I have a suspicion that my master's thesis will involve the concept of narrative, which would explain why I've been reading all this stuff about rhetoric and narrative and going to a class on the history of narrative theory. The project will also most likely concern itself with diary-blogs a.k.a. "lifelogs," as opposed to the more news-based "linklogs."

Which begs the question: what will I be applying all this nifty theory to? I don't want to generalize about 90% of the blogosphere. Instead, my preceptor suggested that I find some ready-made collection of diary weblogs to study.

I'm tentatively focusing on the Weblog Award winners in the Best Writing of a Weblog or Lifetime Achievement categories. The Bloggies seem to be the most democratic of the various weblog awards.

And that leads me to the real topic of this post: It's nomination time. From now until Tuesday at 9 p.m., you can nominate up to three favorite sites in each category. The panel that chooses the candidates for the final vote from among those nominees is selected from the pool of people who nominated weblogs.

After slogging through the Technorati 100 for my sociology paper, I feel I have a good idea what's out there. Two of my favorite categories, Best Meme and Best Article or Essay About Weblogs, have been inexplicably removed, but here are my other nominees (and why you should vote for them too):


Best web appplication for weblogs

Blogger.com

Screw Movable Type. Blogger continues to add features, e.g. a WSIWYG editor for the real newbies, comments, backlinks, and the magic of Adsense. And unlike Movable Type, it's very easy to set up: without Blogger, many of my friends might not have weblogs at all. Last year I made the Lawrence Trivia Contest website almost entirely in Blogger.


Best Canadian weblog

Daily Dose of Imagery

I forgot that this photo site was Canadian. I also forgot to vote for it, but check it out, see if you like it, and then try to think of any other Canadian sites you visit. Didn't think so.


Best American weblog

Hit & Run

My favorite weblog, I've nominated Hit & Run in many categories. There's no better place to go for clever, snappy, well-informed political commentary.


Best tagline of a weblog

Dan's Webpage
Tagline: Because everyone loves a farce

That's right, I've nominated myself. I love that tagline. While you're voting for the other categories, I'd love it if you'd nominate me too, because only by getting a lot of nominations can I get on the panelist's ballot. I don't think I have much of a chance, but I think my tagline is far better than last year's winner: "Not your average clenched-cheek sprint to the bathroom." Because, you know, it's not just some mildly amusing, scatological slogan on one of the world's most popular websites... just saying.


Best photography of a weblog

Flickrblog

While I'm blown away by last year's winner, Daily Dose of Imagery, and also impressed by the Toyko street art photos offered by one of last year's runners-up, Satan's Laundromat, there's no denying the awesome power (and larger, more diverse photo pool) of the official Flickrblog. Graham's photos are also good, but they appear on his main page so seldom, I don't really think of his website as a photoblog.


Best food weblog

Simply Recipes

It's not so much that this website is useful at the individual-post level, but by reading it over time you can familiarize yourself with a wide variety of recipes and refer to them later. The economy of the posts is also a plus, as is the sidebar, which lets you look for recipes by type.

I thought about nominating Extratasty, but right now the site only has a lot of potential. Also: folksonomy does not a weblog make.


Best weblog about politics

Hit & Run


Best topical weblog
(not represented by another Bloggie category)

Language Log

Written by a rotating superstar team of linguists, this site is the best authority on anything to do with language and words. The Dan Brown bashing is just the icing.


Best group weblog

Hit & Run


Best community weblog

Overheard in New York

Anyone who's lived in a big city will be amused by these quotes, submitted by New Yorkers and filtered to just the right blend of comedy, ignorance, and sleaze.


Best designed weblog

Pretentious Blowhard

Ample RSS, multiple painstakingly-designed stylesheets, countless sidebar elements? I can't remember what the default is anymore, but I recommend taking a look at the Records style.


Best-kept-secret weblog

The Y-Files

This ugly site boasts great libertarian commentary from Reason regular Cathy Young, with a focus on gender. Doubtless most people dismiss it at a glance.


Weblog of the Year

Hit & Run


So go vote for nominees, and hopefully there'll be some good sites to vote for among the final candidates at the end of the month. Readers are welcome to comment on their nominations here.