Thlog Week 2

My favorite thing we did this week was PB1B. It was not easy, as it was slightly time consuming, but it forced me to take the time to truly observe how to break down a genre into its conventions. I also previously did not know about the SCIgen website, so it was pretty interesting to know that a genre generator like that exists to amuse people. I tried to incorporate what I learned from the reading “So What Who Cares?” into my PB1B by being more explicit and stating that breaking down the conventions is vital in understanding how people interpret and respond to different types of language. When WP1 was first introduced, I was pretty confused about how to differentiate between what was considered a topic and what was considered a genre. I needed to pick a genre broad enough that would have at least three media sources, yet I also needed to be specific in my choice. When Zack gave us examples, I thought I understood how to differentiate between a topic, genre, and its sources. However, when it came time to thinking for one by myself, I got confused again. I knew how to choose a genre and its sources, but I was unsure what the topic would be. For example, a genre could be the homepage of websites and its sources could be different websites, such as BBC.com. But what would the topic be? After Wednesday’s class, I had a clearer idea of what a topic could be after asking Zack to clarify. The example he gave was for the genre of restaurant menus. The sources were menus from specific locations in IV, and the topic was aimed towards marketing and how the restaurant captured the attention of its customers. Hopefully my WP1 topic is unique and can branch into a genre with multiple sources.