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AniFitzgerald
ProfessorOliviaZicherman
UWRT1101
15October2014
Havingtocreatethreenewpiecesforthegenreprojectwasatfirstachallengingtask.
Previouslyinsteponeweonlyhadtofindthreenewsourcesthatwerealreadycreated.However,
Stepfourwehadtophysicallycreatethreenewsources.Thesenewpiecescouldnotbeaffiliated
withanyofthepreviousgenreweusedinstepone.Aftercontemplatingwithmypartneronwhat
tocreate,wedecidedoncreatingameme,astringoftexts,andadebateclubflyerdiscussingthe
case.
Usingamemeallowsustopresenttheinformationinaninformalmannerandcan
containhumorouselements.Theyhavetheabilitytoappealtoalargeaudience.Ourmemein
particularisaboutthemainthemeofthewholeOscarPistoriuscase.Thememerevolvesaround
howMr.Pistoriusfired4shotsintothebathroomdoor;ultimatelykillinghisgirlfriendwhohe
believedwasanintruderinthebathroom.Byselectingthistypeofgenre,weareableto
communicatethemainpointofthecasequicklyandeffectively.Evensomeonewhomayhave
minimumknowledgeofthecasecoulddrawaconclusiononwhatthememeisabout.
Textingisoneofthefastestwaysinformationispassedaroundintodayssociety.Using
textmessagestodiscussthecaseopenedupanewwaytocommunicatetheinformation.We
formatourtextacertainwaydependingonwhowearetexting.Theaudiencecanvaryfrom
friends,family,coworkers,andetc.Textsarepersonalizedbytheuser,andwillbeshapedbased

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ontheiremotions.Thiscreatestheconversationtobeveryopinionatedonbothsides.Selecting
thistypeofgenreallowsustocommunicatethecasebutdosoinamannerthatisnotasstructure
likeanewsarticle.Theconversationsareusuallybrief,givingthefactsandtheirownpersonal
feelingsaboutthecaseinjustafewsentences.Discussingthetopicinaninformalsettingmakes
theinformationeasiertosiftthroughandtheusercanquicklydevelopasummaryoftheevents
regardingthecase.Afterreadingthroughthetextmessages,thereadercandeducethatOscar
Pistoriusgirlfriendwaskilledandthathewasaccusedofmurder.However,insteadhewas
chargedwithculpablehomicide.Thereaderhastheabilitytoobservetwodifferentviewpoints
regardingthecase.
Thelastpieceweselectedtodiscussthecasewasadebateflyer.Thispieceinparticular
hastheabilitytocommunicatetheinformationtoalargeaudience.Flyerscanbepassedoutand
hungjustaboutanywhere.Adebateflyerinparticularwillappealtopeoplewhowishtovoice
theiropiniononatopic,orsomeonewhowishtoseehowadebatecluboperates.Flyersgivea
quickoutlineofwhatwillbediscussedatthemeeting.Thismeansthatpeoplewillgettoseea
newinsightonhowothersperceivedthecaseandthewaytheyfeelaboutit.
Beforeselectingthosethreenewpieces,mypartnerandIhadthoughtaboutdoinga
Facebookpost,Instagramphoto,andastringofemails.WechosenottodotheFacebookpost
andanInstagramphotobecauseitwouldfallunderthesamegenreasthetweetsdoneinstep
one.Doingastringofemailsisstillmoreformalconversationthanastringoftextmessages.
Tryingtoselectsomepiecethatwasnottooformal,wecrossedoutemailsfromthelist.

Whencreatingamemeithastocontaincertainqualitiestofitthegenre.Amemeconsist
ofaphotocombinedwithaclevercaptionthatlinkstothephoto.Theaudiencethememeis
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directedtowardsisimportant.Memesaredirectedtowardteensandyoungadultswhowould
findthememetobehumorous,notinsensitive,orrude.Thediscoursemodesmostcommonly
seeninmemesareinteractive.Whentheaudiencefindsacertainmemefunny,theywillshareit
withtheirfriendsandviseversa.Thisisawayinwhichmemesarecommonlyusedtodisplay
informationtotheyoungergeneration.Thetoneofthememeishighlyinformal,astheyperceive
theinformationisahumorousmanner.Oneofthemainandmoreobviousqualitiesmemes
containisthebiasedthetextscontain.
Astringoftextisacompilationofmultiplemessagessentbetweentwoormorepeople.
Qualitiesthatdefinetextmessagesaretheaudiencetheywishtoaddress.Theaudiencecanbe
oneindividualormultipleindividuals;italldependswhothemessageisaddressedto.Discourse
modesassociatedwithtextmessagesareinformation,descriptionandargument.Eachtextcan
fallineitherone/allthreeofthecategoriesorextenttotheotherdiscoursemodes.Textmessages
canbeanyandallofthediscoursemodes.Mosttextsareveryinformalandcontainverbalslag.
Textmessagesarefilledwithslag,abbreviations,andimpropergrammar.Thesecharacteristics
moldthetextmessagegenre.
Thedebateclueflyerusuallycontainsaquestiontograbtheattentionofitsaudience.
Theyaretryingtoappealtoteensandyoungadultswhomayhaveaninterestindebateclubs,or
thosewhoareinterestedinthecaseandwishtovoicetheiropinion.Discoursemodesassociated
withflyerscanreachcanessentiallyincludeallofthem.However,interactiveisthemost

dominantoneutilizedbyflyers.Astheycontaintabsatthebottomofaflyer,whichisusedto
engagetheaudienceintotakingatabandlearningmore.Theflyercontainscontactinformation
fortheclubsuchas:email,locationofthemeetings,andthetimetheclubmeets.Withoutthese
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factorsatextcouldnotbeconsideredaflyer.Flyerscanbeadversitiesallover.Theycanbe
stapled/hunganywhereorcanbehandedoutbyhand.Thesefactorsarethenecessaryqualitiesa
flyermustcontain.
Whenaddressingeachnewpiece,adjustmentshadtobemadetofitaspecificgenre.The
audiencethetextedwereaimedtowardshadtoswitch.Eachnewtexthaditsownaudiencethey
wantedtoappealtowards.Amemesaudienceisfocusedmoreonteensandyoungadultswho
wouldfindtheirmemehumorousandnotinsensitive.Theaudienceofthetextmessageisthe
personthemessageisindentedfor.Flyersaretryingtoappealtoteensandyoungadultswho
wouldbeinterestedindebatecluborvoicetheiropinionaboutthecase.Thediscoursemodes
usedbyeachtextwouldswitchwhenchanginggenres.Textsandthedebateflyerhadthe
potentialtocontainclosetoalloronlyaselectnumberofdiscoursemodes.Dependentuponhow
theinformationwaspresented.Howeverthememediscoursemodesismerelyinteractionand
theywishthememetobesharedallover.
FromdoingthisprojectIhavelearnedthatgenreisanextremelycomplexconceptthat
surroundsoureverydaylife.Genreisaclassificationmethod.Genresareclassified/createdbased
upontheaudiencetheywishtoappealto,themannerinwhichtheinformationispresented,and
thediscoursemodesused.Eachgenrehascertainqualitiesthatwilldefineit.Fulfillingthose

qualitieswereessentialpartinstep4.Theprojecthasgivenmemoreinsightintogenreandhow
mucharoletheyplayinourlives.