Back in September, Global Voices urged you to nominate your favorite blogs from around the world for The BOBs (Best of the Blogs) – now it's time to put on your thinking caps again, and get out there and vote! The awards, hosted by Deutsche Welle, are the most internationally inclusive awards of their kind, and intend to present a wide spectrum of the world blogosphere.
While it's up to you to choose your favorites, bloggers are already pushing hard for theirs; one such blogger is Final Cut Producer, who recommends voting for Alive in Baghdad, a video blog about daily life in Iraq nominated to the Best Video Blog.
Oiwan Lam of Global Voices recently highlighted the nominees in the Best Chinese Blogs category, helping out those of us who aren't able to read Chinese (see Global Voices’ China page for translations of many Chinese-language blogs)
A blogger from my own city of residence, Boston, has also been nominated, reported Cape Cod Today. The blogger, Peter Kenney aka The Great Gadfly, was nominated in the Best English blogs category.
But it's not just about encouraging votes. Several nominated bloggers have posted thanks or given “speeches.”
The author of Health Blog is grateful for the nomination, saying:
It really is so nice to get a nod from blog readers. Winning isn’t the prize – knowing that I’ve touched someone’s life is. So thanks for this nomination, and for the other “nods” over the years.
Web page logging or Blogging, is over a decade old. And the world seems more accessible and “smaller” as a result. I’m so glad to be a part of it. I learn so much everyday. I get to blab and exchange ideas about important issues and share some of the more lighthearted things in life with others. I’ve made meaningful connections to wonderful people all over the world. And I’m able to do this all from in the comfort of my own home, office or coffee shop.
Blogging is so cool.
The Arabist, another nominee for Best English Blog, gives props to fellow nominees as well:
Of course, just as this happens I am informed that The Arabist has been nominated for a Best of the Blogs – English award. Thank you to whoever nominated me, it’s really quite something to be running against wonderful major blogs such as TPM Muckraker, The Consumerist or MAKE ZINE. I have been running this blog for nearly five years now, and it’s been a great experiment.
So whether you have a favorite blog or would just like to support one that's up and coming, go cast your votes for the Best of the Blogs in fifteen categories.
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The BOBS inform (via mailing list):
“Just some quick news about The BOBs – our online voting system was hacked in an attempt to manipulate the outcome. We caught it and did our best to sort out the “false” votes but in order to insure that the voting process is an democratic one, we have extended online voting an extra 4 days until Nov. 19. The winners of the jury awards will be announced as planned on Nov. 15.”
It’s explained a little differently on their Web site.
“We have decided our only course of action is to remove all votes cast during the contaminated time period. But we will work to recover the valid votes to the best of our ability.”
And when WAS the contaminated time period?
I am flashing back to news footage of Florida pollworkers eying hanging chads.
So let me get this straight: “Because we are not sure your vote was counted correctly the first time, try voting again”? Vote early, vote often? Is that it? Quite an innovative notion of an democracy DW has evolved there.
I just voted three times myself (just clear the cookie and start over; no scripting needed), under three different pseudonyms, just to triple-insure that my global voice gets heard.
It reminds me a bit of the Brazilian newspaper that ran an item earlier this year (in the form of a “did you know?” push poll) tipping off its readers that if they REALLY wanted to help the cause of Rio’s Cristo Redentor in the NOWC “Seven Wonders” competition, they should be aware that THEY COULD VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN fairly easily (and of course, the contest rules also allowed THE BUYING OF VOTES IN BLOCS).
This is Internet democracy? It actually looks an awful lot like the Golden Age of Tammany Hall, or the Mexican national elections of 1988.