Genre Blog #4

Genre

"Does going online actually change the genre itself, at the genetic level, or simply alter its features and functions, giving the genre the textual equivalent of blue or brown eyes or curly or straight hair?"

Image 1: Different Literary Genres. 

This quote from Laurie McNeill's "Diary 2.0" text explores the relationship between print and online genres. McNeill's article discusses the digital age and how the 'diary and journal' genre outline has changed since going online. Diaries before technology were commonly a hand-written collection of thoughts often secrets kept completely private from the public. With the advancements in technology over the decades this private diary-writing genre has all but ceased to exist. Instead it has been replaced with online journals or blogs where people type their thoughts and it can be publicly viewed by anyone at any time. In 1997, Jorn Barger coined the term "weblogs" to reflect these online entries (McNeill, p317).

Narratives are language dependent which means the online community has it's own language as discussed in my previous blog. Self-narratives are also constructs for a particular purpose and context are a representation of self. Social media websites also force their users to self-narrate. This is due to the set up of Instagram and Facebook, how it encourages you to post as much personal information as possible. It also means that other users are constructing your identity through the use of these sites.

References: 

McNeil, L. (2011). Diary 2.0?: A genre moves from page to screen, in Rowe, C. & Wyss, E.L. (Eds). Language and new media: Linguistic, cultural and technological evolutions. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.

Sand Dollar Press. (2013). Genres (Image). Retrieved from: http://www.sanddollarpress.com/2012/06/command-of-the-genre-end-of-the-world-books/