The attached advertisement, designed for print and translated into an Internet promotion as well, represents the translation of the audio material advertising a new "smart cell phone" into new genres. The selected "text" or material is the now ubiquitous cell phone that combines many functions in a single device - traditional voice calling capacity, text messaging, a camera capable of both still and video pictures, Internet access with email, a word processing program, a calendar, address book, and many of the functions normally associated with a desktop computer system.
The purpose of this essay is to offer an academic analysis of the impact of such a genre transformation, one in which the attached materials are indicative of innovative use of the Internet and the print media (a magazine advertisement) to promote a new hand-held electronic device. A genre is a classifying statement that is characterized by having what Shepherd and Watters (2005) call similar content and form where content refers to themes and topics and form captures similar observable physical and linguistic features.
Shepherd and Watters (2004) commented on genre changes particularly in the context of the Internet and noted that
Cyber genre is characterized by content form and functionality. As the attached advertisement to be posted online indicates, many of the same elements that are found in print are easily translated to the Internet although a major transformation is reflected in the addition of interactivity (Erickson, 1997). The Internet is growing and evolving as are the genres found on the Web.
The development of a cell phone that is more like a computer than a cell phone was discussed by Tynan (2008) who argued that the new generation of smarter phones has a natural synergy with the Internet because like the Internet they tend to be highly interactive. In fact, as the attached advertisement demonstrates, such a phone is linked...