CCT300+Lab+2

Genres attempt to classify or categorize art work into groups based on similar or re-occurring elements between them. For example, all horror films have an element of fear and suspense. With traditional mediums, such as novels, tv, and film, the content is static, and remains within the same medium. A novel cannot for example play a video. This made it easy to categorize genres for each medium. We can easily place any book, film, etc. neatly into a genre because it would never go outside of it. A mystery novel is what it is. You cannot do anything else with it except read it, and expect a mystery throughout.

I would argue that it should not be any more difficult to create digital genres. Many will argue that digital convergence is at the root of making this process 'controversial'. However, this thinking misses a basic point. Digital convergence is the combination of several technologies into one. Genres are not technologies, but groups of art work that have been categorized based on similarities. A cell phone is not a genre per se, it is a medium which has recently been converged with various other technologies such as the Internet, MP3, video, etc. Yet, all these technologies have genres within them. When was the last time you though of TV as a genre? It is the content which is consumed through the digital device that can be classified into genres. In the case of Barak Obamas iPhone application, one could easily categorize it as a political application. Or alternatively, one could argue that the iPhone application is a technology, and does not deserve a genre, just as TV on its own doesn't. Perhaps we have been confined by pre-determined genres from traditional media that makes it seem difficult to create digital genres. It is time we think outside the box, and not confuse technology for genre.