She's working on a column on why we create end of the year personal best of lists. She asked, "What's the fascination? Why are we reading them? And what do they say about our generation? I chanced on the idea when I realized that I'm participating in your Best of 2009 Challenge - which is delightful!"

The following is our interview, in full.

Anna Piszczkiewicz: What prompted you to begin the “Best of 2009 Blog Challenge”?

Gwen Bell: Two things. One, when I was traveling home from Vancouver I saw the "best of" magazines that come out every year, without fail. And I thought about how I can spend the end of my year consuming what mass media wants me to read - or I can get together with a few friends and we could produce our own content. By probing our own memories.

The other, curiosity and the desire to post every day for a month.

(Also, I had read an article in Psychology Today about living in the past/present/future - more on that here: http://zenisstupid.com/?p=207)

Were you surprised by the number of people that joined so quickly? If so, why?

I expected 20 - 30 folks total. And in the first few hours...there were 20 - 30 folks. So I started out reading every post. And then, about a week in, I started a help page. A few people jumped in to tag posts in Delicious and curate the whole thing. It really is a tremendous amount of information. 

Why was I surprised? Well, you never know when something is going to get people excited. I just keep showing up and sometimes it lands for people, sometimes it doesn't. This is why I don't think you can "try" to go viral on the web. If people thought I was "trying" to "make" a viral campaign, they would have backed away. Instead, something about it rang true. And people decided to jump in.

What is the purpose of a year end personal best of list?

To reflect, really. To take stock. To prepare for a 2010 that is crazy amazing. You can't know how to work on a new kind of you in 2010 if you don't know what kind of you you are in 2009, can you?

Why do you think folks are interested in either a) reading and/or b) producing personal best of lists? 

There is a moment of pause when we reflect on our year. We have a chance to rise to meet the moment in the recent past. We get to catalog it for future generations (in a lot of cases, moms begin blogging for their children - so their kids know what it was like when they were younger). 

What does this say about our generation? 

You know, this has been a multi-generational effort. It's not just twentysomethings (although, I am one. And 20SB posted about it). It's also fiftysomethings. It's folks just starting out in their careers, folks who are currently in job-seeking mode, folks who are approaching retirement.

What does this say about the multitude of industry publications creating their own annual lists? 

(Interviewer's thoughts: It’s assumed that when online, we filter out content that is a reflection of us and our interests. So when we’re reading others’ lists, we’re reading thoughts and recommendations posed by people who likely have a similar view on the world. And if we’re looking for say, a book suggestion, we’ll turn to these people we’ve sought out. Have annual lists produced by newspapers and magazines been made irrelevant by the blogosphere?)

I agree with your thoughts. (Oh, that's a good one.) But really, yes. And you can only hear MTV wrap up the year by playing the songs you've heard all year and already KNOW are the number one songs of the year so many times. It's insufferable. And predictable. I want to know about your intimate moments of 2009. Not People.com's list of the worst scandals of the year.

What does this say about the blogosphere? Some people say blogging is dying, others say that it’s just changing. That people who are online for the sole purpose of socializing are migrating to networks that allow them to share photos, links or thoughts in 140 characters without the time, discipline and energy needed to post longer pieces. How does the success of the “Best of 2009 Blog Challenge” contribute to this discussion?

Two years ago, I said blogging is dying. It's changing. It's not dead, as we know from the thousands of blogs being started as we exchange these emails.

My hope is that people join the challenge in the way that is most appropriate to them. As I recently said, if your best representation of the year is in ice sculpture, ok, build ice sculptures. I think it is about expression. And it's my hope that we can continue, as a society, to express ourselves in long form. I'm a champion for cursive handwriting. And listening to albums in full.

I know it's not always possible. But I don't want our world reduced to 140 characters, as much as I love that medium. We have to be able to expand and contract as the situation demands.

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