Toward an Empirically-generated Typology of Weblog Genres

In their article "Toward an Empirically-generated Typology of Weblog Genres" Maciej Maryl, Krzysztof Niewiadomski, and Maciej Kidawa propose a typology of weblog genres based on empirical data, namely on the analysis of metadata and the study of blogs' content. In Study 1 they explore 287 categories used by Polish bloggers to classify their blogs. The analysis shows that most categories are topical, but some could be useful for genre analyses. In Study 2 they analyse "syntagma" combinations of 2-3 categories assigned to 88 252 blogs on one of the Polish blog platforms. Through quantitative analysis and clustering 3 main groups are identified: public sphere, private sphere, leisure-time activities. And in Study 3 the authors present an alternative take on findings conducting a qualitative, nontopical analysis of 322 Polish blogs aimed at uncovering weblog genres according to their communicative purpose. In consequence, the following genres emerge: diaries, reflection, criticism, information, filter, advice, modelling, and fictionality. M. Maryl, K. Niewiadomski, and M. Kidawa. "Toward an Empirically-generated Typology of Weblog Genres" page 2 of 10 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 18.2 (2016): <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol18/iss2/8> Thematic Issue New Work in the Empirical Study of Literature. Ed. Aldo Nemesio Maciej MARYL, Krzysztof NIEWIADOMSKI, and Maciej KIDAWA Toward an Empirically-generated Typology of Weblog Genres Defining a weblog genre is not an easy task. In a 2008 research project Polish bloggers were asked about their attitudes towards and definitions of the cultural activity they are practicing. Researchers decided to entitle their paper using a puzzling definition delivered by one of the respondents, namely that "a blog is ... a blog" (Gumkowska, Maryl, Toczyski 291). Thus, we may travesty Gertrude Stein's famous verse and claim that blog is a blog is a blog is a blog. And we can identify a weblog when we see one similar to Stanley Fish's students as described in Is There a Text in This Class? by referring to its formal features. Blogs are "frequently modified web pages in which dated entries are listed in reverse chronological sequence" (Herring, Shedit, Writh, Bonus 142). When we encounter something like that we could qualify it as a weblog. Yet, when blogger are asked under what circumstances would they consider blog a literary genre, responses indicate that a blog is literature, when it is "literary," that is when it contains textual forms we could assign to literary tradition like poems, songs, short stories, dramas (Gumkowska, Maryl, Toczyski 295). And his brings us to one of the most fundamental questions of internet genre theory which concerns the level of description on which we should operate. In other words, if a "blog is a blog" how could we describe it as a genre? "Does a new medium automatically make for a new genre?" ask Janet Giltrow and Dieter Stein while establishing foundations for such a theory and suggest that "The general characteristic of Internet genres appears to be a greater fluidity and pragmatic openness. There is a constant and fast proliferation of genres—or of forms of communication that are candidates for being a genre" (9). Giltrow and Stein discuss this issue on the example of e-mail which enables several genres, but is not a genre itself; rather, it is a "hypergenre," a superordinate category (9-10). E-mail, as a "technologically-induced form is dispersed amongst several or many genres, recruited to very diverse functions or 'social actions'" (10). Thus it serves as a higher-level category, encompassing multiple (sub)genres. While embracing these distinctions, we propose an approach based on the New Rhetorics approaches to genre assuming a pragmatic perspective and treating a genre as "social action" in Carolyn Miller's sense: "Genre, in this way, becomes more than a formal entity; it becomes pragmatic, fully rhetorical, a point of connection between intention and effect, an aspect of social action" (21). Hence, we speak not about a blog as a genre, but about blog genres in plural, that is, certain forms of communication that employ the "hypergenre" of blog. A similar path was taken by Jill Walker Rettberg, who treats blogs as a medium within which one might "identify different genres and sub-genres such as the diary-style blog, the filter blog or the political blog" (20). The differences would lay in the content not in the form. We suggested elsewhere that "blog" as a term and concept is similar to "book," a general and formal description of a certain medium of communication which varies across various usages (see Maryl and Niewiadomski 85). We know how a book supposes to look like (usually it has a cover, a table of contents, title page, etc.), but it still can contain various forms like a monograph, magazine, fiction, guide, poem, drama, cooking recipes, etc. It is impossible to describe the book as a genre, yet