Genre is a concept and construct that crosses disciplinary, national, methodological, conceptual, and pedagogical borders. The aim of "Genre across Borders" (GXB) is to advance genre theory and research by helping scholars and students cross these borders. It combines two primary functions:

1. GXB is a reference guide to scholarship in the many fields of genre study—glossary, bibliography, and overviews of research in multiple disciplines.
2. GXB is a networking portal for scholars to connect with each other and with other internet resources—calendar, live feeds from internet sources, profiles of other genre scholars, contributions of course and curriculum materials, opportunities to discuss research problems or find a collaborator.

Both of these functions require active input from users to:

• add new glossary and bibliography entries
• tag or expand existing entries
• extend or comment on the disciplinary overviews
• add an item to the calendar
• contribute your teaching materials
• register and post your research profile