[Corpora-List] The genre of the Web

[Mark P. Line]

Paula Newman wrote:
>
> Re John Sowa's:
>> I agree with Mark Lane on that point:
>>
>>  > I don't think of the Web as a genre at all.
>>
>> On the other hand, it's not clear that the web
>> is a medium.
>
> The web is a medium of communication that makes material available both
> in pre-existing genres, and in new genres that have evolved to exploit
> its capabilities.


Right, well put. That's what I was trying to say.

New genres enabled by the Web continue to evolve as we speak, because the
underlying Web technology itself continues to evolve. For example, Sun has
developed a wireless web server, Sizzle, that's about the size of a US
quarter and can be embedded in anything from cellphones to carbon monoxide
monitors to HVAC's to washing machines. Most of the potential applications
for this technology may not involve natural language right now, but that's
just a question of time.

(Expect to receive cellphone calls from your household appliances in the
near future. With a bit of luck and legislative intent, you won't be
getting calls from appliances that would like to be bought.)


-- Mark

Mark P. Line
Polymathix
San Antonio, TX