Majd Kazzaz
04/07/2015
PB1B
Patterns
and conventions are both crucial characteristics of a genre. They are the
“glue” that brings it together and that distinguishes the genre. These patterns
are necessary and essential when trying to identify an element as being a
certain type of genre. That is the main idea behind several different “genre
generator” websites online. What these websites do is develop a piece of work
that falls under a particular genre by making sure that it has the necessary
conventions. The different types of genre generators I looked at were a
computer science paper generator, then a comic strip generator, and lastly a
meme generator. Each of these followed the different conventions of each genre.
The first
one I experimented with was the computer science paper generator. This one was
interesting because of the fact that the content of the paper would change each
time, however it would still be very similar. This observation is due to the
fact that the conventions never changed and it was the conventions that provided
the similarity. The first convention that I noticed is the fact that everything
is organized into separate paragraphs. The order of the information being
presented was demonstrated by using a table of contents. Another convention
that I noticed is the large and bold title on the top of each paper followed by
a list of the authors. Each of the computer science papers that I generated
began with an introduction that introduced what the particular data and
research is about. The purpose of this is to show that an introduction is a
necessary convention of a computer science paper. Another convention that I
noticed about these papers is the fact that they each have a section that
discusses the implementation of their resource. Each of these computer science
papers has some sort of visual diagram included. Whether it is a graph
representing certain data or a diagram demonstrating the research, each of
these had some sort of visual element. Another convention of a computer science
paper, according to the website, is the inclusion of a references section at
the very end. This is where the authors cite their sources.
The next
“genre generator” website that I experimented with was a comic strip generator.
This website just randomly created comic strips using certain conventions. One
convention that I observed is the fact that there is a very limited amount of
words. The words that are present in a comic strip are usually either dialog or
a thought bubble. A lot of the communication in a comic strip is demonstrated through
the facial expressions and actions of the actual characters, which is why the
use of words is not as important. Another convention that I noticed is that the
comic strips are all fairly simple and not very sophisticated. In other words,
they presented a small encounter or conversation between two characters.
Simplicity is an important convention of a comic strip because it is what can
separate it from several other genres. The thought bubbles themselves are also
a convention of comic strips because almost all comic strips include at least
one and it is mainly only found within comics.
The last
genre generating website I encountered is a meme generator. Memes are
essentially pictures with words on them that convey a particular message. One necessary
convention of a meme is a picture in the background. Every meme has some sort
of picture or illustration in the background that provide context for the
words. Another convention of a meme is that there is not much room for a lot of
words; therefore the creators of a meme must portray their message with minimal
amount of words. After playing around with the generator for quite a while, it
was easy to notice that choosing the right words to use is not an easy task.
Everything
that’s happening with these different websites can help clarify what exactly a
genre is. A genre is a specific element that contains certain conventions. Each
genre has its own different conventions similar to how each of these websites
generated different pieces of literature. The facts that the computer science
papers each had a specific pattern that they followed and the comic strips were
each fairly short and simple even the memes that each had a picture behind
words, demonstrates how important conventions are to genres.
I think you did wonderful job at describing each generator's conventions and purposes. For the SCIgen generator, you pointed out things like diagrams, separate paragraphs, and references were used. I like how you pointed out these types of conventions because some other PB’s I read mainly focused on the formatting of these papers. I agree with you that the comic strips were not very sophisticated. Simplicity is a very important convention in these comic strips. All of those that were generated did not have much dialogue between the characters. For the meme generator, I think you may have been able to expand a little bit more. Perhaps you could've have pointed out that conventions like how they take a famous character and then caption it with something funny, ironic, or relatable to the average person. At the end of your blog, I like how you summarized each paragraph into one sentence; it concludes the blog well. Overall I think you've done an excellent job at describing the genres from each of website.
ReplyDeleteMajd,
ReplyDelete“The Glorious,” huh? That is SUPER cool. Seriously.
PB1A: I felt like you talked “around” this without spending the majority of your time analyzing the conventions of a speech. A few times, you stated that the audience/purpose of a speech is directing it towards people who are interested. Got it—no need to repeat yourself. ☺ However, you are correct that repetition and “attention grabbing hooks and a lot of emotion-filled remarks” are usually features of speeches. In the future, I advise tieing some of your analysis to specific examples. That’ll help susbstantiate/”back up” your claims so they’re a bit stronger.
PB1B: You did a thorough job of analyzing the “plug’n’chug” (my words) conventions of the SciGen piece. Nice work. I was hoping you might get more specific on the comic genre. For instance, does it adhere to the standard audience for what most folks likely expect for a cartoon? I don’t think so, so stating that and incorporating quotes and/or describing the imagery of the scene could really help you drive that “rhetorical observation” home. How about it’s ultimate effect on you: did it “persuade’ you in finding it humorous? Well, that’s up for you to decide, but supplying your reader with evidence is “key” when you want to drive these claims home.
For the meme genre, don’t forget that something as “little” as font—what size/style/format—can also potentially help us better understand genre. There’s also almost always the setup/punchline (the top/bottom) to them too. Also, how about the pictures, themselves—are there any similarities between them? (Ie, in terms of pop culture?) All these patterns are important to pay into because they give us clues into understanding as much as we can about these genres.
Grade for both PBs: 3/5
PB1A: “Check/check minus.”
PB1B: “Check/check minus.”
Z
I enjoyed reading this. They you wrote it makes it easy to read and understand. Also, you explained the rhetorical devices and conventions quite well. I think if someone who had no idea about these things read your entry, they would not be confused.
ReplyDelete