2007 Kairos Award for Weblogs Announced - Global Voices Online
Students in Gordon Mitchell’s Weblog Advocacy course have selected a winner for the first annual Kairos Award, which recognizes outstanding political weblogs. Congratulations to the winner, Global Voices Online!
The class spent six weeks developing criteria by which to evaluate blogs, presenting nominees for the award, and evaluating each nominee blog based on its critical thinking, the quality of writing, the blog’s timeliness, emotion, credibility, and social responsibilities, and on its other, less tangible qualities. During this process, they learned what blogs really are and how authors use blogs to speak out on issues in a timely fashion.
Azadeh Boroumand, a senior Communication major enrolled in the class, shared her experiences over the last six weeks. She was unsure what to expect from the course when she registered. When Professor Mitchell told the class that they would spend the next six weeks on political advocacy weblogs, she thought it didn't seem possible to spend the entire six weeks only discussing blogs. Once Dr. Mitchell's explanation was complete, however, Azadeh thought the idea was ingenious. Now that she has completed the course, her perception of blogs has changed. “I now know that blogs do not consist of personal journals, instead they consist of a group of people who put their heart and soul into reaching a certain group of people and informing the world on issues they feel are important. It is amazing!”
Speaking for Global Voices, co-managing editor Solana Larsen talked about the blog being nominated for and ultimately winning the award. “We were very happy to see [the nomination] and proud… to see we were in the lead over such fantastic Web sites…. The Kairos Award is a strong encouragement for Global Voices and all the many volunteers around the world who contribute such hard work. We are very thankful to have been studied so carefully and evaluated so positively.” When asked how she thought Global Voices contributed to the students’ learning process, Larsen replied, “If we can inspire students to start their own projects or participate in ones that exist already, then [the course] was truly a successful experiment.” Larsen added that she thought the idea for the course was excellent. “I wish I had been able to take a class like that when I was in school!”
To find out more about the 2007 Kairos Award, visit the award’s Web site at http://kairosawards.blogspot.com.
