Mixed Media: The Stacking Issue

Daniel's hypertext project is impressive through its incorporation of audiofiles, images, and text.  However, is this hypertext a speech genre?  I would say yes and no, but I believe this answer holds great value for our interpretation of all things genre, not just the hypertext.  The value of this hypertext is its mixed media form, or incorporation of various communicative forms.  As participants in the hypertext adventure, we are presented with action-potential in the form of the text itself.  By viewing the text by itself, we are left to decide what meaning to place in it.  This action of placing meaning into the text is our existential contribution to our understanding of the work.  The text layer's content can serve as its own genre, in its own realm.  When audio is added, the interpretation still lies within us, but the meaning we perceive often changes.  We are provided with additional information such as inflection and tone from which to discern our conception of relevancy and meaning.  This additional information no longer solely comes from a book or text, it is coming from a person.  A social element is added, unless you are an individual who lacks empathy.  Additionally feeling is generated and the text takes on a more social-personal relationship.  As such, the genre it once was has been transformed to encompass this new information.  The original text genre still exists, but has been overwritten in our minds to allow our more complete interpretation to reign.  The addition of graphic design to the project adds another layer to the genre interpretation.  The use of black and white separations with gray smudges all over has a meta-pictorial quality or heteroglossia all to itself.  The black and white give us a sense of finality between text and audiofiles on each side.  One side is the opposite of the other, but both reflect the same issue.  The gray smudges call in the question of morality, and that maybe our distinct perceptions or interpretations are not so clear cut.  So, our interpretation of the work must grow to encompass all of these associations and still fit into a genre.  This hypertext work is a genre and is not a genre.  It is no more or no less of a situated action than anything else is.  This problem with genre and categorization is a problem with probability and scope.  Genre is the recognition of patterns of differences and similarities, then labeling its subject accordingly.  Daniel's hypertext can be viewed on any level (at the distinct textual, audio, or visual level; or from any combination or perspective).  Also these relationships may have a probabilistic rate of occurring naturally in any person who perceives them, but there are always differences in our perceptual systems.  The outcome is that there are an infinite number of genres, and the societal genres are simply approximations, probabilistic interpretations of what a work means.  There is no certainty in our knowledge or perceptions, simply possibility.  So when approaching genre, it should be important to keep an open mind and recognize our thoughts as our personal constructions, that nothing is certain, and that when approaching language the possibilities are endless.