I propose a session wherein we explore ways genre can be constructed in a social situation. Normative definitions of genre (stemming from, but not exclusively, Aristotle) have had their own share of noted and notable problems; as a result, genre theorists have turned to descriptive accounts of genre makeup. I would turn away from a descriptive model framed only by critics, but instead from a broader look at reader response to particular works. In particular, I want to look at ways that Goodreads, as a social media expression of the kinds of books being read in the real-time now, can change the way we look at genre construction. What kinds of data can be useful in talking about genre? How might the tagging of particular works within genres change the way those books are read and received? What are the limits regarded the use of crowd-sourced data regarding the tagging of books?
