Lab+2

Lab 2:

Why is the definition of genre controversial and not so applicable to the formation of digital genres? You may use the iPhone as a case.

Shiels, M 2008, 'Obama uses iPhone to win support', BBC News, 3 October, viewed 16 June 2009.URL:[]

A genre is used to classify different ideas and works that people have; for example, comedy, science fiction and horror are different types of film genres. Even though it has been used for thousands of years, it is not so applicable to the formation of digital genres because of digital convergence. Digital convergence means to combine several types of digital technology such as voice, video, pictures, texts, broadcasts, etc into one. Genres are not applicable because nowadays since everything is combined into one, the genres that they come from are unclear.

The iPhone is a good example of this because it combines pictures, videos, phone, music, television, and a lot more things on one device. There are over 200 000 applications that provide iPhone holders with different features that they can use. However, since there are so many applications, the genre of the different application is vague. For example, there is a photography application that allows you to add effects to your pictures; this application may be seen under the category of ‘entertainment’ or for some people may be seen as ‘photography’ in its own genre.

Obama used the iPhone to create an application in less then three weeks that allows people to keep up to date with the campaign information and there are videos, pictures, and reasons to vote for him. This application does not have a specific genre because it does not fall under only one thing. This is why digital genres are not applicable in the definition of a “genre”.