It is time, dear readers. The Great Golden Klog Awards are ready to roll, and it is your turn to help choose winners for the best K-Blogs of 2008.
The Survey is in two parts:
Click Here to take part one of the survey
Click Here to take part two of the survey
Go and vote! If your blog was nominated, there are two things I recommend:
1. Link to this page, send your readers over to do the survey. Netizens have been known to stuff ballot boxes before, and hey: this is the internet! I’m gonna; you can, too. Fair’s fair, and Stephen Colbert said you can.
2. Especially if your blog is one of the lesser-known nominees, I might recommend either putting up a sidebar on your site, or a welcome post, directing new readers’ attention to some of your most representative posts, so that they can more easily get a feel for what you do on your site, and decide whether you are worthy of their vote.
The free version of Survey Monkey, which I used, did not allow me to put links in the nomination categories, so if you want to peruse the nominees lists with live links, they are here.
For the record, here is the full list of nominees:
Voting is open now. Voting will close and winners will be announced on February 5th.
What would you vote is the K-Blog Story of the Year?
Brian in Jeollanamdo Attacked by Netizen Bullies
E2 Visas: Headache after Headache after Headache
Economy (and Exchange Rate) Tanks
Expat Community United By Tragedy (Bill Kapoun, Mike White, Nerine Viljoen, etc.)
Kim Jong-Il: The New Elvis, and World’s Worst Photoshopper
Korea Grinds To A Halt Over Mad Cow Paranoia
Police Not Doing Their Jobs
Other (please specify)
Best Korea Blog 2008, Overall
Brian in Jeollanam-do
Frog In A Well
Gord Sellar
Gusts of Popular Feeling
Korea Beat
The Marmot’s Hole
ROK Drop
Most Thought Provoking Korea Blog, 2008
Brian in Jeollanam-do
The Grand Narrative
Gord Sellar
Gusts of Popular Feeling
Scribblings of the Metropolitician
Seoul Searcher’s Blog
Most Current and Timely Korea Blog, 2008
Brian in Jeollanam-do
DPRK Studies
Korea Beat
Korea Dispatch
Marmot’s Hole
ROK Drop
Most Helpful Blogs to Expats, 2008
Eat Your Kimchi
Foreign/er Joy
Galbijim
Gyopo Wife
Hub of Sparkle
Korea Gig Guide
Korea Law Blog
OK Korea
SeoulSteves
Zenkimchi
KoreanClass101
Funniest Korea Blog, 2008
Beloved Leader
Chubbo Chubbington
Dokdo Is Ours
Eat Your Kimchi
George Goes Korean
I Got 2 Shoes
Stuff Korean Moms Like
A White Man In Korea
Happiest Korea Blogger, 2008
Eat Your Kimchi
Expat Jane
Going Places
Kimchi-Ice Cream
Roboseyo
Seoul Patch
Staypuff
Zenkimchi
Angriest Korea Blogger, 2008
Brian in Jeollanam-do
Korea Rum Diary –
Richardson (DPRK Studies)
The Commenters (pick your location)
Best Blog About Korean Pop Culture, 2008
All K Pop
Dramabeans
Feetman Seoul
Korea Pop Wars
PopSeoul
Seoulbeats
YeinJee’s Pop Channel
Best Blog about Korean Culture in General, 2008
Ask A Korean!
Frog in a Well
Gord Sellar
The Grand Narrative
Gusts of Popular Feeling
Gypsy Scholar
Seoul Podcast
The Western Confucian
Best Korean Food Blog, 2008
Aeri’s Kitchen
A Food Journey in Korea
Crazy Korean Cooking
FatManSeoul
Homebrew Korea
Korean Food Blog
Maangchi
Seoul Eats
Wine Korea
ZenKimchi Food Journal
Best Korean Photography Blog, 2008
David Smeaton
Drifting Focus -
FatManSeoul
Mike Hurt (FeetmanSeoul, Metropolitician)
Hermit Hideaways
Robert Koehler (Marmot’s Hole)
Best Personal/Diary Blog, 2008
Annalog
Big White Barbie does Busan
Chosun Bimbo
The Constant Crafter
Foreign/er Joy
Geek in Korea
George Goes Korean
Gyopo Wife
Idiot’s Collective
Lao Ocean Girl
The Joshing Gnome
Roboseyo
Most Interesting Comment Board, 2008
Ask A Korean!
