Iberica 13


Science communication on the

Internet. Old genres meet new genres

María-José Luzón & Carmen Pérez-Llantada

Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2019. 242 pages. ISBN:
9789027204660.

To everyone working in the field of  English for Specific Purposes, the
notion of  genre has enormous importance. Scientific and professional texts
are only comprehensible if  we approach them from a sound understanding
of  genre as the key to the way professional discourse communities use
language to perform social actions. In the last ten years, however, our
knowledge of  professional genre repertoires has been increasingly
challenged by the emergency of  new digital genres, often existing in parallel
with the traditional ones. This development has been particularly interesting
in the area of  scientific publication, where researchers and publishers have
been eager to grasp the possibilities of  Internet-based media. This volume
makes a significant contribution to our understanding of  this rapidly
changing scenario.

The first three chapters pose the question whether scientific research articles
have changed significantly during their transition to digital publishing. Some
of  their defining features are explored as they undergo this process, and
emergent digital genres are compared with the traditional written genre in
terms of  form and function. The book here relies on six quantitative studies
(Bazerman, Atkinson, Gross, Bank, Owen, Gross and Harmon) focusing in
different ways on scientific publishing from the 17th through to the 21st

century. The chosen perspective is fascinating to read, as it not only
considers how the genre conception has become more complex, triggered by
technological factors, but widens this view by incorporating rhetorical issues.
Among other aspects, this means considering how the new genre responds
to changes in social activities and circumstances, a line of  inquiry proper to
the original language for specific purposes approach. Luzon, Pérez-Llantada,
Harmon, and Mehlenbacher & Mehlenbacher defend the stability of  the
research article in its essence regarding form and function even when it
moves to the Internet (e-journals), seeing it as “preserving and extending
existing functions and values”, supplementing and enhancing them, rather

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ISSN: 1139-7241 / e-ISSN: 2340-2784
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than presenting a “wholesale reinvention that radically transforms a
communicative practice”. This is explained on the basis that the modern
science genre seems not to be an autonomous, disconnected entity, but
rather forms part of  – and collaborates within – a “broader ecology of
genres” (Mehlenbacher). The chosen perspective paints a useful bigger
picture of  what the specific digital genres are and their relation with others.
As these authors explain, modern articles on the one hand certainly do still
follow traditional formal aspects such as the IMRAD model, and their function
is predominantly pragmatically oriented, given their continuing epistemic
commitment and their compliance with community norms. On the other
hand, these authors also offer an interesting account of  how the interaction
between the visual and verbal text has changed in the transition to Internet,
and has become much stronger, permitting all participants to explore and
exploit new possibilities of  communication. The underlying concept of
continuity and change discussed here is addressed in all chapters of  the
book, forming a common thread. 

Following on from this, several chapters (from 4-9, with the exception of
chapter 6) address the new genres that have arisen through the use of  digital
affordances, specifically the graphical abstract (GA) (Rabuske Hendges &
Salete Florek), videos (such as three-minute thesis presentation or author
videos) and podcasts (Rowley-Jolivet & Carter-Thomas), and also
multimodal recontextualizations of  scientific texts through notions such as
hyperlinks. For example, Maier and Engberg explore the concept of
knowledge mediation and adjusting strategies, thinking particularly of  the
level of  explanatory depth required for different audiences in order to
manage the knowledge asymmetry between them. Besides, the new market-
oriented tendency among the latest genres, which bear strong traits shared
with promotional and advertising genres (Rowley-Jolivet & Carter-Thomas),
is well explained. In line with this new promotional function, the increased
multimodal elements are interpreted, such as the frequent use of  colour and
images to attract a wider audience.  Moreover, the benefits and problems
accompanying the democratization of  science, converting it into a public
good, are also clarified. In relation to this, the notion of  networking,
interoperability, open discussion and an intensified critical evaluation receive
a special focus. 

Lastly, three of  the chapters offer a rather different take on digital genres.
Breeze considers how open peer review has brought about changes in the
way that referees and editors communicate with authors – and in the way the

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authors formulate their responses or rebuttals. Smart and Falconer offer an
interesting analysis of  the Vatican discourse Laudato Si considering the
evolution of  its conception of  science and technology, drawing from the
promise that it constitutes a bridging genre placed in-between the digital and
print genre. Last, Reid and Anson focus on polycontextuality and context
collapse in Internet-mediated citizen science. In comparison to the former
chapters, these focus more closely on the changing interrelated social
communication and knowledge construction between, respectively, author
responses and referees, some Popes and the Pontifical Academy of  Sciences,
and last, the public and an expert community in scientific digital, spoken and
print-based genres. The opening up and increased visibility of  these
processes thanks to the Internet offer a privileged window onto the study of
how these participants, whether experts, semi-experts or a wider, unknown
public, interact and contribute to the formation and dissemination of
scientific knowledge. 

Coming to an end, this book offers a useful and realistic understanding of
the complex panorama of  digital genres in science, focusing on the
emergence of  new patterns and features afforded by the Internet which may
one day configure new genre conventions. It also addresses the changing
interactive communication system and the way it operates between scientists
and a wider, open-for-all audience. In doing so, it touches on several related
underlying problems, such as the question of  quality control in digital media,
or the radical reduction of  scientific content that is inaccessible for the
average audience. However, perhaps the strongest theme that comes through
the chapters in this volume concerns the benefits of  digital media, such as
their vast potential for increasing knowledge dissemination, or the
opportunities the offer to encourage the proactive incorporation of  the
whole Internet community. 

Received 15 December 2020
Accepted 22 December 2020

Reviewed by:

Pilar Gerns 
University of  Navarra (Spain)
mgerns@unav.es 

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