NETWORK
GENRE
By Janine Evans
Blog Week 6:
As previously discussed, my virtual network is a coterie of Kombi enthusiasts who come together to impart “all things Kombi”. Contrast this with say a website about motorbikes. Motorbikes are still transport. They have enthusiasts who are passionate
about their vehicles, who can talk endlessly about the model, type, performance
and even colour combinations. What they
both have in common is recurring communicative qualities that use interpersonal
and interactive features of digital technology.
They can be classified as a text based genre. They are grouped into classes based on
similarities and shared conventions, as my fellow blogger James Hewlett describes. (Van Luyn, 2013). Unsurprisingly, genre is related to gender,
generic or genus, meaning, of the same kind.
In what Van Luyn (2013) describes is a ‘cultural product’ the convention
in my network is a community-like niche where mutual respect between users is generally
adhered to. Moreover the discourse of
our “mono-culture” assumes shared common knowledge, which in turn ‘provide key
signposts for interpreting common ground and pinpointing audience design’
(McNeill, 2011, p. 320). It is an elite
genre that excludes those that don’t seek our shared interests.
Accordingly, ‘[t]he speaker/writer can choose to adopt either a disclosing or nondisclosing attitude toward nonaddressees; the choice of attitude will determine the roles of overhearers as either bystanders or eavesdroppers (Clark & Carlson, 1992, cited in McNeill, 2011, p. 320).
Social networks are dynamic in their nature because of the functionality such as live chat, the ability to upload pictures and videos and also the use of hyperlinks; to ‘maintain the illusion of continuity’ (McNeill, 2011, p. 322). They are functional for both a particular group and a broader audience and help to keep the site interesting as well as ‘evolving’.
REFERENCE LIST:
McNeill, 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 (pp. 313-325). Cresskill, NJ:
Hampton.
Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and
the making of place, Lecture 6: Genre [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http: learnjcu.edu.au
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