Thoughts By Jen

I usually don’t feel the necessity to do a follow up post — but for this topic, I believe I do.

For those of you who feel I am a nay-sayer or have burst your bubble regarding your nomination, I ask that you carefully read my prior post again.   That was not what I was saying at all.

Let me give you 3 reasons of why I don’t feel that there should (or can) be a “top” winner:

First of all, the awards are 100% subjective. Let’s look at the Most Influential Post category.
http://edublogawards.com/2010awards/most-influential-blog-post-2010/
Every post here is well-written and I am sure well-received by many.  The group is filled with PLN members who are both respected and liked.
But — influential??   Let’s stop there for a moment and consider if what is influential for YOU will be what is influential for me?  On any given day — probably not.  Our circumstances of each day — can determine what we allow (or don’t allow) to influence us — in so many ways.    EACH and EVERY one of these posts are powerful — but is there ONE that is the WINNER?  Perhaps each of us will have our own winner — but I don’t think, as a network, we can narrow it down to just one.

Moving ON — Voting
Looking at the nominees in the Best Use of a PLN group.
http://edublogawards.com/2010awards/best-use-of-a-pln-2010/
Classroom 2.0 has 50,887 members, Connected Principals has 102.
I invite you to do that math on who can probably gather the most votes.
If the best use of a PLN is to gain membership — than Classroom 2.0 can claim that prize –
So I guess what we need to do is here to define what is BEST USE??   Membership, conversations, opportunities, collaboration —- but wait —  that becomes subjective, does it not??

Finally, look at each category –
http://edublogawards.com/
and count the nominees in each group — will you be able to take the time to visit each and every one of those sites before making your vote??  or will you vote for the familiar name??
I liked what Alec C. had to say about this yesterday on twitter –
“however, if i vote for a list of ppl & I don’t know half the nominees & have no criteria, that may be more popularity than merit”
Truly what are you voting for?? and based on what??

Those are the concerns I have with the edublog awards — and those are the things I would like to be brought into thought when hosting all future “awards”.

Here are my final thoughts — so there is no confusion or reading between the lines —

If you have been nominated — congratulations!!   Your peers have found appreciation for what you do and believe YOU deserve the recognition.   If the peer took long enough to SHARE why — (a very good example is here:  http://pairadimes.davidtruss.com/my-2010-edublog-awards-nominations/) then let your smile grow even larger.  Someone took the time to tell you WHY they appreciate you and not just created a list    Congratulations.

For me, the Edublog Award ceremony is now over — congratulations to ALL the winners.

Jen