Saturday, November 14, 2009

Judging Others

Accomplishment is socially judged by ill defined criteria so that one has to rely on others to find out how one is doing. - Albert Bandura

Some of you may be aware that PEBA honored me by choosing yours truly as one of the judges in this year’s search for the Top 10 Outstanding Expatriates/OFW Blogs. At first I thought it was going to be easy but then I realize it’s not only difficult mentally but emotionally as well.

There are 37 candidates to choose from. I knew most of them and some I considered as friends. In fairness and for transparency’s sake, I devised a method of calculating the result to avoid being accused of partisanship or later might hear discriminatory allegation (like what happened last year). Hopefully these will do justice to my selection.

There are 5 categories in which blogs are to be judge, PEBA entry post, blog contents, blog entries, popularity and blog traffic. Judges are to handle the first 3 categories and pick what they considered their top ten choices. As for me, I rate each category between 1 thru 10, where 1 is the lowest grade given for an entry and 10 the highest. But since I don’t believe in anything perfect outside the physical world, the highest I could give is 9. Believe me; even if you got an excellent blog, how ever good a writer you are, there will always be a better blog or a superior writer out there.

PEBA entry post is somewhat easier to evaluate compared to the other two categories. I judge an entry by its relevance to the contest’s theme and the way the essay’s message makes an impact on me. 15% of the rating will be taken from this category.

Blog content is somewhat within my territory of familiarity. I sub-categorize it into three;
Refresh rate, presentation and blog information.

Refresh rate is the time it takes for a blog to “download”. I consider this necessary because it is somehow discomforting for a reader to “pick” a blog that somewhat takes forever to appear on screen. A refresh rate between 5 and 10 seconds is good enough for me (at low traffic, my own blog has a refresh rate of 3 seconds).

Presentation, in my opinion, is important to a reader. It’s composed of a blog’s appearance; in its uniqueness, symmetry, readability and color coordination. Bloggers who takes pain in making their site pleasing to the eye gets extra points than those who just use available templates or those who over-do their “make-up”.

Blog information is useful to readers or visitors. It includes post categories and history, personal information and links to other useful sites.

I grade each sub-category from 1 to 9 using the formula - summation of grades of all sub-categories divided by 3. Fifteen percent will be taken from its result to be added to the over-all ranking.

Blog entries is the most tasking of the three. Since some blogs are more than a year old and contains more than 50 posts, I made a point to set January to October of this year the cut-off time of entries I’m going to read. I did this in order to meet the date of submission of my results on December 15. Grading each entry depends on how it impresses me. Is it inspirational, informative or thought-provoking? Is it entertaining or just plain boring? Take note that since the contest organizers specifically stated that each blog nominee contains at least one entry post per month; it would be disadvantageous for a nominee if they have no entry for any month inside my cut-off. You are excuse from this provision if your blog is younger than January as long as it has an entry starting from the month of its conception. 30% of the overall result will be taken using the same formula I used above - summation of grades of all read posts divided by the total number of posts read, adding a point penalty to the divisor for each month without an entry.

Using this method, a meaningful entry posted once or twice a month, gains more points compared to posting insignificant entries trice a week. At least a nominee have an idea what’s their ranking if they wrote something like “what I ate for breakfast this morning”.

I’m explaining the mechanics of my computation in order for candidates to know where they stand in my evaluation. But it doesn’t mean that what I’ve explained is “the basis” in choosing the finalist or my final evaluation makes “the difference”. Remember, there are nine other judges to consider. Each has their own method in selecting the most commendable blogs. Beside that, popular vote and blog traffic are still two categories where a nominee may edge other contenders.

So, to each of the nominees, I say GOODLUCK!

29 comments:

  1. Thanks for accepting this tough task kuya Ed.

    I know that it will never be easy. I'm pretty sure, you will come up with the best.

