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| Nicosmos. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." (7/13/2009) via WikipediaCommons. Public Domain License. |
What do the conventions of this genre - Quick Reference Guide - seem to be?
The first noticeable convention is the use of Subcategories/Titles to break up the text. Several of the texts had these in the form of questions. For example, the QRG on Greece's Debt Crisis, utilized the questions 'What's the latest?' and 'What if Greece left the eurozone?' to guide readers.
Images are another convention. Depending on the article, these are meant to evoke emotional or intellectual thinking. For example, the Greece article includes an image of a child covering her ears with her father at a demonstration in Athens. The E-Cigarettes and Health QRG utilizes images to provide statistical information.
All QRGs incorporate short paragraphs with informative writing. Both are meant to keep the reading simple and guiding. Within these paragraphs, a number of quotes were provided as additional supporting evidence.
How are those conventions defined by the author's formatting and design choices?
Certain conventions are made more obvious by the author's formatting. The E-Cigarette QRG draws attention to quotes and statistics by including them in a colored box in the margins of the body. The Sochi Opening Olympics QRG emphasizes their use of images by including them underneath nearly every subtitle. Overall, the authors used layout as another form of conveying information. It is both pleasing to the eye and informative at the same time.
What does the purpose of these QRGs seem to be?
QRGs are a story-telling medium. The author isn't meant to have any opinion on the issue being discussed; rather, they are responsible for presenting all the information utilizing the conventions as they see fit. The Gamergate ORG is the best example of this. The author thoroughly presents both sides of the controversy with no added opinion.
Who is the intended audience for these different QRGs? Are they all intended for similar audiences? Or different? How & Why?
The audience is unique to the topic. For example, the Greece Crisis (as a more serious issue) is intended for a more politically interested audience than the article on the artistic specifics of the Sochi Olympic opening ceremony.
The intended audience can differ in more ways that politically, they can differ intellectually. For example, a QRG on a medical topic might assume readers have a certain level of knowledge while those reading a QRG on the effects of social media on society won't necessarily need any former knowledge.
The how and why both have to do with the topic. As QRGs are meant to be short yet informative, a medical article will leave out details that are strenuous to explain and should already be common knowledge for someone in the medical field.
How do the QRGs use imagery or visuals? Why do you think they use them in this way?
Images are a way of providing concrete detail/contextualizing the information. They can also be used as a form of pathos, as in the photo of the girl on her father's shoulders in the Greece dept QRG. In either case, the author's intent is to add credence to the facts. It provides readers with another medium of information, as sometimes reading the entirety of a lengthy QRG is unfavorable.
Reflection
Mehruba, Trey, Morgan and I all shared similar opinions on the purposes and conventions of a Quick Reference Guide. Though we reached our conclusions in different ways, each of our blog's confirmed that the ultimate goal of a QRG is to relate information in an easily understood, organized and concise format. We all seem to understand the conventions of a QRG very well (partly owing to the fact that we discussed it thoroughly in class, I'm sure). Hopefully this parallels success in our own QRGs.
I like how you listed the most differentiating characteristics about QRGs first and not just in order of what one looks like. It helps the reader get a better feel for recognizing the genre as a whole. I can also agree that the audience for QRGs is dependent on the topic of them. Nice job on this post!
ReplyDeleteI wrote something very similar for my post. One place we differed is what the purpose of a QRG is. I said it is a way of telling information but I like your definition much better: a "story-telling medium". I never looked at it that way but now that I read that, I see the QRG differently. It's kind of exhausting to write and read the entirety of a QRG if looked at as just information. Viewing it as a story makes it more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a really good job differentiating how the conventions can change within the genre based on the intended audience of the QRG. I also mentioned how the target audience may influence what vernacular is used and the types of images present . While the format of the QRG may change sightly I agree that that the QRG still provides an easy way for a reader to gain a lot of information about a particular topic.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your answers 100%. I also think that the author of a QRG should exclude his/her opinion and should present all the material in an informative way, keeping in mind who the audience is.
ReplyDelete