Group 2’s Genre is definitely communicative. Looking at how people interpret and use feasibility studies, we see that it is more a collaboration of different texts. Certain parties may only interested (or even able to fully internalize) certain portions of it. Whether we are talking about an engineer observing a systems interaction paragraph of the study, or a financial analyst looking at the financing plan.
Analyzing feasibility studies as a genre system, we see it as a collaboration of many genre. For example a systems diagram, outlining the interactions of multiple databases, alone is just an image. Now while the informed observer might be able to get most of the author’s intention just from the image, the feasibility study as a genre system is concerned with many different audiences. Thusly the image, while summary in nature, is likely accompanied by a contextual paragraph or sentence. These collections become part of a larger image that has to be equally interpreted by many people, with many different backgrounds.
Throughout the genre system we see this many forms. Most segments have their own summaries, allowing you get quick versions of the aspects of the study outside of your field. This is important because these studies (often very large, 10’s of pages), can be observed by many people in conjunction. Our group was able to get in contact with a professor here at northeastern with many years in the software industry, he explained that these studies are normally received by a large board consisting of many senior faculty. These faculty have a broad range of backgrounds, but standard among them are senior engineers and senior financial / managerial staff. We’ve also read that these boards can consist of outside eyes, sometime ecological experts or government advisers, depending on the nature of the project. The study itself has to bring together many people, across many disciplines. In a way this is the genre systems defining feature.
A second, but important lens to look at the feasibility study through is the lens of research. Our genre (or genre system) is a direct response to a question. “Can we do this? Is it Feasible?” is the question asked. Answering this question, depending on the scale, will take many people, and the decision is ultimately made by many people in conjunction.
