33 comments:

1. Arthus Erea said... November 26, 2007 6:24 PM

   Everyone who received a nomination was asked to submit a short description of their blog which is then posted. This is inheritly bias, since the blogger is writing it.
   
   However, everyone has equal opportunity to write a summary for their blog.
   
   Here: http://edublogawards.com/2007/2007-badges/
   And here: http://edublogawards.com/information-about-the-finalists/  

2. Darren Draper said... November 26, 2007 6:31 PM

   Thanks Arthus, and good luck in the voting.  

3. JenniferW said... November 26, 2007 6:33 PM

   Hi Darren
   
   I can tell you in my case - I did not nominate my WIKI. A parent of one of the teachers involved did -- which was kind of nice.
   
   I did have to write up our description though. :)
   
   JenWagner  

4. VWB said... November 26, 2007 8:25 PM

   I did not nominate my blog...and therefore, was beyond shocked when it popped up in Technorati late last night...whoever did the nominating is be quiet about it...for now!
   as for the paragraph, it was just a description...don't know about any bias?  

5. Clay Burell said... November 27, 2007 1:08 AM

   I have no idea who nominated me, had no idea nominations were happening (I self-host WordPress), and have no idea why a million other blogs better than mine were not nominated.
   
   After the nomination, all finalists were asked to give a blurb.
   
   I wrote about my own skeptical thoughts (and more generous appreciation) here .
   
   I didn't ask anybody to vote for me. I've seen some people twittering or posting requests to "win." I have no idea if the same person can vote multiple times. I think PollDaddy (which they're using for voting) can be set to to minimize multiple voting.
   
   In the end, let Edublogs have their fun. They've done a service to the 'sphere(s), and it's good PR for them.  

6. Darren Draper said... November 27, 2007 11:18 AM

   You've very right, Clay! Edublogs has done the education community a great service by offering a quality platform, free for teachers.
   
   I guess the statistician in me would just prefer a more equitable system for voting.  

7. Clay Burell said... November 27, 2007 11:37 AM

   Yep, if you followed my link, you've read me wish the same thing - for both nominations and votes.
   
   The recognition is nice, but it certainly shouldn't be mistaken for any sort of valid polling.
   
   It really gets fun when you check the voting polls and notice the classroom blogs outnumber the poor old solo teacher blogs by a ratio strikingly similar to the student:teacher ratio in classrooms ;-)
   
   And watching ppl ask for votes on Twitter and their own blogs is quite fun, too. Democracy in action? Demagoguery? Popularity contests?
   
   Hey, maybe they should use those polling machines Florida used in '00 prez elections.
   
   tee hee.
   
   Maybe the edublog folks will improve their method for this (very nice and commendable) shindig in the coming years.  

8. Cathy Nelson said... November 27, 2007 5:30 PM

   Darren--i don't know who nominated me either. I do use the Edublogs platform though, and have seen for weeks the solicitation of nominations. I did not feel I qualified in even recommending a blog as a winner, so never bothered with it. It was quite a shock to be nominated. The librarian blogs are quite diverse, with a two college level nominees, two high school ones, one of which is authored by a self-professed speaker/consultant on school library, and me--a middle school practicing teacher-librarian. What's also odd is that I subscribe to almost ALL the nominees. That really struck me too. Winners get nothing more than a badge and a little traffic, nothing more. But it is still an honor, none the less, especially for me who still has a hard time believing I have readers.  

9. Vicki A. Davis said... November 27, 2007 5:36 PM

   Thanks for letting me know about this, Darren. Actually, I didn't even know I was nominated! I don't know how the others found out! I didn't get an e-mail (didn't last year either.) I googled it and don't have one in there!
   
   However, you let me know this and I sent an e-mail to Josie w/ the description. Thanks for letting me know this good news, Darren!  

10. Clay Burell said... November 27, 2007 6:30 PM

    Vicki, I either found out through Technorati blog reactions or through WordPress ping. Don't remember!
    
    (And Darren, isn't this post turning into a little cottage industry!)  

11. Doug Belshaw said... November 28, 2007 12:51 AM

    My edte.ch blog's been nominated as a 'resource-sharing blog'. Not only is that inaccurate but I don't want the award. Can I un-nominate myself? I'm certainly not providing a description...  

12. Clay Burell said... November 28, 2007 1:55 AM

    Doug, why not give a description?
    
    I had no problem with that part. I want people to know what I'm writing about, what types of readers I'd like to collaborate with. I want that description to lead to new relationships with people whom I'd otherwise possibly miss the opportunity to know.
    
    If I was a reader unlucky enough to be unaware of your blog (especially of Teaching Mr. Belshaw), I'd be thankful you wrote a description so I could simply become aware of your existence.
    
    You know I like you, Doug - and if you read my "Edublog Award: Thanks, or Bugger Off?" post, you know my thoughts on the thing - but I don't see the value of declining an opportunity to connect.
    