FeetManSeoul
Hub of Sparkle
The Grand Narrative
Craziest Comment Board, 2008
(not really a blog, but…) Dave’s ESL Cafe
Dokdo Is Ours (this one’s more wacky than crazy, but…)
The Marmot’s Hole
Scribblings Of The Metropolitician
Best New Korea Blog, 2008
The Constant Crafter
Foreign/er Joy
Gyopo Wife
Hub of Sparkle
Naked In The Sauna
OK Korea
Rate My Hagwon
Up And Comer: Blogger to Watch in 2009
Chubbo Chubbington
Dokdo Is Ours
Eat Your Kimchi
Fatman Seoul
George Goes Korean
Seoul Patch
White on Rice
White Man In Korea
Best Post or Series in a Korea Blog, 2008
Brian in Jeollanam-do – I’ve Attracted the Ire of Korean Netizen Bullies
Gord Sellar – Defending the Wondergirls -
The Grand Narrative – Why Lee Hyori’s Breasts are a Metaphor For Korean Celebrity Culture
The Joshing Gnome – What is Jung and How Can We Kill It?
Korea Beat – Most-Read Naver Stories of the Week (Weekly)
Metropolitician - Ajussis Ruin Everything
Popular Gusts “Protests, public space in Seoul, and cyberspace”
ROK Drop – GI Myths – The 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident
Samedi: Korean Temples Series
Gord Sellar, Roboseyo, The Korean, et. al.: Why Do Expats Complain So Much, and Why do Koreans Get So Defensive?
Korea Blog Most Completely Taken Over by Obama’s Run To The White House, 2008
DPRK Studies
Expat Jane
Marmot’s Hole (‘s comment boards)
Scribblings of the Metropolitician
ROK Drop
Best Korea Tech Blog, 2008
The Chosun Bimbo
KoreaCrunch
Korea’s Information Society
TechnoKimchi
Technonomad In Seoul
Waiguoren’s Weblog
Web 2.0 Asia
Y for Yendetta
A word about our methods
While we’re not perfect here at The Hub Of Sparkle, we try our best, and where we can’t be perfect, the least we can do is be honest, so here’s how I put together this survey, and some of the criteria I used to formulate the nomination lists.
Our priorities in compiling these nominees were as such:
1. To draw people’s attention to a lot of the great blogs out there that are worth reading
2. To look back and remember some of the best Korea blogging of 2008, and recognize the hard work put in by the writers
3. To give readers a chance to vote for their favorite blogs, and to present nominations in an unbiased way
4. To keep the categories generally consistent, grouping blogs with other, similar blogs: to try and avoid, “Why is THAT blog in THIS category?” moments, so that categories don’t look like a game from Sesame Street (love the classic Sesame)
5. To have the categories and nominees fairly balanced between well-known and less well-known blogs, so that “the big ones” don’t dominate every category
6. To present nominees in an unbiased way, giving everyone a fair chance to win
To meet those priorities, I got together with a friend who reads a ton of blogs, and who understands my goal of giving lots of blogs a fair look, and we came up with these rules:
1. Maximum four nominations per blog (and that’s per blog, not per writer: Zenkimchi and Zenkimchi Food Journal count as two separate blogs, for example, and would be eligible for up to eight categories, if nominees had gone that way), so that some of the heavy traffic blogs don’t sweep every category in the survey.
2. In the case of a blog with more than four nominations, categories where they seemed a poor fit were eliminated first, and categories where they might have been an OK fit, but probably had no chance of winning, were next.
3. Categories with fewer than three nominations were eliminated, but the blogs in those categories were to be mentioned somewhere else if possible.
4. No limit to the number of blogs that could be nominated in any one category, as long as they fit, in order to follow our principle of giving as many blogs as possible a bit of exposure.
5. Nominees were listed alphabetically (unless I messed up: just human, remember?)
Here were the two blogs we couldn’t find a home for, ultimately: (sorry, you two).
