Journal #4

The role of genre in creating or receiving texts is to instigate an immediate response from the audience. Though many other terms of rhetoric help the reader determine a meaning after reading or viewing the text entirely, genre is important because it can determine whether or not an audience views a text and whether or not they continue to view after the first few seconds. Genre is important to consider when composing because in order to reach a certain audience, an author must use a specific genre. For example, if the author wishes to reach a younger audience, he or she may create a text on a web platform. However, if the author wants to reach the audience that is maybe older or does not use technology a lot, then a print genre might be best. The author then needs to make decisions on what audience he is attempting to attract and what genre would be best. Should it be in print or electronic? If in print, should the text be in a magazine or on a poster? Does a billboard work better than a Facebook ad? Which will be seen well by the selected audience? The purpose of an electronic genre may be to get out information as fast as possible. In electronic publishing, everything is extremely easily accessible and is very easy to share. Some examples of this might be a web video, a news article published in an online newspaper, or a gallery of pictures from a family vacation. All of these things can be shared within seconds. However, the print genre can be used for anything that requires longevity. Though it may take longer to share or to print in the first place, anything in a print genre has the ability to last much longer than an electronic one. This is because while the Internet and technology are sometimes unreliable, paper is tangible, and the audience can physically know it is there. These are all things that an author needs to think about, but they are also how genre affects circulation. It takes more energy to distribute a print genre, but it also promises more stability into the future.