what we can do is to explore its various forms. Likewise, in the case of blogs, we aim at analyzing lower levels in order to create a typology of weblog genres. Hence, in this study a blog as such is understood as a format, a "hypergenre," a superordinate genre or a medium for diverse genres. All blogs share to some extent following characteristics that distinguishes them from other digital genres: "the discrete post as fundamental organizing unit; dateand time-stamping of posts; the appearance of posts in reverse chronological order; hyperlinking to external sites; the archiving of posts and references to posts with permalinks and trackbacks; the reference to other likeminded or otherwise interesting blogs through the provision of a blogroll; the capacity for reader comments on posts; and the organization of posts by keywords into separate browsable categories" (Morrison <http://www.digitalhumanities.org/companionDLS/>). We are asking what purposes blogs may serve. As Amy Devitt puts it: "Perhaps blogs are part of a subset of genres that can be defined by format alone, denying our action-based definition of genres. More likely, I think, is that the form in context becomes substantive ... Reverse chronology may be the most visible form in blogs, but it still requires context and combining with other forms, variable as they are, to create meaningful generic action" (40). Our study is aimed at identifying such instances in which certain context determines a distinctive blog genre. This approach shifts the research perspective from investigating genre features of a blog towards the analysis of particular genres the blog format may contain. Blogs are hence approached as textual or rhetorical hybrids build from various competing genres, fulfilling certain aims (see Jamieson and Campbell; Miller and Shepherd). Genre scholarship of weblogs may be distinguished into two strands: one assessing the relationships between blogs and other forms of computer-mediated communication (e.g., Herring, Shedit, Writh, Bonus; Devitt) and the other concentrating on the offline predecessors of weblogs (e.g., Miller and Shepherd; Serfaty). Aimeée Morrison provides a comprehensive overview of existing blog genres typologies which she situates on the spectrum between "those dedicated to journalism, politics, and tabloid-style celebrity gossip" and "the personal blogs, generally considered to be HTML inheritors of paper-based genres of life writing: autobiography, memoir, journal, scrapbook, and diary ... In between these poles lies the vast and shifting middle ground, occupied by aspiring writers seeking both audiences and book contracts with provocative and literate projects, and professionals of all stripes creating classic digest-style blogs on their areas of expertise designed to appeal to a specific core of similarly trained readers" (<http://www.digitalhumanities.org/companionDLS/>). We explore the middle ground and propose a typology of weblog genres that could be based on available empirical material. Although our method differs across three presented studies, what we address in greater detail is informed by two main methM. Maryl, K. Niewiadomski, and M. Kidawa. "Toward an Empirically-generated Typology of Weblog Genres" page 3 of 10 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 18.2 (2016): <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol18/iss2/8> Thematic Issue New Work in the Empirical Study of Literature. Ed. Aldo Nemesio odological assumptions. First, we draw from empirically-grounded construction (see Kluge) as it combines empirical analysis with theoretical knowledge in the process of creating a typology. It is especially visible in Studies 1 and 3 where principles of grounded theory are incorporated into the coding process (see Lonkila). Second, our approach is inspired by the framework of complementary explorative data analysis (CEDA) in that it tries to combine quantitative and interpretive approaches into a single research design in order to standardize hermeneutical findings (see Sudweeks and Simoff). In Study 1 we explore the categories available on Polish blogging platforms and used by authors to classify their blogs. Our analysis shows that most of categories are topical, but others could be useful for genre analyses. Study 2 looks at "syntagmas," that is, combinations of categories on one of the Polish blogging platforms. Through quantitative analysis and clustering we managed to both replicate Morrison's spectrum and complicate it by dividing the core set of genres into four groups. Thus, in Study 3 we present an alternative take on those findings, conducting a qualitative analysis of 322 Polish blogs and establishing a more detailed and non-topical typology of weblog genres. Study 1: exploration of blog metadata as genre indicators. The digital form of the text gives researchers unprecedented possibilities to analyze new types of extra-textual materials (e.g., links, tags, meta-data, etc.), which should not be omitted in interpretation of the ne