DCC Briefing Paper: Genre classification

Genre classification is the process of grouping objects together based on defined similarities such as subject, format, style, or purpose. Genre classification as a means of managing information is already established in music (e.g. folk, blues, jazz) and text and is used, alongside topic classification, to organise materials in the commercial sector (the children's section of a bookshop) and intellectually (for example, in the Usenet newsgroup directory hierarchy). However, in the case of text, genre is not a well-defined notion (it is better defined in music and arts) and discussions over what exactly constitutes genre abound in the classification community. The characterisation of information using the notion of genre may not be as explicit in other forms of material but, nevertheless, it implicitly permeates the way we view and segment the information space surrounding us.