I’m back from the week-long blog-hiatus, and I did manage to get a few things taken care of (although just as much got added to my to-do list as I managed to cross off). And staying off the blog was extremely difficult at times, especially after learning that the EdTech Posse has been shortlisted for this year’s edublogger awards. (Although I did mention this on the EdTech Posse site - was this cheating on my hiatus? Hmmmm…)
Although I have mixed feelings about these sorts of awards, I am going to buckle under to the needs of my ego and suggest that, if you do listen to the EdTech Posse podcast, you should go cast your vote for the 2005 EduBlogger awards, but only if you listen to the podcast and you like what we are doing.
I suppose my problem with awards of this nature is that it tends to be more of a popularity contest than an award based on the intrinsic merit of what someone is doing. Of course, it feels great to make it to the short list; I love it whenever we get any sort of feedback about the podcast. Its great to find out that there are people listening and grooving along with our conversations. But it doesn’t make a difference if there are ten thousand listeners or 10 - if our conversations are meaningful to you and maybe give you pause for reflection, I am glad that we did that for you. If had to choose between quality and popularity, however, I’d rather be putting my energies towards making a podcast that I felt had some terrific quality to it rather than putting my energies towards making my podcast popular. Some people will suggest that you can do both, but my motivation will always be to produce a podcast that is good enough that I listen to it again after I’ve posted it, even if that does mean I have to listen to the sound of - ugh - my own voice. (Do I really sound like that?)
So, as I’ve said, if you like what we do then by all means vote for us - my ego will be eternally grateful. If not, then I’d encourage you to vote for someone who does work that you think could use some more attention than it may already receive. If the EduBloggers awards becomes a forum for bringing attention to some of the high-quality but perhaps less well known edubloggers, it could transcend the level of mere popularity contest that too many awards and awards shows sink to.
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December 13th, 2005 at 13:41
Hi Rob,
I think, more than anything, it gives us a list that we can show to people in terms of what is going on in the community. It is by no means exhaustive, but it is a good start.
oh. and we need to set a date for getting you guys and us guys together. any suggestions…?
dave. –>edtechtalk.
December 13th, 2005 at 15:54
Hi Dave
I think that using the awards (or any awards) as a means of highlighting some of the great work that is going on is a good idea, and I hope that is the outcome of the project. It would be nice to see different names making the shortlist every year so that we can celebrate the breadth of great stuff happening in the community.
We definitely need to get together to talk - we are talking tomorrow night and I’ll mention this to everyone else. I’d love for this to happen sometime sooner rather than later.
Good luck with the EduBlogger Awards - if we weren’t in the running, I’d definitely be voting for you. Maybe I will anyway! ;^D
December 19th, 2005 at 12:58
Rob,
Good summary of the way I feel/felt about the contest, too. I finally came to peace with it as a great way to get some visibility for the entire community. Sweet, and a little goofy, the “ceremony” yesterday confirmed that this was a good time to reflect on and celebrate our collaborations across the blogosphere. I do and did worry a bit about mutual self-congratulation angle, and the popularity contest structure, but all in all the benefits seemed to outweigh the liabilities. On to next year!
November 25th, 2006 at 14:08
[…] Only five days left for nominations for The Edublog Awards. There is certainly no shortage of individuals and groups with positive contributions in the area of education. I’m going to nominate a couple of my favourites, and I’m trying to focus on new voices or those who have been around for a while but are deserving of more attention. I encourage you to do the same. I wrote last year about my concerns about using awards to single out specific writers/netcasters, but I think that the edublog awards can be a great forum for generating some publicity for those who aren’t getting as much as they deserve. […]