critical issues in information systems

Clarke, R. J (2001) L951-12: 1

Critical Issues in Information Systems

BUSS 951

Lecture 12Evolution of Systems

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Recall

Last week we claimed that you could analyse a system using Systemic Functional Linguistics

we can use texts associated with workpractices to analyse what is being done, by whom to whom, and how this is being done

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Agenda

this week we will describedescribe several theories of one useful

strata- genre and apply it to SFL to an actual IS in its workplace- ALABS

use our substantive knowledge of IS to alter the theory

apply this theory to some features of the ALABS system

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Agenda

overtime we can see shifts in the genre structure of texts associated with these workpractices and a system features... NOTE: case studies conducted over time are

referred to as longitudinal studies, or diachronic studies

we can do this because we can study systems features using texts, remembering that there is a relationship between text and context!

we can ask question why did this change to take place?

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Readings

Kress (1985) “The linguistic expression of social meaning: discourse, genre and text” #22

Eggins (1994) “Context of culture: genre” #23Hasan (1985) “The structure of a text” #24Clarke (1996) “The Persistence of Systems in

Organisations: Genre Analysis of Systems Commissioning” #25

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Genre Theory Revisited

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Genre

Register

Discourse Semantics

field

Phonology Graphology

Lexico-grammar

experiential

Transitivity

Mood Theme

textualinter- personal

tenor mode

Context of Culture

Context of Situation

Language

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Social Context and Language Genre: Several Theories

now it so happens that there are two major views on genre

the first is that genre is simply the unique instance of field, tenor and mode (also called Contextual Configuration)

this is the model of genre theorised by Hasan (this tutorial)

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in your reading, the ALABS system is looked at from this point of view initially- but it has some problems when looking at IS in organisations

the alternative way of looking at genre is to treat it in exactly the same way as the rest of the SFL model ie/ as its own strata

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Genre (Martin)

obligatory/optional element distinction developed by Hasan is also used by Martin, butfield evidence: the absence of an obligatory

element (ALABS Identification Given element renegotiated into a Value Retained Item)

consequence: abandoning the system to perform the loan, ad hoc development of a manual workaround to complete the loan

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Negotiable Genre ElementsImplications for Elements...

genre elements are negotiated entities:a genre is more likely to fail to complete

when both parties cannot come to an agreement

IG may ‘fail’ for Labstaff member but may under certain circumstances be renegotiated by a ‘pushy’ Student

a student who fails to negotiate will not complete a loan by any means

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Negotiable Genre Elements...Implications for Elements

if genre elements are negotiable categoriescan’t use a crisp obligatory-not

obligatory (i.e. optional) distinctionhave to use something more like

conditional probabilistic occurrenceelements can be arranged somewhere on

a continuum of occurrence; where, 0 = never found (i.e. absent) or 1 = always found

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Negotiable Genre ElementsImplications for Genres

if genre elements are negotiable categories, then the following consequences applysome genres will have renegotiated obligatory

elements (Clarke) or missing obligatory elements (Ventola)

therefore, a larger range of genre sequences, can find themselves as members of specific genres- genres become fuzzy not crisp classifications

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Quasispecies

Quasispecies

M:M:M

Other Genre

Field Tenor Mode

Other Genre

most dissimilar most dissimilaridentical

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Comparison

Genre Species (Hasan 1985) Genre Quasispecies

Other GenreOther Genre

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for various reasons genre as a strata (after Martin) is much better way of looking at IS

like everything is SFL: linguistic resources form systems available to language users- genre should also be treated in this wayIS appear to have some strange

characteristics- they are multigeneric by nature

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Genre and ALABS

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Genre AnalysisApplied to IS

Genre Analysis is applied bottom-up: provides a very detailed view of work practices which then need to be integrated across various sites

need to look at many actual texts in a social context in order to find out about work practices

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Genre AnalysisData Collection

1. Multiple texts gathered in a particular Material Setting associated with a particular Context of Situation (ie. Register)

2. Texts are transcribed if involving spoken language. All texts are analysed for genreelements

3. Individual Schematic Structures (SS) (after Martin)or Genre Sequences (GS) (after Clarke) are analysed

Data Analysis/Results

3. A single Generic Structure Potential (GSP) (after Hasan) or a single Genre Digraph is formed(after Clarke)

eg/ Buying Bread

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ALABS Study (1)

Automated Library And Borrowing System at the Microcomputer Laboratories, UOW

now effectively decommissioned as a consequence of networking

developed by staff who then used the system (end-user developed system)

study looked at parts of system which used speech only referred to as service encounters

longitudinal study of these service encounters over 12 years of operation, four versions and three platforms

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Student Loans

By taking transcripts of Students borrowing s/w, manuals and h/w (especially s/w) a number of stages were found in texts

a genre sequence was identified which accounted for most Student Loans

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Student Loans

Greetings, Service Request, Identification Sought, Regulations, Enrolment, Materials Out, Finis

SR

G SR IS MO F

EALABS Student Loan

RE

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Conditions of Use form

ALABS Example: Conditions of Use form (written text) is associated with the Regulations (RE) element in Student Loans genre.

the Conditions of Use form describes what students can borrow, when to return it and what can happen if they don’t

By inference once a student signs this form, all subsequent Student Loans in a session will operate by these conditions- it’s a contract

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Student Returns

Student Returns are of course much simpler because the student does not need proof of identity (student card was retained at the office during the Student Loan).

