TOP BLOGSAs we move closer towards 2010, you will increasingly seeew posts or articles screaming here are the top 8, 10, 20, 30, 50, 100, etc. blogs or sites of this and that. Most of them just vomit out lists, without putting much effort to justify their claims, or at least say why the selected blogs should be on the list. Actually, what We would want to see is simply what so special about the blog selected, and why should We follow it. Is that so hard to ask forIf you first are going to claim that these are the top blogs at least tell us why they are selected, and what is so special about them. Lets face it; any idiot can create a top list copying a bit from here and there (or from their RSS reader) within 10-15 minutes. We suppose we will get a lot of hits doing so, but we might also get into trouble our TOP LISTS = TROUBLETrust me, We have been there Though, our first top list 10 Top ETL Blogs You Simply Don’t Want to Miss was a peaceful affair without much trouble. Probably because our blog at that time (2007) was rather unknown. In this list We shared our top 10 favorite ETL (Education + Technology = Learning) blogs. Yes, We did write why they are so special to our learning :)Then in September (2008) We published another list entitled 25 EduBlogs You Simply Don’t Want to Miss on our blog, but this time around it turned into a battle of the sexes. Without me realizing it, or consciously thinking about the gender distribution of our selection, the list wasJanet Clarey discovered this male dominated distribution, and it happened of course during a women blogging conference, and you can imagine what happenedext. Also, We said some silly things in the online discussion that got them even more worked up (at least a few of them). And then all hell broke loose (discussion here).Here, We was just sharing our favorite bloggers with ZaidLearn readers, and suddenly We have become famously infamous women bla, bla, bla. But the beauty of disasters and problems, is that they are actually opportunities to do something good and make a difference. Since We have been in such situations so many times in our life (probably our fault on many occasions), We kind of dealt with it by going the extreme opposite (ego aside).A couple of weeks later, We published 27 Inspiring Women Edubloggers (and Karl Kapp He was pretty surprised to be included) on our blog, and within days We had become a hero. Even Stephen Downes and George Siemensoticed our effort to get myself out of trouble (besides learning a few lessons)."Last month, Zaid compiled a list of top 25 edubloggers. The weighting was male-centric (22-3). He hasow corrected the omission with aew list of top 27 female bloggers.icely done." - George SiemensAnd Michelle Martin went even further, by saying,"Instead, he showed the courage of the true learner and used our observations as a springboard to expanding his own thinking--and ours as well. - Hats off to Zaid on this one"The great thing about creating these lists, is that We have learnt a lot through discussions and reflections, and discovered many more interesting learning blogs (especially the female ones), which We have added to our RSS reader. Click Here to see our updated collection of learning blogs that We really like.In short, publishing your top something lists (especially involving people) can get you into trouble, or make you into a legend, or both if you are lucky. So, before creating a list, please think wisely :)Also, besides gender distribution, youeed to also consider racial breakdown, age range, religion,ationalities, etc. What was the purpose of the list again Just be honest about what you like, and if people cant take that, then too bad GREAT LISTSThe great thing about discoveringew blog lists, is that we might discoverew blogs that we can subscribe to via our RSS reader (please use one We use Google Reader). our advice is to follow a few hundred learning blogs in scanning mode, and 5-15 exceptional ones in reading mode.
Kick Saves, a column on theorth Shore girls hockey, runs every Thursday during the winter season in the Salemews. Contact Matt Williams at 978-338-2669 or MWilliams@salemnews.com.
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