OT - Columbus, OH Named Most Intelligent City in America

Submitted by jscbus on

According to the ICF, which I cannot expound upon much.

 

Article states that if one is feeling "brainy", it's because one is part of the smartest workforce in the states. Probably...not.

 

It also references the "abundance" of technical schools. Schools of trade. Schools of...thought? Schools of, trucks. 

 

PROOF:

 

http://www.nbc4i.com/story/21859068/columbus-named-most-intelligent-city-in-america

 

Please, someone, explain.

eamus_caeruli (not verified)

April 3rd, 2013 at 8:59 PM ^

That is absurd. A2 is not ghetto. Have you even been to the west side or other neighborhoods besides Greenwood ave?



You must live a cookie cutter neighborhood with freakishly similar homes and chain restaurants with shinny new signage everywhere. It's a great college and 30's something town.

ironmind

April 3rd, 2013 at 10:35 PM ^

As a former resident of a Flint suburb; you, sir, are as obtuse as they come. Nothing compares to Flint, save Detroit. And pound-for-pound, Flint hold's its own there. There are no areas of Ann Arbor I wouldn't tread down the street at any hour of the day. There are places in Flint I wouldn't drive through in broad daylight.

Yeoman

April 3rd, 2013 at 8:09 PM ^

Sometimes the devil is in the details....

How they did the study was, they set up a roadblock on northbound I-71 up around Westerville, pulled over cars and interviewed the people in them.

And, as you might expect, they found that the people leaving Columbus were some of the most intelligent individuals on the planet.

LSAClassOf2000

April 3rd, 2013 at 8:22 PM ^

From the site:

"The rise of the Intelligent Community is a response to one of the greatest economic transformations in history. "Globalization" is the commonly accepted term for it. At the Intelligent Community Forum, we don't feel that the word does justice to the scope of this transformation, and to the way it is reshaping the economic lives of people around the planet. Nor does it explain why this transformation is taking place. Instead, we call it the Broadband Economy – an economy in which for all intents and purposes the hard-working people of Bangalore and Beijing live right next door to the hard-working people of Boston, Brussels and Buenos Aires."

I could be way offbase, but I think part of the broader term "globalization" has in fact been the rise of connectivity through technological means. It almost seems like they are simply redressing the definition of the term "globalization" slightly and perhaps placing emphasis on specific aspects of it.

This page here explains the criteria as well, which include "Knowledge Workforce", "Innovation" and "Digital Inclusion" as well as "Marketing And Advocacy". What I cannot find is why Ann Arbor and several dozen other college towns (at least), among others, would not also have fared well given the definitions of their own criteria. I could be missing something here, but even in the areas of success factors, which they also discuss, there are plenty of communities around the country which could make a good case, I think. 

Buck Killer

April 3rd, 2013 at 10:04 PM ^

ICF carries as much weight as the North Korean porn awards. Kim Jung wins longest dong award! Yeah!

Picktown GoBlue

April 3rd, 2013 at 10:21 PM ^

includes

 

  • Is average household broadband penetration greater than 70% in your community?
  • Do 40% or more of your residents have a graduate, undergraduate, community college or technical school degree?
  • Is the average student-to-PC ratio in elementary and secondary schools less than 4-to-1 (e.g., 3-to-1)?
  • Is there a community college, undergraduate or graduate institution in your community or within commuting distance for residents?
  • Does your municipal Web site offer interactive and transactional capabilities?
  • Is the Internet - at any speed - available to at least 80% of households in your community?
  • Does your community offer free training in digital skills to adults?
  • Does your community have a documented strategy for economic & social development involving information and communications technology?
Whoa, they really set the bar high!  OK, I left a few out, but really.  Reminds me of awards that are handed out at high-tech trade shows.
 
Note, in 2008, northeast Ohio was lamenting that they lost out on winning 2 years in a row, the 2nd time in Gangnam Style!  Columbus suburb of Dublin was in top 7 in 2010 and 2011; Cleveland in 2006.  I guess Ohioans really like to try winning this thing.
 
Only Riverside, CA, has won the top award among the US cities since this thing started in 2002.

BornInAA

April 3rd, 2013 at 11:54 PM ^

HA. HAA. HAAAAAAAAAAA. AH AHHAHAHAHH. HA HA HA.

HAAAAAAAAAAAH!. HAH!

HA HA HA!

HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!HA HA HA!