Journal 4

Genre serves multiple purposes for composing text but it is primarily used to place the content of messages into distinct and particular groups/classifications. Genre helps shape the text and presentation of it to mold to the needs of the intended audience. Devitt, Miller and Shepherd, and Wysocki share different ideas about what goes into genre but all seem to agree with its importance in maintaining certain forms of text. Miller and Shepherd see genre as communicative discourse or action that is acknowledged by a community or specific context with a common name. Devitt sees genre as one pattern that is made up of many smaller parts. She sees the individual analysis of the smaller pieces of the pattern amounting to something greater when put together. Wysocki discusses and explains genre from a visual point of view which is very interesting and showed me more about genre than I had previously considered.

When composing texts and making decisions about it, Miller and Shepherd might think that the role of space/time and social beliefs will play a part about what genre is best. They describe genre as fluid and always changing. I believe that Devitt would associate the very nature of the human brain and its need to categorize things to the decisions we make about genre when composing. Wysocki brings forth a few questions about the relationship between visuals and time/place when discussing genre. Genre is related to audience in that it is important to select a genre that will impact your audience the best and it also impacts the content being created. Knowing who you are writing for helps guide the purpose and meaning of the text and ultimately helps in deciding the best genre. Genre choice impacts the circulation and distribution process of texts because as Wysocki said, its important to question what audiences find worth reading. Some texts may be better on a web platform to circulate to larger masses of people, but some may need to be tangible, visual materials to be received well by their intended audiences. This play on circulation affects the way people will interact with and receive the text as well.