Christine Sleppy Professor Wolcott ENC 1102 September 20, 2013 Diabetic Log Sheets: Its own Genre?

Most of us have been under the impression since about first grade that genres are simply categories that books in the library are put in. The concept of genre is much more than that. Genre not only has context, but also form and many documents have their own genre that we never even knew about. Yes, that means genres go way past mystery, comical, and romance. Even documents without much writing can fit into a genre. For example, since I am truly interested in biomedical engineering and technology, I chose a few diabetic log sheets that have much more numbers than text. These three examples all share a genre created by their specific discourse community. Before writing a paper that looks at genre in this new way, it should be defined. There are a few definitions for genre, but the main idea to remember is that genre is not just a category for books. Amy Devitt helps us to understand that the new way of perceiving genre is through form and context and also through form and function in her essay Generalizing about Genre. The documents that share a genre must have a similar and certain form and a similar and certain function that serves a purpose for a specific group of people in a discourse community. For the sake of this paper, one would need to know where the articles come from. Three of which come directly from Googling diabetic log sheet, which anyone can do, but the other is much more advanced and personal. Log 2 (Appendix B) is an actual diabetic log sheet that came from my brothers pump that he uses for insulin. It is not easy for anyone to get their hands on one of these log sheets because they are very personal and typically are only passed from

patient to doctor. He usually communicates this information with his doctor via email. So, I was able to get a hold of it because he forwarded me the email. The topics discussed in these log sheets are simple to someone already in the discourse community. But, an outsider would have no idea what topics are discussed at all because they wouldnt understand the terminology and almost everything is abbreviated as seen in Log 2. These abbreviations are seen throughout the genre examples; such as BOL, BAS, CHO, BG, etc. These abbreviations are the main topics discussed throughout the document. It tells the doctor what the patients blood glucose level is and how much insulin they took in order to either eat or correct the number. Basil (BAS) is the amount of continuous insulin given by the pump and bolus (BOL) is the amount of insulin the user added to correct the number or needed to keep the number stable while eating. Each patient has their own personal goals of what their blood glucose number should be and thats called their personal target, in which you can see in Log 3 (Appendix C). Everything done and logged by the patient is purely for the purpose of keeping them at their personal target and showing it off to their doctor. Participation is hard to distinguish in a discourse community such as this one. One would assume that all diabetics and their doctors would participate. But, not all diabetics use the pump as their source of insulin. There are many patients that dont prefer using the pump and would rather just give themselves a shot every time they need insulin. I would consider the non-pump diabetics to be a part of the larger discourse community, but they may not understand the language used by those who use the pump. Therefore, I would consider those who participate in this discourse community to be exclusive to those who are pump users. The only other figures who participate with this community are the doctors that the diabetics give the log sheets to. Nurses and receptionists may come in contact with the log sheet, but would probably not

understand exactly what is going on in it, especially since each one is a little bit personal to every patient. Doctors normally have a better relationship with their patients then other workers in the office, even though everyone does come in contact with each other at some point. Genres evolve with discourse community. People who arent in a certain discourse community will not understand the genres of writing among them. These pump log sheets are very difficult to understand if you are not in the discourse community that uses them. (Refer to Appendix A, B, and C for a visual.) What do all the numbers really mean? Where do they come from? What makes for a good number or a bad number? How can you tell? The diabetic who uses the log sheets know the answers to these questions right away, as do their doctors. Patients are the apprentices in this discourse community. Engineers teach the doctors who teach the patients how to use this kind of technology. The engineers who designed it are the experts. Updates in new technology and new patients being diagnosed with diabetes keep the discourse community going. For this particular discourse community, I would consider to think of it as a smaller one within the larger group of diabetics. Every patient has their own personal settings and lot sheets and targets and the only people who know this information is the patient and the doctor. This can also be looked at as a very larger discourse community that obtains every type 1 and type 2 diabetic, hypoglycemic patients, doctors, nurses, families, insurance companies and engineers. So what does that have to go with the overall claim about genre? Genres play a big role in discourse community. We have found our discourse community, there are plenty of different kinds of texts and diagrams and logs and graphs that can all have their own genres. As long as they have similarities in not only the context but also the format, they form their own genre of writing. Bawarshi explains in his part of Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse

Communities that doctors should see not just an injury, but a person with an injury. In our case, doctors need to look at these log sheets as a person with diabetes instead of just another table of meaningless numbers. We are trying to connect a genre with a social context, without it, its just another a bunch of numbers no one cares about. The three log sheets compared here (See Appendix) have similarities that show they belong in the same genre. They each have the same format that resembles a table or grid that relates the blood glucose levels with the day or time of day. They have some sort of color coding that makes it easier on the eyes to read; such as varying the colors of the row (Log1 and Log 2) and filling in the boxes with a color to point out where the bad numbers are (Log 3). Every log is formatted to follow the numbers horizontally across the table. As an outsider looking at any of these documents, it would seem extremely overwhelming and confusing. Log 2 and Log 3 both show a company name at the top; Animas and NIPRO Diagnostics. This makes the logs seem much more advanced and computer oriented than Log 1. Log 3 is most personal to the patient as seen from the top half of the log (refer again to Appendix for visual). This shows that the most important information to the doctor is the patients name and target levels. We can then infer that that particular doctor may have more patients than the doctors who are receiving the other logs. Most importantly, each log sheet serves the same function or purpose of relaying information about their blood glucose levels to their doctors. Without that constant checkup, the patient could easily lose track of his/her health. Health helps to move is into our next topic of discussion as to who has the power that this information can to go to. Well, a patient really shouldnt trust anyone with their health, especially when it comes to insulin levels. The doctors and engineers really have the most power because the patient has to be able to trust them with their lives. Engineers are those who go in

and change settings and insulin levels specifically for you and the doctor is who monitors it. But, in such a case as diabetes, I think we would have to consider the amount of power a patient has in this situation. Because as much as the doctor tries to help, its up to the patient to accept it. The doctors only give advice, patients have to use it if they want to be healthy. Genre is a complicated concept to overcome. After analyzing each of these log sheets, they seem to be fitting into the same genre. They have a certain format with a certain function for a certain social context, each of which are needed to be a genre in a discourse community. Once you are able to identify these characteristics of a document or article, you may have just created another genre. Devitt argues that genres are constantly evolving as people and their discourse evolve. Diabetes will always be diabetes, but what we can do about it and how we can help diabetics as engineers will always be up for change. This discourse community will be around for a very long time and the genres of writing that come out of it will surprise us all.

Appendix A Log 1

Appendix B

Log 2

Appendix C Log 3