The Cost of Brilliance

As a minor blogger, I do not get many email solicitations for product consideration. I like it this way. When it does happen, I read them and then quickly delete them. They often amuse me, and I guess that is worth something. But yesterday I received an email about the Chapeau Blog Awards that just confuses me. From their home page (can be found by searching for Chapeau Blog Awards):

Blog Brilliance!

To this, we tip our Chapeaus!

Blog Brilliance is, in fact, what Chapeau Blog Awards is exclusively devoted to honoring.

Brilliant Blogs must deliver upon audience expectations. From design and navigation, to business or consumer topics, the most effective blogs cater to how readers absorb and process information.

At the same time really great blogs are true to themselves and their own unique personalities. Some blogs challenge readers. Some invite opinion and other blogs simply share a story or follow a trend.

But which blogs are the best?  And who should decide which blogs are the best?

Chapeau Blog Awards intends to answer this question. And we won’t assemble an antiquated academy of high profile “Noggers” (Non-Bloggers—You first read it here!) to determine which blog is best.

We will do what bloggers do; ask the public sphere of blog readers. You. Us. Blog readers who truly know what a quality blog is.

It all sounds rather innocuous. We live in a society that loves to rank things, so I do find the overall concept all that odd. The bizarre part is that the solicitation is aimed at getting bloggers to nominate themselves for consideration. There are several categories into which one can enter a blog. The first group of categories are for blog audience. You decide what subject best fits your audience. Then you can enter your blog in up to five award areas such as best industry blog, best design and navigation, etc. Ultimately, the Chapeau Blog Awards will choose one blog to be the “Most Brilliant Blog”. The kicker is that there is an entry fee to nominate one’s blog: $195 if you enter before November 14th, $250 if you enter between the 15th of November and the 15th of December, or $275 between December 15th and January 30th. January 30 is the cut of to enter. The official nominees will be announced on February 15th. Blog readers get to vote and the results will be announced on May 5, 2009.

Seriously???? How can a group purport to be choosing the Most Brilliant Blog when it requires payment (and a significant one at that) for consideration? Has anyone actually given money to this organization? There is just so much wrong with this. The good news? I am willing to declare this blog The Most Brilliant Blog Ever for free – and I would be willing to declare your blog The Most Brilliant Blog Right Behind Mine for considerably less that $195. Let me know. I accept PayPal.

I do like the word “Noggers”.  I’ve never heard that before, but I think I will incorporate that into my daily vocabulary. Anyway, thanks for the blog fodder.

An Analysis of My Blog

Helene Blowers, over at LibraryBytes, wrote a post including links to several tools that analyze blogs. I couldn’t resist playing along – and found out some fascinating things about what my blog says about me.

The first tool is Typealyzer, which analyzes one’s writing to make a personality determination. My blog was labeled as INTP – The Thinkers. The website’s description of this label is as follows:

The logical and analytical type. They are especialy attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.

This INTP result isn’t much of a surprise. I am definitely a thinker type – and I like to use my blog as a place to work through my thoughts about library-related subjects. I’m not sure I’m so keen on the arrogant, impatient and insensitive thing though – that isn’t a message that I would like to send to the world.

The second tool is GenderAnalyzer, a tool which tries to determine if a blog’s writer is male or female. The site determined that my site was gender neutral with a slight preference for a male. These results fascinate me. I am female, but have been told that I often think like a man. I guess I might tend to write like one too?????

The third tool is the Blog Readability Test. This site determines the reading level of one’s blog. I have done this one before, and the results have stayed the same – High School Reading Level. I’m good with that.

The last tool is the site that determines How Much is Your Blog Worth. This doesn’t mean much too me because my blog is worth much more to me than to anyone else. Also, I’m not sure what being worth $19,194.36 means. Actually, I realize one has to compare it to the worth of other blogs. Chances are I am not going to do that. However, if someone offered my $19,000 for this blog, I might just take it. 🙂

Now, back to my regularly scheduled Monday!

Amazon Fights Wrap Rage

Amazon.com has an interesting note posted on its home page today about fighting “Wrap Rage” – a phrase which “describes the frustration we humans feel when trying to free a product from a nearly impenetrable package” (from the notice posted on the website today). To eliminate wrap rage, they are introducing “Frustration-Free Packaging (FFP)” which is now available on 19 toy and electronic products. They also offer some customer-provided videos that detail their frustrating package experiences. Amazon also maintains that their new FFP will be more eco-friendly.

Very cool!! The plastic and wire ties used in packaging are beyond frustrating. Memory cards and small electronic devices are nearly impossible to open without tools. I hope that other retailers follow suit. Go FFP!!!!!

A Swift Kick to My Posterior

 

Japanese Maple

 

Originally uploaded by ScruffyNerf.

 

During the summer of 2007, I consciously decided to limit my outside distractions and focus on finishing school. I was emotionally overwhelmed by school issues and felt like everything in my life revolved around libraries. I worked in one all day and then spent an inordinant amount of time studying about them while I was at home. I decided that finishing school was critical – and knew that I had no intention of quitting my job (which I love on most days). I did, however, cut down on blogging-related activities – both writing and reading. This meant that I starting isolating myself from the greater library community. Oddly enough, it did help me get through my last two semesters of school.

However, I have now been out of school for six months and I have not yet re-engaged myself. I am now making a conscious effort – giving myself a swift kick in the posterior – to get out of my funk. I have become involved in two new projects at work (creating accessible library workstations for physically challenged students and taking responsibility for a relatively new digital image application – projects that I care about deeply) and am hoping to start blogging with more regularity. I have found that when I am in a blogging groove I pay greater attention to library news and read more attentively. I think about issues more and thus, am more engaged.

By the way, the picture has no relevance to the post. I took this picture this morning and it made me happy. The bright red of the leaves of this Japanese Maple tree in my front yard is such a beautiful color!