Definition Controller (GENR3) Vision

Genre Processor

Conclusion

C0NCL

B4W4RSH1

RE1FF

D3V1TT

NOTE: for details, check the pages to follow

GENR3: Genre Definition Controller

Professor of rhetoric, Dr. Amy J. Devitt from the University of Kansas says genre is a response to recurring, repeated rhetorical situations [1], in other words genres are a kind of dynamic text categories that result from a communication event that happens over and over. Each discourse community have many genres which come to be because of the necessity to communicate certain things, for example in between those in the community of science, although more often in engineering we encounter the genre a block diagrams, which arose from the need of having a simplified version of a system which representation would be much more complicated if it included every single detail. Because of the fact that block diagrams do not include detail of the elements that conform it those elements it needs of another genre to compliment it which is known as datasheets, those datasheets are include more details and the detailed description of the functioning of each element, such as in the case of this page.

References: [1] A. Devitt, " A Theory of Genre," Writing Genres, Vol. , no. , pp. 1-32, 2004.

D3V1TT: Genres are Created by Specialist

Devitt says that many genres are designed within one specialist community for functions to be filled by nonmembers of that community [1] and she also argues that while their purposes seem to be inclusive, genre analysis strongly suggests that the specialist and nonspecialist users have different levels of knowledge [2] and because of this this may affect the non-member's interpretation. The genre of block diagrams is created by specialists to be used by other people that may or may not be specialists and as Devitt mentioned has the purpose to help nonspecialist to have understanding of the functioning of the system without necessarily knowing the details of each element. Although it is meant to be simple some nonmembers such as engineering students may not be able to understand this genre, as the case described by Devitt there may be situations where nonmembers misinterpret the genre itself, but also given that this genre depends on the genre of datasheets which may make the person who is not a specialist misinterpret something.

References: [1] & [2] A. Devitt, A. Bawarshi, M. Reiff, "Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities ," College English, Vol. 65, no. 5, pp. 541-558, May, 2003.[]. :. [Accessed January 2014]

B4W4RSH1: Using Genre to Access Community

Bawarshi states that "the idea of discourse community is built on the premise that what we know and do is connected to the language we use" [1], he uses the Patient Medical History Form (PMHF) to demonstrate how the study and understanding of a genre used in a discourse community may provide us with access to the said community, when people use the PMHF's they stop being simply people and become 'patients', allowing them to join a 'discourse community' of patients, maybe even understanding what the examiner is trying to achieve and how. Bawarshi argues that genres are more than forms, but rather ways of being, means of social action, communications allowing us to interact and perhaps even be considered part of other previously exclusive discourse communities.

Similarly the genre of block diagrams can be used to getting to be part of the professional engineering community, for example, engineering students are often unfamiliar with this genre until the last year in school, but professional engineers across all disciplines are usually familiar with block diagrams, for a student knowing about block diagrams may provide access to the professional community, furthermore it also gives the opportunity of someone in a different discipline of engineering to join another engineering discourse community.

RE1FF: Accessing Communities through Interpretations

Reiff goes a step further and suggests that the use of a genre may give you access to understanding other genres and thus being able to access other discourse communities, she suggests that because genres are 'rhetorical maps' of 'frequently traveled' means of communication in a discourse community the analysis of genre is well suited of the use of ethnography, investigating how discourse communities use language and thus genre to communicate may not only give to access to that community of also understanding the use of said genres, Reiff quotes Geertz, who defines ethnographies as "interpretations of interpretations", we can see this as using genres to understand genres, which is what Reiff suggests. When students are able to interpret other communities interpretations they become researchers, but in order to be a successful researcher one must observe and understand the meaning behind those discourses in their authentic context.

In the case of the genre of block diagrams, only little research is required to start understanding it, this may help a student get into the professional community it may also help a non-engineer to get into the engineering discourse community, if someone is able to understand the meaning of the subsystems it may help when trying to understand the block diagrams, which most of the time are seen as the big picture

C0NCL: Conclusions and Remarks

Understanding genres may have many applications, but it is certain that they originate given a need that arises because of an specific communication even that happens repeatedly, then by understanding a given genre we may have access to discourse communities which we would not be able to access otherwise, understanding alone however is not enough, as it is mentioned by Reiff we should be able interpret the genre to get involved into a community, an example may be a recent graduate or student in an engineering field that wants to get involved in the professional community, using genres may be a gateway into getting involved with the professional community. At first it may be challenging mainly because genres are usually created by specialists, to be use by nonspecialists, but it seemed like sometimes when a genre is created the specialist may overlook things that may be easily understood or interpreted by that person but may be difficult or confusing for a nonmembers. It is certain however that given the tools using genres may benefit us into fitting better in any given community we may be interested on.