    Relax. You still have 32 days (incldg this day). Don't rush. And enjoy reading their stories ;)

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  2. so that's why you've been quiet for some time. you've been busy :)

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  3. That's a big task and I believe you'll be able to handle it very well. =)

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  4. Azel, sige pa, utu-in mo pa ako. : )

    Mimi, oo, I'm behind on my posting because of this. : (

    Ms.Jo, thank you for the encouragement. Sana next year ikaw naman ang mag hurado. : )

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  5. wow naman, oha very proud naman kami sayo Bro, kaya naman pala natagalan kang walang post dahil bc pagaralan yang mga candidates.
    di naman talaga madali lalo pa ngat ang daming mga kabataan ngayon na nagpapakitang gilas na rin pagdating sa larangan ng blogging.
    alam naming kayang kaya mo yang assignment na yan,iba na talaga magaleng,nakukuhang judge.

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  6. wow ang galing!judge ka pala sir sa PEBA.goodluck in judging the blogs.lahat sila magaganda, informative, nakakaaliw at minsan may aral din =D

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  7. Fair enough...ayus ang criteria.

    Nice one and Goodluck..

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  8. Thanks Blogs...

    Pwede ko ba repost ang excerpt nito sa PEBA site?

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  9. Lee, salamat. gusto mo ng pansit canton?

    Theo, hehehe. hindi naman lahat. meron ding dumudugo ang ilong ko sa kababasa. : )

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  10. Pajay, thank you and goodluck to you too.

    Kenjie, if you think this will help. Okay lang.

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  11. ayos....idol.....
    kaya mo yan...
    hirap nga pala ang gawain na yan...
    saludo ako sayo...

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  12. I pray to God to guide you on the great task in the service of PEBA and of the Filipino blogging community.

    May His Holy Spirit be with you always as you exercise the power that lies within you, the power of responsibility.

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  13. Salamat Sir Ed. Ill inform you pag napost na sa PEBA site. Salamat ulit!

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  14. Hey, Good luck to you too. It is a hard job but I know you will do good in it.

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  15. dacz, salamat sa tiwala.

    Pope, huwag naman ganyang klaseng dasal like as if "life and death" lies in my decision. Kay GMA pwede pa yan. : D

    Kenjie, walang ano man!

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  16. R-yo, ba't hindi ka sumali?

    Lawstude, thanks for encouragement, bro.

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  17. Napaka-transparent... Ayos! U

    Now I know where I stand. Whew!

    Take time sa judging. o",)

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  18. wow! and im sure youll be picking for the worthy blog. good luck sa lahat na nominadong pinoy blog ng mga kabayan.

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  19. aba, kaya pala, meganun ganun!...pero maganda yung formula mo pards, resonable at hanga ako, parang walang kinikilingan at serbisyong totoo lang at walang personalan...taas kamay ko..galing!!!

    pakisss nga ulit!

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  20. RJ, salamat doc. : )

    donG, harinawa. I hope nobody gets upset if they don't make it to the top 10.

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  21. ever, MUWAAAAHHHHH!!! : )

    ALiNe, salamat. Alam mo kamukha mo yung dati kong kakilala sa kolehiyo. Anak ka ba nya?

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  22. Thanks for all the harwork and time to come up with this fair enough judging criteria, good luck blogus ;-) Kung anuman ang desisyon mo suportahan ta ka hehe

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  23. It is a tough task but I admire your efforts by going out of your way to make sure that the process is unbiased and objective. Cheers and best of luck to the nominees!

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  24. Sardz, salamat sa encouragement at suporta.

    Panaderos, thank you pards. I did this post para transparent at walang masabi kung meron mang may mag hinanakit. : D

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  25. pa burger ka naman hahaha madali naman akong suhulan, burger lang talo talo na lol.
    goodluck ulit.

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  26. no wonder why you haven't posted for so long. Busy ka pala being a judge hehe :) Good luck. That's a nice experience for you. I hope you are enjoying it ;)

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  27. Lee, sige pag nagkita tayo, e-treat kita sa ChowKing.

    bw, like what the english says "its so bloody stressful".

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