What 2009 can tell us about 2010

Looking back at the top 20 articles accessed at www.controleng.com during 2009 illuminated some clear areas of interest among our engineering audience. (See the full rundown of top 20 articles at http://tinyurl.com/ylbx9zu.) Four clear categories of article types can be seen across the top 20 articles: Educational/tutorial, cutting edge applications, green/sustainable engineering, and contests/...

By David Greenfield, Editorial Director January 1, 2010

Looking back at the top 20 articles accessed at www.controleng.com during 2009 illuminated some clear areas of interest among our engineering audience. (See the full rundown of top 20 articles at https://tinyurl.com/ylbx9zu .)

Four clear categories of article types can be seen across the top 20 articles: Educational/tutorial, cutting edge applications, green/sustainable engineering, and contests/reader involvement. As editorial director, having this kind of feedback goes beyond the type of insight typically generated by surveys, as this shows not what a viewer thinks he or she might want to see more of, but actually what they spent their time viewing.

Seeing so much viewer time spent on educational articles (45% of the top 20 articles were tutorial) underscores results from surveys we conducted that showed 75% of our online visitors came to the site seeking controls education. All of which leads to why I’m happy to announce that the Control Engineering Education Center will be launching in the first quarter of 2010. The site will house modules focused on various engineering topics such as machine control, industrial networking, and process control. Each module will feature a variety of resources, ranging from videos and webcasts to white papers and online courses. More information on this new resource will be coming your way soon.

On the green/sustainable front (20% of the top 20 articles fit this category), we will continue to deliver our monthly Sustainable Engineering newsletter (you can subscribe to it at /newsletter/subscribe ) as well as our regular Sustainable Engineering special reports in the print edition, such as this month’s feature on the use of dynamic simulation for emissions regulation (see page 43).

Also garnering 20% of the top 20 articles were those I refer to as “cutting edge applications.” These articles included such topics as the CNC technologies used in the F-35 fighter plane supply chain, robots used in the most recent Terminator movie, and Orange County Choppers’ initiative to build a hybrid motorcycle.

Accounting for the remaining 15% of the top 20 articles were those I refer to as being contest or reader-involved related content. With the success we saw during our first online contest held last year (more than 2,000 votes were cast for the control panel design contest), be sure to keep your eyes open for more contests this year, including a return of the control panel design contest and a new one where we ask you to share your favorite engineering tips. And, of course, there will be more social media-generated content, as our group members there now number more than 7,000 across Facebook and LinkedIn. A great example of the good information these groups can provide can found in this issue’s cover story, which starts on page 34.

Here’s to a great new year!

david.greenfield@reedbusiness.com