Sports Blogging only had two nominees
East Windup Chronicle
Horse Racing Korea
We were also required to eliminate the “Hottest Blogger” category, after cutting down multiple nominees to the limit of four, it didn’t have enough nominees to stay on the survey. Plus, we’d reached the maximum number of questions on Survey Monkey’s free version, anyway. Sorry, folks.
For the “best post or series” category, rather than putting multiple posts by a single blogger in, so that their numerous posts stole votes from each other (like the Best Supporting Actor category in 1972, where James Caan, Robert Duvall and Al Pacino were all nominated for their roles in Godfather, and the non-Godfather nominee snuck through and won), I sent messages to the writers with multiple nominations, asking them which they’d prefer to put forward.
For “Best New Blog,” we were looking for blogs that had been writing for most of 2008, and had already started to make their mark, and for “Up and Comers,” we looked at blogs which had appeared in the last half of the year, and hadn’t really been linked much yet, or made their mark. To me, that’s an exciting category, because I can’t wait to see what they do this year.
So, if a blogger you nominated appears in a different category than you originally suggested, those are some of the reasons it might have done so. This kind of a survey is not an exact science, and it doesn’t really mean much anyway, in the end: all you win is a jpg of a picture of gold kimchi if you win, so let’s not get too worked up about it.
Until then: there are a ton of blogs on those lists that you ought to check out! So go, vote, find some cool writers with interesting views on Korea.
Finally: this survey is meant as a celebration and recognition of the good K-blogging that’s gone on this year. Hub of Sparkle’s comment policy can be found at the top of the page; feel free to praise blogs that have been nominated, or tell others about your favorites, even/especially if they somehow escaped our attention and missed being nominated. However, now that the survey’s in the books, and the methodology underwent a good, careful examination in the comments on the previous page about the Golden Klogs, comments questioning the survey’s methodology are no longer relevant, and comments disparaging the blogs of nominees are contrary to the goals of this survey, to highlight the GOOD stuff that’s out there. Such comments will be deleted upon notice, and the commenters warned by an admin if necessary.
Talk amongst yourselves.
28/01/2009 at 10:08 pm Permalink
Ha! Well, I thank the Academy of Sparkle for my two nominations.
I’m both humbled and honored to be among such happy and Obama-obsessed bloggers
28/01/2009 at 10:30 pm Permalink
Hi Rob!
Thanks for letting me know I was nominated. It’s a fine project you have going on here.
One note: It’s “Big White Barbie Does Busan,” not “Big Fat Barbie…”
I voted. Have a great new year.
28/01/2009 at 10:57 pm Permalink
i just found out about this … i don’t know who nominated me, but thanks for including me.
good luck to all the participants!!! may the best blog win!
28/01/2009 at 11:19 pm Permalink
sorry about that, Diana. Boy is my big, fat face red.
I like your blog. It makes me laugh.
28/01/2009 at 11:27 pm Permalink
Vote For me! (Nixon Pose)
29/01/2009 at 2:32 am Permalink
Stafford — I’ll vote for you, but only if you promise 50% more textual cock-waving.
Think of the children!
Thanks to Roboseyo, The Metropolitician, and everyone who participated for giving us the opportunity to promote and discover blogs that might not get the attention otherwise!
29/01/2009 at 4:00 am Permalink
I was a bad blogger last year. I will try to be better.
Thanks to those who still thought of me despite my relative weakness over the past year!
And yes — let’s keep the Sparkle going!
29/01/2009 at 4:14 am Permalink
Thanks for the heads up on the nomination. Even if I don’t win the award for Up and Comer. I will give my all in order to Up and Come. Please and thank you.
29/01/2009 at 6:27 am Permalink
Thanks for the inclusion!
However, as I’ve been extremely busy the last few months not sure DPRK Studies has been all that current/timely (my vote went for ROK Drop, there). I would suggest, for next year, including OneFreeKorea (freekorea.us) in that set.
Another suggestion for next year; a North Korea category.
29/01/2009 at 10:35 am Permalink
Thanks for the input, Richardson. Next year, a North Korea category will be in order for sure; for this year, it’s a forehead-smacking “why didn’t I think of that?” omission.
29/01/2009 at 11:49 am Permalink
No problem, you’re doing a great job, interesting and fun (do note, however, that I’m not particularly angry about anything, and definitely not derailed by the election!). A good way to get exposure to some blogs I don’t normally visit or hadn’t heard of (ref., being very busy these days).