    I haven't asked a single person to vote for me, and won't. I told my students not to vote for me. This ain't a popularity contest.
    
    But as a chance to open doors? I'll take it. I like opening doors. They lead beyond my schoolhouse ;)  

13. Sue Waters said... November 28, 2007 3:15 AM

    Being recognised for our work is nice however the most important aspect is the awards were set up 4 years ago in response to community concerns relating to how schools, districts and educational institutions were blocking access of learners and teachers blog sites for educational purposes. Unfortunately 4 years later we are still faced with the same issues.
    
    The awards creates a fabulous resource for educators to use for ideas on how social software is used in different contexts, with a range of different learners; which means we are introduced to new sites that we might not have found if not for the awards process.
    
    Let use the opportunity to continue to encourage others to engage in the use of technologies.  

14. AllanahK said... November 28, 2007 3:18 AM

    I was told of our nomination on Monday night via Skype.
    
    It is nice that a primary school podcast from the bottom island of New Zealand has a little recognition.
    
    My kids like it in that it proves that someone is listening apart from themselves as many never leave comments or give them feedback.  

15. diane said... November 28, 2007 3:58 AM

    People can "lobby" all that they want: I read many of the blogs regularly (religiously!) and believe I can be trusted to make an informed decision.
    
    From what I've been able to gather - correct me if I'm wrong - it takes more than a single nomination to make the final list of nominees, so, modest Cathy, rest assured that you weren't included on whim.
    
    All of you brighten my day and expand my horizons...every single one already a winner in my book!  

16. Vicki A. Davis said... November 28, 2007 7:20 AM

    It takes a lot of nominations to be included. And although the process may be flawed (for example if you hide behind a DHCP server, you can only have one vote in each category for your whole school -- we found this out when a fellow teacher was upset she couldn't vote. I told her to vote at home.)
    
    it is still something. Anything that brings attention to educational uses of Web 2.0 and that things have changed is a good thing. And I like this award better than the others out there.
    
    However, for a blogger, the greatest reward must be the intrinsic benefit of blogging itself.  

17. Darren Draper said... November 28, 2007 9:23 AM

    Again, I think the awards are well-merited as I've learned a lot from many of the blogs nominated. I also look forward to learning from a few "hidden" gems that I've discovered in consequence of their nominations.
    
    As for the voting, however, I'm not convinced that it's fair (or not fair) as Vicki has claimed. Are we sure that they're tracking votes by IP address?  

18. Claudia Ceraso said... November 28, 2007 10:12 AM

    Darren,
    Agreed. I've learnt so much from previous winners and nominees. The trouble with shortlists is precisely they are too short. I'd love to read the whole list as well.
    
    I sort of whispered a wiki idea for making the shortlist creation more transparent. Idea details and dialogue with Josie Fraser here:
    http://eltnotes.blogspot.com/2007/11/edublog-awards.html
    
    I think the way these awards are conducted face the challenge of being meaningful and valid for various readers: colleagues, friends, students -their parents-, public at large.
    
    Validity of results will probably be achieved with more transparent methods. Good news: edubloggers have been mastering making their learning transparent. How can this award method match the level of expertise of the winners?
    
    So far my thoughts for the process to get to the shortlist. Can't wait to hear your suggestions from the statistical point of view to improve the rest!  

19. Chris said... November 28, 2007 3:10 PM

    I must admit that even though I know it's a flawed process, I know it's unbalanced, I know it's not worth all that much and I sure as heck know there are much better blogs than mine out there, I still got quite excited about being included on the list. I never nominated myself... even I'm not that desperate! :-)
    I was chatting to James Farmer a few weeks back and the topic of the awards came up, to which I said I thought it must be quite nice to be one of those who have a nomination put in for them, and he said he thought my blog was one of those already nominated.
    I think Clay's post is spot-on... getting too concerned with a nomination is a bit a self indulgent, but it does look good on your resume, and in that respect I'm happy to get some mileage out of it!  

20. James Farmer said... November 28, 2007 5:21 PM

    Lordy I hate leaving comments at blogger ;)
    
    I agree with pretty much everyone but Doug (cheer up fella!), it's definitely a popularity content, definitely also based on merit and definitely worthwhile and also a touch cringeworthy.
    
    As for the transparency, it's just got to be the case that some group of people have to decide who gets to move from being a nominee (500+ of them!) to the shortlist - and that has to be pretty efficient.
    
    Actually it has to be very efficient... this gig doesn't pay so well ;)
    
    And there's stuff to consider like people not wanting other people to know who they're nominating.... and how shortlisting doesn't become a popularity contest too.
    
    I could go on.
    
    As for the polling we're using polldaddy pro with cookies and IP logging in place, can't do much better than that.
    
    Appreciate all ideas / feedback on improving the awards into their 5th year.
    
