[Air-L] Are 'categories' the same as 'genres'?

[brewerpe at appstate.edu]

Hi all--
In technical communication, "genre" is used to refer to a typical response to a recurring situation.  For example, when I need to provide ongoing direction for employees, I produce instructions or procedures, both of which would be described as genres.  This definition of genre is further from a "category" interpretation than the examples mentioned by Ravi.  Thus, the definition of "genre" is likely to vary by field.  The interesting thing then is that "genre" would have to be defined for a given field before attempting to analyze using it.  

I teach, and my students just don't seem to relate to the use of "genre."  This thread has me thinking about that--as my students may be seeing "genre" used in a number of different ways.

Pam

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ravindra N. Mohabeer"   
Date: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 6:16 pm
Subject: [Air-L] Are 'categories' the same as 'genres'?
To: Air-L at listserv.aoir.org

> Hello,
> 
> Forgive me if this has been covered previously but a thought 
> occurred to me just now as I prepped for my night course (yuck!) 
> called "Understanding Television." 
> 
> I wondered how students today make sense of the notion of 
> 'genre' and then I thought, well since most of them don't watch 
> TV over the air (or cable or satellite) and get TV shows online 
> (a whole other issue as to whether or not that's the same as 
> watching TV), it makes sense to think of it in digital terms.
> 
> So then I got to thinking, how do genres get represented on the 
> Internet - through database categories used for indexing? 
> Through site producers file structures? Through tagging? If so, 
> how do we deal with the semantic arbitrariness of tagging 
> between individual users?
> 
> Even if categories are what can be considered genres today, do 
> the different types of content that appear on various 
> manifestations of the Internet fall into the same categories as 
> other 'traditional media'? What are the genres in the age of the 
> Internet and are they same as they ever were or altogether new?
> 
> In this case it's just a question out of curiosity.
> 
> Ravi
> ---------------------------------------
> Ravindra N. Mohabeer, PhD
> Media Studies
> Vancouver Island University
> Nanaimo, BC CANADA
> ravindra.mohabeer at viu.ca
> --------------------------------------- 
> 
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Pamela Estes Brewer, Ph.D. 
Assistant Professor 
Director, Writing and Editing Internships 
English Department 
Appalachian State University 
Manager, STC Academic Special Interest Group 
brewerpe at appstate.edu 
828-262-2351