I’ll suggest two additional blogs to keep in mind for the NK section right now:
DPRK Forum, http://dprkforum.com/
Are You Nkay?, http://areyounkay.com/
I would suggest Andrei Lankov’s blog, but it’s in Russian and the internet translators don’t do it much justice.
29/01/2009 at 2:05 pm Permalink
This is great thanks for putting me in there .
29/01/2009 at 5:17 pm Permalink
Thanks for the heads up on the nomination. Great project and really glad to discover these new sites!
29/01/2009 at 9:41 pm Permalink
I can’t believe someone actually read Korean Rum Diary… And thought that it warranted any kind of award. I’m blown away.
29/01/2009 at 10:20 pm Permalink
Thanks for not nominating me. My self esteem is through the roof….
Very curious to see how the bloggers of Korea vote in this contest. Good luck to you all, may the best blogger win (in single or multiple categories)….
30/01/2009 at 1:12 am Permalink
I found some great new sites through this, thanks for posting! (btw, click on my name to see my new little-known blog about Korea)
30/01/2009 at 1:23 am Permalink
You like me, you really, really, like me. Thanks to everyone who nominated me and Robo for organizing the nominations.
30/01/2009 at 2:03 am Permalink
1. a friend pointed me to Korea Rum Diary, and it gave me a laugh, basically for being “Angry K-Blogger” distilled into its purest form.
2. Matt: glad you like the list, and I like the beginnings of your K-blog so far. Maybe we’ll see you nominated for a Golden Klog next year. Keep it up.
3. Hi, Paul Ajosshi.
Your blog is on my RSS feed, and I’ve been reading it for a while (because I find it interesting). Due to being just one human being, and due to there being more than 300 blogs on the Korean Blog List, as well as about 60 on my personal RSS feed, try as I might, I can’t get everyone on the nomination lists, either due to it escaping my mind, other commenters sending in nominations, or simple lack of sleep.
A blog’s absence on the nomination list certainly wasn’t meant as a repudiation of said blog: I’m drawing attention to some of the blogs other readers and I like, but it’s certainly not an exhaustive list by any means: there’s too much good stuff to point it all out.
Keep the faith, keep producing good stuff, and we’ll see you on the list next year, and hopefully many times before that.
If you or anyone else is frustrated by lack of blogging return on investment (that is, too few hits/links for the amount of time put in), I recommend you take a look at James Turnbull’s comments on pulling one’s blog out of obscurity (as he himself did over the last year-plus) http://www.koreasparkle.com/2009/01/2008-retrospective-the-golden-klog-awards-2008/#comment-1233
Have a good one!
-Roboseyo
30/01/2009 at 7:58 am Permalink
Thanks Roboseyo, I was just joking…. It’s lovely to see someone who cares so much about the blogging community. You’re doing a wonderful service!
30/01/2009 at 10:51 am Permalink
I nominate DPRK Studies for best overall. Yes, while it is not updated everyday, it is a very important source of DPRK information. I nominate ROK Drop for timely updates and a broader subject matter.
As for mine, do not worry about it. I am not an expert and has been up and down a lot the last couple of years.
30/01/2009 at 9:15 pm Permalink
Thanks a lot for the nomination!!! This definitely deserves a beer.
Cheers.
31/01/2009 at 8:27 am Permalink
I’m not sure what are the criterias for a blog to be nominated but my favourite korean pop culture blog is Coolsmurf Domain. Simple yet very interesting. It keeps me updated about kpop scene since 2007 and I enjoy it immersely.
01/02/2009 at 1:18 pm Permalink
I can’t believe you didn’t include coolsmurf!
But in that case, I vote for All Kpop.
Because Popseoul and Seoulbeats sucked every since this split up…seriously, they just suck.
Go Allkpop (and coolsmurf!)!
01/02/2009 at 7:32 pm Permalink
WOW: thanks for letting me know about Coolsmurf: K-pop isn’t my area of expertise, so your tips will help me have a more complete list of nominations next year.
-Rob
02/02/2009 at 12:37 am Permalink
yeah,, I agree
why don’t you nominated coolsmurf??
I think this blog is much more informative for me,,