Blog – Genre in a Form of Collection or a Collection of Genres?

Abstract

The aim of the article is to answer the question stated in the title – is it possible to treat blog as a genre in a form of collection or a collection of genres. The research base for theoretical deliberations is Jacek Kłosiński's blog (klosinski.net). In the first part of article, the history of the concept of collection has been presented. It is based on the most important names such as: Lew Wygotski, Jean Piaget, Anna Wierzbicka, Jerzy Bartmiński, Stanisława Niebrzegowska-Bartmińska and Maria Wojtak. The concept of collection has been transferred to linguistics from psychological research on the development of human cognitive process. It has been precisely defined by Jerzy Bartmiński and used in thorough analysis of verbal text by Stanisława Niebrzegowska-Bartmińska. The concept of collection was then transferred to genre research by Maria Wojtak, who presented the conception of two new genre forms: genre in a form of collection and a collection of genres. These forms may be very helpful in the analysis of blog, which is a complex and heterogenic form.

The author presents an analysis of Kłosiński’s blog structure, including delimitations and function problems, also establishes relations between parts of blog to check how organised and coherent its structure is. The author comes to the conclusion that, despite not meeting the requirements of genre in form of collection given by Maria Wojtak, blog is a multicomponent, heterogenic genre, the shape of which may be modified thanks to technological possibilities.