None-the-less the Conditions of Use form relates Loans and Returns together!

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Student Returns

Greetings, Request Completion, Materials In Identification Returned, Finis

G RC MI IR F

ALABS Student Return

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Systems Evolution

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Cutting, Pasting, Elaboration

ALABS provides evidence for the wholesale, purposeful manipulation of individual genres

the manipulation is of three types:the removal of genre elementsthe addition of new genre elementsboth of the above

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ALABS Version 1

G RC

ALABS Student Return MIIR

MI FIR

G SR IS

EALABS Student Loan RE

SR

MO F

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ALABS Version 2 & 3Pasting

G RC

ALABS Student Return IR

MI F

G SR IS

SR

MO F

ALABS Student Loan RE

LO

LI

LI

MI

IR

E

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ALABS Version 4Cutting

G RC

ALABS Student Return IR

MI F

G SR

SR

MO


LO

LI

LI

E

IS F

IR

MI

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Cutting, Pasting, Elaborationthe evidence for purposeful manipulation of

genres: is that changes are ‘optimal’ and genres which form assemblages get changed

together

Is this how non-IS related genres change? Is it just that IS speed up these changes?wrt IS, genre re-use appears to be preferred to

genre reinvention

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Cutting, Pasting, Elaboration

implications for end-user programming practices: was the programmer so intimately

familiar with the code that they knew exactly which lines to add/remove

or was the programmer so intimately familiar with the workpractice that they knew which code implemented which genre element

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Cutting, Pasting, Elaborationthe programmer was very aware of the

‘staging’ of the workpracticethere is further evidence to suggest this-

the addition of a Student Append Feature in Version 2 of ALABSthe code was copied from the Student Loan

and then ‘crippled’ in order to implement the Student Append

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ALABS Version 2 & 3Elaboration

G SR


LO

SR

MO F

E

IS

G SR

ALABS Student Append RE

LO

SR

F

E

IS FI MO

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Genre Assemblages

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Genre Assemblages (1)Summary

we have a new theory of genre (as a quasispecies), and we also have a new way of representing them (as a directed cyclical graph- digraph)

one of the other advantages of using a digraph is that we can represent something the linguists haven’t seen...

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G RC MI IR F

ALABS Student Return

Conditions of Use

SR

G SR IS MO F

EALABS Student Loan RE

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Genre Assemblages

which we can simplify as:

StudentLoan

Cond ofUse

StudentReturn

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Genre Assemblages

and also include the social subjects affected:

StudentLoan

Cond ofUse

StudentReturn

Student

Labstaff

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Genre Assemblages (2)

we know from tutorials that IS produce many texts

we know that a genre defines a single set of text types

linguists typically look at single genres... but IS always have multiple genres

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for example in ALABS, the Student Loan Genre is related to the Student Return Genre (each there own genre)

also the Student Loan Genre is related to Conditions of Use Form (a regulatory genre)

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these relationships between genres characterise IS

Clarke (1995) gives these phenomena a name, related genres are collectively called a Genre Assemblage

the formal relationships which relate genres together are called Genre Associations

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Genre Assemblages (5)Project Management Implications

genre assemblages can be used as a basis for organising the process of analysis of a system in its organisational context

such efforts are usually referred to as project management within the information systems literature

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Genre Assemblages (6)Project Management Implications

however, project management (especially during analysis) generally presupposes a formalised relationship between analysts exploring the organisation and its management

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Genre Assemblages

Genre 1

Material Setting

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Genre Assemblages

Material Setting

Genre 1

Genre 2

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Genre Assemblages

Material Setting

Genre 1

Genre 2

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Genre Assemblages

AGenre 1

Material Setting

Genre 2

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Genre Assemblages

A

B

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Genre Assemblages

A

B

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Genre Assemblages

CA

B

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Genre AssemblagesCommon Occurrence

several assemblages have been found in ALABS- very likely that most IS have many connections between genres

so IS are very pervasive entities in organisations

this may have profound implications for IS development

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Genre Assemblages

if these occur what are the implications for:Business Process ReengineeringMergers between Units/Divisions in a

firmMergers between one or more different

Companies

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Genre Collections

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Genre Collections (1)

if we were to map out all the genres, all genre assemblages and associations for a system, we would completely describe a system in its organisational context

we would have described the genre collection for the system

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Genre Collections (2)Basis of a Genre Methodology

mapping out a system we would proceed by exploring all genres within a specific site (including assemblages and their associations)

we would follow the language from one site to another, (repeating the above)

until no more sites are left!

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Genre Assemblages

CA

B

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Genre Collection Diagrams

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Genre Collection Diagrams

we can formally map out the genres in a genre collection by using a higher level version of a graph- called an Genre Collection Diagram

it shows associations between each genre and shows the participants involved in different Contexts of Situation

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Genre Collection Diagram for ALABS

StudentLoan

Cond of Use

StudentReturn

StaffLoan

StaffReturn

Academic

Student

Labstaff Mgmt Operations

Microcomputer Laboratories Service DeskContext of Situation 1

MicroLabs Management CommitteeContext of Situation 3

Notice +Agenda

Faculty Usage

StudentLoan

Student

StudentReturn

ClassLoan

Microcomputer LaboratoriesContext of Situation 2

TutorReturn

TutorLoan

ClassLoan

JobDuties

Tutor

StudentAppend

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