September 16th, 2009

U.S. News’ Best Places for Tech Jobs

By Jackie Berg, Marketing Specialist

Using Onboard Informatics data, U.S. News & World Report introduced another set of its influential Best Places lists. The newest edition offers the Best Places for Tech Jobs for all the engineers and IT experts out there looking for a new gig.

“It’s a recession, so few things are booming and no city is exactly thriving. But within the tech industry, some cities clearly have more job opportunities than others. Although tech employment overall has suffered along with the rest of the economy, there’s been variance: High-tech manufacturing jobs have been shed more rapidly, while IT service jobs—in engineering and in software services, for instance—have fared better. And one future bright spot: Over the next three years, the federal government is projected to make 11,500 new hires in information technology jobs, according to a report by the Partnership for Public Service.”

Check out which cities made the list and how U.S. News narrowed down the initial list of 2000 cities.

Tags: Best Places, Best Places to Live, relocation, technology, technology jobs, US News.

July 14th, 2009

CNN Money, Best Places to Live 2009, powered by Onboard

By Jackie Berg, Marketing Specialist

Which small towns in America have weathered the economic storm and continued to provide residents with affordable living, great educations, low crime and more? CNN Money has outlined the top 100 in the 2009 Best Places to Live list powered by Onboard Informatics data.

The top 100 list accompanies a set of interactive community features to show readers the best places to find rich singles, six-figure towns, the most affordable towns and more. Onboard’s employment-related data powered special content for financially-minded readers, a special focus of this year’s Best Places list.

World class trails, weekly street fairs, and great weather helped Louisville, CO claim this year's #1 spot.

Our data team worked closely with CNN to provide housing, financial, quality of life and other data for the filters they selected to produce the most concise and accurate information possible. The piece also included data from our exclusive partner GreatSchools, the leading provider of school information and reviews.

Be sure to check out some of the other additions to the basic functions of the features and top 100 list for 2009:

• Expanded interactivity beyond the typical comment section with an integrated Facebook application for residents to share thoughts and become fans of their favorite towns.
• The “Find Your Best Places” applications, allowing users to factor in lifestyle preferences into a customized list of suitable small towns to consider packing up to. Even if relocation is not in your near future, it can’t hurt to take a look at which towns fit the bill. (I just may be headed to Cambridge, MA for a long weekend!)

Onboard works closely with each of our media clients to develop custom solutions that drive readership. For more information on our media solutions, please contact us at 646.747.4273 or info@onboardinformatics.com.

Tags: Best Places to Live, CNN Money, community data, relocation.

March 11th, 2009

All the Best Places to Live, Work, Eat, Procreate, and Kiss Life Goodbye

By Megan Murphy, Marketing Manager

I’m a huge believer in quality of life and the idea of ‘work to live’ not ‘live to work’ which is hard to believe considering I live in the roughest city in the U.S. but I guess that would fall under work hard, play hard. 

Anways, I know this is not a new way of thinking and I understand in times like these many don’t have the luxury or time to focus on maintaining a high quality of  life…. but life goes on.  Regardless of the economy people are still having  kids, getting married, relocating for work, moving closer to their elderly parents, etc. and all of them want to find a home that fits their needs and lifestyle. 

Lifestyle, whether you’re a young professional, a mother with three kids, or a retiree, it’s important to find that perfect place to fit that phase and time in your life. 

I don’t know anyone that doesn’t enjoy a “Best Places to…” story, so I’ve taken some of my favorites from this year and last to share a variety of places that one can fulfill a person’s lifestyle and hopefully get us all thinking more about how and where we want to live and not merely survive.

Best Places to Live

CNNMoney.com, Best Places to Live 2008

And the winners are…

Plentiful jobs, excellent schools, affordable housing – America’s best small cities have all that and more. See the top 100 best places to live – including detailed city profiles, homes for sale and million-dollar homes. More

1. Plymouth, MN

2. Fort Collins, CO

3. Naperville, IL

4. Irvine, CA

5. Franklin Township, NJ

• See the top 100

6. Norman, OK

7. Round Rock, TX

8. Columbia/Ellicott City, MD

9. Overland Park, KS

10. Fishers, IN

Best Places to Work

FORTUNE, 100 Best Companies to Work For 2009

And the winners are…

Even in this economy, some companies are going out of their way to please employees. This year, there’s a new no. 1, as Google slips to no. 4. See detailed profiles of the top 100 employers, including interactive maps, key perks, contact information, and more.

• See the top 100

 

Best Places to Eat

Gayot.com, The Restaurant Issue, TOP 40 Restaurants in the U.S.

