006.7 Edublogs Awards: A Surreal Adventure

The Edublog Award winners were announced Saturday at a multimedia, video streamed event held in Second Life (SL) and through other audio connections.


I created an Avatar and went to the ceremony on Jokaydia Island. It was fun and frustrating, interesting and intimidating, cool and confusing. Having only spent about five hours total in the virtual world of SL prior to the event, I was struggling to operate outside of my comfort zone and still take in all the excitement around me.
Click on the picture and you can see a few screen shots I took to give you an idea of everything that was going on. You can see other pictures as they are collected on Flickr.

JUST like at the Academy Awards, I really did not think my little blog entry would "win" against the heavy hitters that were in the category and so when the blog was called, I really had nothing prepared to say! It was ok tho' because others were waiting to speak at the end due to all the technical issues (yes...even in something this BIG!). I tried at the end to use my headset and my 15 minutes of knowledge of the set-up to try and say thanks...I "screeched" so badly that attendees begged to pull my plug so I did! Newbies with new toys should not try to "play" with the big boys and girls!

There were several people who were so kind to me as I tried learning how to maneuver around...walking, sitting...flying! I spent more time in the bushes and UNDER structures. And as far as the flying goes...well, those of you who have seen me operate in the real world...let's just say it wasn't a pretty picture. But Jokay, the island owner, spent precious time the day before helping me while she should have been tending to more important details, and Ruby Imako and Sandbox Builder Leah Planer gave me several pointers during the ceremony itself.

It was S-U-R-R-E-A-L!

And now I must try to adequately say thanks to everyone who was responsible for this nice thing happening to me.

I started this blog a little over a year ago to do something that looked like a fun way to share bits and pieces of information I find with people who might want to read what I had to offer. I have a great group of colleagues and friends who follow my ramblings fairly regularly and, on occasion, would share their thoughts with me and others about the topic. I also know I have a lot of them lurking...they will talk to me about the posts, but won't write. My goal this year...more commentors, less lurkers!!

No way did I think ANYTHING I wrote about would attract attention outside my little circle of influence. But the structure of blogging allows for others to find my words when they match up with their words! And that is just plain cool! to see something I thought about quoted in someone else's post...o wow!

I feel very honored to have been nominated and selected as a finalist because there are so many good things going on out there in the library blogging world. And to have had friends and colleagues put out the efforts needed for me to be the "winner"...I appreciate all their efforts and time...and more importantly, their confidence in and support of me.

I want this honor to reflect ALL the good things we have going on in our libraries, but especially with respect to the "new" ways of doings things. Many of us have been fighting an uphill battle for many years to prove our worthiness to others. It's a win for all of us.

I will work hard to earn the respect connected with "winning" something like this by continuing to have lots of fun learning and sharing...and I will do my best to pay it forward.

THANK YOU!