Over the last few weeks I have been working with UK tech firm Onalytica to develop an index of the Top 100 Influential Education blogs which we launched during the recent Start Up Weekend Education London.
At a basic level the index is built using Onalytica’s sophisticated data analysis tools, which are used by companies like Microsoft, Samsung, SAP and HP. In the last year they have been developing various indices and together we decided to apply this to various areas of education with blogs being the first.
In the first phase we have analysed 800 blogs and hope to include another 3000-4000 in the next iteration. At this stage we hope to have data, which is searchable by level (K-12, FE and HE), area covered (e.g. maths, professional development, etc.) as well as including details like Twitter accounts and contact. Once we think we have enough validated data the index may then be able to be used with Onalytica’s new Influencer Relationship Management (IRM) solution.
Rather than trying to explain the underlying maths and science behind the index, there is a brief overview in the PDF along with details about who to contact at Onalytica for further information.
Perhaps unsurprisingly all the top 10 blogs are from North America, with Dan Meyer’s dy/dan at number one, followed by Audrey Watter’s Hack Education at number two. In the UK Ewan McIntosh’s blog leads the European pack at a very respectable 15th (just behind Tom Vander Ark’s Getting Smart blog). The rankings are already causing some controversy and I have already had to explain to one well-known blogger why they didn’t make the top 100.
