Creating different forms of writing from a base model is a critical action in order

to become a strong reader and writer. For WP3 I translated an academic peer reviewed
journal about the Great Barrier Reef into a personal blog. I chose this translation because
people are interested in the lives that they do not have, and traveling is something people
long for. I wanted to make a story that people would want to read. Translating is not
always successful and as a result many areas are lost in translation. In my efforts to make
a topic as generic as pollution more exciting, I created a story that allows people to take
in the information from a perspective of travel, and through this process I translated a
highly academic genre to something more desirable.
When translating from genre to genre it is important to consider the audience
shift. A peer reviewed journal focuses heavily on individuals educated on the specific
topic, which in this case was the condition of the Great Barrier Reef and its progression
with the Australian government. The new audience for my personal blog is a young
person who is interested in travel and has the desire to learn about how the worlds
conditions are changing. This a shift from the primary piece because of the more general
and welcoming tone. I had to drop the academic jargon and this follows the Dirk reading
from class because the audience creates this new genre. I am appealing to the younger
public through traveling and the use of adventure because in todays society many people
want an exciting life and to follow the lives of people, for example, Alexis Ren (a famous
model and instagrammer). People who follow the lives social icons and travelers create
these genres. As Dirk explains how an audience has expectations, this is how these
conventions are created. I adhered to these conventions by not stating facts about the
Reef like the primary source, but incorporated it into a story format.

I chose this genre because it has a lot of freedom in translation through the
creation of a story and personal experience. This creativity appeals to the audience
through the use of a desired experience and a familiar tone. People who want to travel
would typically appreciate the environment, and mixing in the topic of pollution with
travel effectively communicates the point that the primary source had.
The primary source focused on the issues of pollution and the coal emissions
effects on the Reef. I incorporated this by making it more of learned experience rather
than a researched fact because it makes it easier to relate to. I changed the tone from
being informative and scholarly to something leisurely because it makes it more personal
to the audiences level of interest. I cut out a lot of the stats in the primary piece because
the audience I was aiming for would not focus on the meaning behind them because this
new genre is not so much focused the hard facts but the lighter aspect of a situation- they
dont want negativity. I did not want to make my blog too factual because it would make
it boring, and I wanted to make it more about my own experiences. This element was lost
in translation because it did not fit into the audiences expectations. I kept the facts about
the Reefs inhabitants and a similar feeling in terms of emotion because it was a main
element of the primary source. I shifted it through the view of a government and political
perspective to something more emotionally investing for the audience by focusing on the
Reef itself. I had to add this sense of a personal connection to the environment and its
significance to my appreciation of the worlds beauty. It was fairly simple to translate the
message of the primary piece because it had a general tone of emotion to follow.
The translation I made was effective in my opinion because it had the same
message when it came down to the main point. I lost some of the political effectiveness of

the primary piece and how that is effecting the coal-mining situation, but for appealing to
the audience the message that pollution is an issue to our worlds natural beauty, it was
effective. I used first person to create a personal connection with the audience, and
because it a convention of my new genre. I tied in my emotional perspectives because it
brought together my feelings as a traveler (in the blog) and the environmental conditions
effect on me. This connects to the audience and gives me credibility based on the
inclusion of other places I have traveled to. It is hard to communicate and know that my
opinion would be valued because it is a personal blog and doesnt really have any
credibility other than myself, but that is part of a this genre.
Translating genres is specifically difficult because the entire message is unable to
be communicated. A major part of the primary piece was the governmental effects and
status in tending to the situation of the Reef. I mainly decided to focus on the more
qualitative pieces because it could be tied into the cause of my emotional response. It was
also difficult because the tones differ: the peer-review journal is much more assertive,
while a personal blog is more to communicate with the public rather than to strictly
inform. I tried my best to over come this by trying to focus on the main issue at hand, and
that was pollution. I wanted it to be opinionated but not forcing it on the audience as I
said, I was on board with the World Heritage Committee to have the Australian
government decide a long-term plan to better the conditions of the environment. It was
my own opinion that I wanted to share while being passively critical of the coal
emissions similar to how the journal does this when it claims, current decision making is
promoting death by a thousand cuts. I wanted to carry out their underlying concept of
wanting to better the environment.

Throughout the piece I wanted to keep it focused on the audiences perception,

and I followed Carrolls concept from Backpacks to Briefcases that as an author one
needs to make the audience think, feel, and do something in response to their reading. I
wanted the audience to consider what was happening to something so dear to the world
because of industry. I would hope that they would sympathize with the decaying beauty
of the Great Barrier Reef. Also, McClouds Writing with Pictures account for the
choice of flow in a piece was something I kept in mind because I wanted to make sure
it was like a story or piece from a series of blogs. McCloud claims to just keep it
simple to be most effective, and I kept this in mind with the story I produced. I wanted
to make it flow in terms of how I got to the point of becoming aware of what the Reef
was becoming to have the audience see it more than just an opinion. I wanted the
information to be interesting.
Converting a genre is something that requires more than a simple idea. Although
it was not a simple task, it was important to translate these genres and make the
connections while noticing and appreciating an authors choice. I had to make changes to
bring the information to a broader scope of people that would convey the same message
of the journal. The information must be accessible for new types of audiences, and
translating genres is effective when trying to appreciate genres individuality.