These restaurants have influenced the dining scene in big cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco with daring, elegant, exciting and soothe-the-soul concepts. Smaller towns, too, whether on secluded Atlantic shores or California’s golden hills, have benefited by having one of these top-rated restaurants in their midst. The top restaurants not only share their spirit, but ignite our intelligence, imagination, and desire for more truly exceptional dining experiences.

Best Places to Have Kids

BusinessWeek, The Best Place to Raise your Kids 2009

Kid-Friendly and Cost-Friendly

A Chicago suburb beats out thousands of other communities around the U.S. as the best, most affordable place to raise kids

Mount Prospect, Ill., is a quiet Chicago suburb with a population of just over 56,000. It is a tight-knit town where over the past eight years Prospect High School’s football team won three state championships, its Marching Knights picked up their 26th straight grand champion title at the annual state marching band festival, and just last month the school itself ranked 12th among all state high schools. Now the town is also the winner of Businessweek‘s second annual roundup of the Best Places in America to Raise Kids.

Best Places to Retire

CNNMoney.com, Best Places to Retire

Beaufort, SC is by far my favorite of this bunch.  I am partial due to my entire upbringing being in South Carolina, from beautiful horse country of Aiken, to the home of the Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia, and my favorite, the beaches of Charleston.  Now living in New York (which I love and while I am mentally ready to retire, I am no where near financially) I can appreciate the slow pace and beauty of the coastline and quaint towns.

 6 Terrific towns, all on the water

Many baby boomers dream of retiring somewhere by the water. These half-dozen places are on a lake, a river or an ocean – yet won’t sink your retirement budget. More

• Dunedin, FL
• Sequim, WA
• St. Joseph, MI
• Beaufort, SC
• Durango, CO
• Marble Falls, TX

Onboard Informatics had the pleasure of working with many media companies to produce data-driven stories such as the ones above.  Of these, Onboard provided the data for CNNMoney’s Best Places to Liveand BusinessWeeks’s Best Places to Raise Kids.

Check out some of our other media client’s lifestyle stories… BusinessWeek’s  Best Affordable Suburbs in the U.S. 2009, Progressive Farmer, Five Safest Places to Live in Rural America and  Best Places to Raise Farm Kids.

For more information on how we partner with media and publishing companies please contact us at 646.747.4273 or info@onboardinformatics.com.

Tags: Best Places to Live, Business Week, CNNMoney, Fortune, Gayot, Lifestyle, Onboard Informatics, Real Estate.

February 2nd, 2009

Progressive Farmer; Best Places to Raise Farm Kids

By Megan Murphy, Marketing Manager

Onboard Informatics would like to congratulate one of our long term clients, The Progressive Farmer, on one of their latest stories, Our Absolute Best 2009  , Best Places to Raise Farm Kids. Every month Progressive Farmer talks about the unique challenges and joys of living in the country.  They provide advice on almost every aspect of country living from farming for a business, fishing with the kids, picking the ripest tomatoes, to the safest and best rural places to live and raise kids. 

Onboard has been working with Progressive Farmer since the inception of their Best Places to Live in Rural Americaeditorial five years ago, bringing their data-driven stories to life.  So we were excited to partner up with them again to produce their best places to raise farm kids story.  Before any processing took place, the Onboard team, including John Murphy, our Data Project Lead, worked in conjunction with Progressive Farmer and evaluated the relevance of every single data point to ensure that the needs of their readers would be satisfied.

We always look forward to building our relationships and partnering with media companies such as Progressive Farmer, where we can bring our comprehensive research skills and data to provide an extra dimensions to their content. Here’s what Jamie Cole, Managing Editor of Progressive Farmer, had to say about his experience working with Onboard:

“I consider Onboard an extension of my editorial team after leading this very successful editorial program for five years. Every interaction I’ve had with the company has left me feeling they bent over backwards, sideways and turned cartwheels to get me what I needed. It was a real meeting of the minds. Can’t beat that!”

We too, have greatly enjoyed working with Mr. Cole and the team at Progressive Farmer over these past five years and look forward to the opportunity to partner with them in the future to create more compelling data-driven stories.  Check out what came of “the meeting of the minds”.

OUR ABSOLUTE BEST 2009

Tags: Best Place to Raise Farm Kids, Best Places to Live, Best Places to Live in Rural America, data, Onboard Informatics, Progressive Farmer.

October 7th, 2008

Progressive Farmer; Five Safest Places to Live in Rural America

By Colleen Staunton, Product Manager

Onboard Informatics would like to congratulate one of our longterm clients, The Progressive Farmer, on one of their latest stories, 5 Safest Counties to Live in Rural America.  Every month Progressive Farmer talks about the unique challenges and joys of living in the country.  They provide advice on almost every aspect of country living from farming for a business, fishing with the kids, picking the ripest tomatoes, to the safest and best rural places to live.

