of the 25th annual ACM international conference on Design of communication

Pages 1 - 8

https://doi.org/10.1145/1297144.1297146

Published: 22 October 2007 Publication History

Abstract

Genres exist within complex social structures, making them both the product and productive of that social structure. Consequently, any genre may be as active within the context of its social structure as are any human agents. This paper broadens the concept of genre to include what we call the genre field in the attempt to expand the definition of agent to include the genre-as-agent concept. Through the lens of play theory, this paper develops a grammar of genre fields as a heuristic for the understanding of genre's complex social structure. This grammar of genre fields includes the player-agent and genre-agent, the genre field, and the play scenario. To illustrate the use of the grammar of genre fields, this paper applies the grammar to two case studies; the first of which showcases genre within a dynamic social structure, the second of which demonstrates how rigid and formulaic genres can be when viewed within a static social structure.

References

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Moeller, R. M., McAllister, K. S., and Cootey, J. L. "The Peripatos could not have looked like that," and other Educational Outcomes from Student Game Design. The Design and Use of Simulation Computer Games in Education. B. E. Shelton and D. A. Wiley, Eds. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2007, 131--154.

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Spinuzzi, C. Four ways to Investigate Assemblages of Texts: Genre Sets, Systems, Repertoires, and Ecologies. In Proceedings of the 22nd Annual International Conference on Computer Documentation. ACM Press, New York, NY, 2004, 110--116.

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Sutton-Smith, B. Ambiguity of Play. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1997.

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Williams, A. Examining the Use Case as Genre in Software Development and Documentation. In Proceedings of the 21st Annual International Conference on Computer Documentation. ACM Press, New York, NY, 2003, 12--19.

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Digital Library

Cited By

Alenkina T(2023)The Genre of a Grant Proposal in the Modern Teaching Context: Challenges and PossibilitiesVysshee Obrazovanie v Rossii = Higher Education in Russia10.31992/0869-3617-2023-32-6-76-9232:6(76-92)Online publication date: 4-Jul-2023
https://doi.org/10.31992/0869-3617-2023-32-6-76-92
Verhulsdonck GShalamova N(2019)Creating Content That Influences People: Considering User Experience and Behavioral Design in Technical CommunicationJournal of Technical Writing and Communication10.1177/004728161988028650:4(376-400)Online publication date: 6-Nov-2019
https://doi.org/10.1177/0047281619880286
Colby RColby R(2019)Game design documentationCommunication Design Quarterly10.1145/3321388.33213897:3(5-15)Online publication date: 15-Nov-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3321388.3321389
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Playing in genre fields: a play theory perspective on genre
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing
    1. Collaborative and social computing theory, concepts and paradigms
      1. Computer supported cooperative work
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing and business
      1. Computer supported cooperative work

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

SIGDOC '07: Proceedings of the 25th annual ACM international conference on Design of communication

October 2007

286 pages

ISBN:9781595935885

DOI:10.1145/1297144

General Chair:
David Novick
The University of Texas at El Paso, TX
,
Program Chair:
Clay Spinuzzi
The University of Texas at Austin, TX

Copyright © 2007 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Publication History

Published: 22 October 2007

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SIGDOC07: The 25th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication

October 22 - 24, 2007

Texas, El Paso, USA

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Overall Acceptance Rate 355 of 582 submissions, 61%

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Cited By

Alenkina T(2023)The Genre of a Grant Proposal in the Modern Teaching Context: Challenges and PossibilitiesVysshee Obrazovanie v Rossii = Higher Education in Russia10.31992/0869-3617-2023-32-6-76-9232:6(76-92)Online publication date: 4-Jul-2023
https://doi.org/10.31992/0869-3617-2023-32-6-76-92
Verhulsdonck GShalamova N(2019)Creating Content That Influences People: Considering User Experience and Behavioral Design in Technical CommunicationJournal of Technical Writing and Communication10.1177/004728161988028650:4(376-400)Online publication date: 6-Nov-2019
https://doi.org/10.1177/0047281619880286
Colby RColby R(2019)Game design documentationCommunication Design Quarterly10.1145/3321388.33213897:3(5-15)Online publication date: 15-Nov-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3321388.3321389
Hoover R(2012)The posthuman grant applicationComputers and Composition10.1016/j.compcom.2012.04.00129:2(137-151)Online publication date: Jun-2012
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2012.04.001
Christensen DdeWinter JMoeller RSherlock LMehlenbacher BProtopsaltis AWilliams ASlattery S(2009)Mapping genre fieldsProceedings of the 27th ACM international conference on Design of communication10.1145/1621995.1622057(307-308)Online publication date: 5-Oct-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1621995.1622057
Zachry MHart-Davidson WSpinuzzi CO'Neill HAparicio MCosta CProtopsaltis A(2008)Advances in understanding knowledge workProceedings of the 26th annual ACM international conference on Design of communication10.1145/1456536.1456585(243-248)Online publication date: 22-Sep-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1456536.1456585

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