    Cheers, James  

21. Ewan McIntosh said... November 29, 2007 12:50 AM

    I should just add for the record that I didn't nominate my blog, either. I haven't a clue who did. Jolly nice all the same, though it's just fun, isn't it?  

22. James Farmer said... November 29, 2007 1:12 AM

    I'd say 90%+ of the shortlisted blogs were nominated by other people.
    
    It's all fun for me... y'now, divisive, annoying, unpredictable etc. ')  

23. Vicki A. Davis said... November 29, 2007 7:36 AM

    James-
    
    The only problem with the IP logging is that if you're behind DHCP server, it seems that it may think you've already voted. For example, most people behind a firewall have a standard IP range of 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.254 -- so when I went to vote, it told me I had already voted!
    
    Another teacher voted and it went through fine. I had to go home and renew my IP address and then I could vote.
    
    So, although it is much better, there are issues with computers behind firewalls, in effect, if anyone using that private IP range has already voted, no one else can vote. My friends who use a static range were able to vote just fine, it seems to be something with DHCP.
    
    (I know that is technical, but it really bothered me that I couldn't vote from my school computer.)  

24. Darren Draper said... November 29, 2007 8:41 AM

    James,
    
    I know it's too late for this time around, but next year I would suggest using a better system for voting - perhaps a social networking voting tool.
    
    In Facebook, for example, there are several voting applications that could be used for your poll (easy poll, XAT Poll, Pie Charts & Polls - to name a few). All are free to use, but require a unique Facebook account to vote. This would ensure that each person vote only once - or, more accurately, that each Facebook account vote only once.
    
    While some people may have more than one FB account, I doubt people have up to 50 (which is what your current system seems to allow - it's possible for one person to vote 50 times). Who knows, by this time next year Ning may also have a polling system in place.  

25. James Farmer said... November 29, 2007 2:08 PM

    Well it's either that or me spending 5 hours a day chasing down and deleting rogue vote batches... which are pretty hard to detect too.
    
    So unfortunately the choice at the moment is one vote per IP or a completely flawed voting system :(  

26. Clay Burell said... November 29, 2007 2:13 PM

    Why not just select the finalists and call it a day? Congratulations all, instead of "now cause headaches by voting for THE winner."  

27. James Farmer said... November 29, 2007 2:18 PM

    Now that would be somewhat less fun wouldn't it ;)  

28. Clay Burell said... November 29, 2007 2:29 PM

    just a thought. depends on your philosophy of competition, voting, and the nature of "winning."
    
    and, getting back to darren's initial issue, validity?
    
    anyway, off to thailand :)  

29. Leonard said... November 30, 2007 4:45 AM

    It looks to me as if people are taking this Edublogs Award thing very seriously indeed - as if the awards carried with them some kind of trophy, a bountiful cash largesse and the promise of everlasting glory. :)
    
    Don't get me wrong on this - I feel very grateful for being nominated for one of the categories by person(s) unknown, but to me, this is all still just a bit of fun for goodness sake.
    
    Whether nominees choose to play it low-key or spend hours/millions on their "election campaign" (LoL - sorry, we've just had a federal election in Oz), can't we all maintain the spirit in which these awards are being adjudicated - with respect, but not with artificial austerity!
    
    After all, James' own blog is called "Incorporated Subversion" (http://incsub.org/blog/), and in that very same vein, if you're going to run a social web award, on social media, then you should jolly well expect a degree of social networking to occur, whether that's on Twitter, across the blogosphere, or wherever.
    
    Chill out peeps. :) It's not whether you win or lose - it's how you play the game.
    
    Anyway, I hope y'all found some new gems amongst this year's list of finalists... I sure did! :)
    
    Jm2c! :)
    Leonard. :)  

30. Vicki A. Davis said... November 30, 2007 7:39 PM

    It is sad, IP logging may be good, however, I have a lot of people who are behind firewalls who say that they cannot vote. I couldn't vote at school but was able to vote at home. A prof friend of mine and her husband -- she voted on her computer but he couldn't vote on his (they share a router.)
    
    It is better than last year and we've made progress. I've wondered if we're going to do this, would it be easier to have "an academy" of sorts? Or a way to apply to be a voter? each person gets a ballot and one vote using something like surveyshare, but then that could be prohibitive to newcomers.
    
    Either way, James Farmer and Josie have spent a really long time on these awards and it is a great thing.  

31. school said... December 6, 2007 9:05 PM

    http://passreferendum.blogspot.com/  

32. clarkshahnelson said... December 7, 2007 7:30 AM

    Honored to have been nominated and included - I only wish I had known earlier! I didn't receive any notification and only found out about the nomination (and the awards in general) a day before the voting ended! Oh well. It's an honor at any rate and a great way to discover some new blogs. Cheers!
    Clark Shah-Nelson, MyGermanClass.com  

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