Onboard has been working with Progressive Farmer since the inception of their Best Places to Live in Rural America editorial five years ago, bringing their data-driven stories to life.  So we were excited to partner up with them again to produce the safest rural places to live.  Before any processing took place, the Onboard team, including John Murphy, our Data Project Lead, worked in conjunction with Progressive Farmer and evaluated the relevance of every single data point to ensure that the needs of their readers would be satisfied.

For example the Accident Index; a methodology that Onboard  invented to measure the road safety relative to the rest of the country. This field was perceived to be particularly important to residents within a rural county because those within a rural county are more likely spend more time in their vehicle traveling greater distances then someone living in a suburban area.

The different rural counties chosen were based on certain requirements: home and land prices, crime rates, environment, education, economic factor, access to health care and others.  The counties were first ranked using  a proprietary formula based on these statistics, then arranged again based on editorial opinion after the magazine staff personally traveled to the selected counties.

We always look forward to building our relationships and partnering with media companies such as Progressive Farmer, where we can bring our comprehensive research skills and data to provide an extra dimensions to their content. Here’s what Jamie Cole, Managing Editor of Progressive Farmer, had to say about his experience working with Onboard:

“We had already used the always reliable data to enhance the credibility of that well-regarded editorial which involved using the data to help define “rural,” working with independent statisticians and Onboard itself to parse the data into what would be meaningful to our readers, and publishing the stats on 500 top rural counties on our web site. So when we decided to do the story on rural crime, it just made sense to leverage our relationship with Onboard to pull it off.

I liked how Onboard’s crime data was “relational” rather than just a meaningless number. If you see a county on our list—such as Boone County, Indiana—with a total crime rate of “10,” then according to Onboard’s data it means you are only one-tenth as likely to experience crime when compared to the national average. For our readers, that really grounds the numbers in reality and is a real validation of their lifestyle. Farm life is inherently safe, fulfilling, rewarding; the numbers back it up.

I consider Onboard an extension of my editorial team after leading this very successful editorial program for five years. Every interaction I’ve had with the company has left me feeling they bent over backwards, sideways and turned cartwheels to get me what I needed. It was a real meeting of the minds. Can’t beat that!”

We too, have greatly enjoyed working with Mr. Cole and the team at Progressive Farmer over these past five years and look forward to the opportunity to partner with them in the future to create more compelling data-driven stories.  Check out what came of “the meeting of the minds”.

Top 5 Safest Counties to Live in Rural America

Tags: 5 Safest places to live in Rural America, Best Places to Live, data, data-driven content, media services, Onboard Informatics, Progressive Farmer.

August 1st, 2008

The Process Behind the Alienation: A glance into the art and science used for a “Best of” story…

By John Paul Murphy, Content Services Manager

As Onboard Informatics continues to be “the” data provider for publishers, we are proud to be the unsung heroes of the success of this year’s latest and greatest place to reside story.

But how do we go about selecting places to be highlighted by our publisher clients? Well when we aren’t throwing darts at a big map of the United States, while counting our bribe money for letting Gary, Indiana on the list we actually use very exact methodologies that produce the best results possible…

I want to give you a very high level over view of how the process goes; I don’t want to be too specific as to not reveal our secret sauce (As much as I wish, it is not Thousand Islands dressing… L)

So our hypothetical magazine will be Murph Digest, and they want to do a story that will highlight the Best Big City to Live.

In the very beginning of the process is where we unfortunately start to alienate some really great places to live. Sorry Gary, Indiana next year will be your year… But in all seriousness, good screening criteria are vital! It will ensure that the places selected truly represent the focus of the story.. Because our hypothetical story will center on large cities, we will establish a population threshold that Murph Digest considers large enough to consider that place a “big” city. So every city that is left will at least meet the bare minimum in the population field.

Now that we are only left with places that qualify as “big” cities, we can proceed to the next step. While working with the client, we identify what data points they are interested in for their story. We want to know who their readers are and what are their readers are interested in, i.e what market are they targeting. Onboard Informatics experience and expertise is invaluable during this part of the process. Besides the obvious data, we have data on some of the most outlandish things and methodologies for aggregating it that never cease to amaze our clients. So for Murph Digest, low crime rates and the number of divorced women are the only two fields that they are interested in.

After gathering the crime rate data and the number of divorced women for all the places that qualify as a “big” city, we can rank the places. Getting input from the client, we select the best weighting technique (lots of secret sauce here), and we can send over a simple spreadsheet to the client with the data filtered ahead of time. Once the spreadsheet is in the client’s hands, they can play with the weights and base their decisions on their own preferences; and apparently low crime is only worth 10% and the number of divorced women is worth 90% to Murph Digest. I guess their readers are cougar hunters!!!

Tags: Best Places to Live, client solutions, Custom Projects, Publisher.