The company (Connect Online, LLC) began in 1999 with the question of
“What is the best way to do information processing on the internet?”
When I graduated from a small town high school in Ohio the problem was one of access to information. With the information revolution the problem became information overload and the problem is now one of organization and selection. The early internet was described as a library with all of the books on the floor. The Library of Congress has over 30 million books. Most people, however, will not actually read more than about 5 ft. of bookcases in their lifetime. Top20.com tries to address a similar problem of organization and selection for the internet.
Top20.com is a currated (hand selected) open access (free) internet directory with a network of over 6O0 separate domains and websites which are family friendly and with a focus on education, health and kids. It is designed as a homepage and it is a good place to start. We think that we actually do a better job of information processing than the algorithms and spiders of the general search engines in at least 6 of our 20 general categories and these include education, health and kids. We are also comparable in the other categories.
The greatest issue of our time is probably the need for a stable world order in a pluralistic global community. The other major issues of our times, however, include the global need for education and health care. In the last several years there has been a revolution in the open access of information in education. At least the materials of a world class education are on the internet for free. The same thing is now beginning to happen in health care. Top20.com focusses on both of these categories with Top20education.com and Top20health.com and. Top20kids.com
Phone numbers are only seven digits because of the limits of our short term memory. There is a similar phenomenon in social organization. There is usually about one teacher for every 20 students and one officer for every 20 enlisted man in an army. There are usually only 20 references on the first page of a search and you need about 20 reference to cover a subject with adequate breadth. We sometimes will star what we consider to be the best four references.
We usually begin by looking at the Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask search engines. If a link or website is listed on the first page of all of these search engines, then we think that we probably need a good reason if we are not to include them somewhere in our Top 20. By actually looking at the websites and researching other resources including open access directories, blogs, videos, magazines, news articles and cross referencing different areas, however, we often find better websites and links than the algorithms and spiders used by the major search engines. This is particularly true in educations, health care, and for kids. We do not have paid inclusions.
The founder of Top20.com, James Rutherford M.D. , is an orthopedic surgeon and also writes in medical ethics (see Moral and Political Philosophy at Amazon or www.top20philisophy.com for open access to these essays). He is a graduate of Harvard University and Ohio State Medical School, and he did his internship and four years of orthopedic residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. Top20.com also uses a group of interns and experts in their fields to select and update the Top20.com websites. Connect Online, LLC is located in Columbus, Ohio.
Top20.com is unique in that it is designed for Touch Screens. No typing is needed. As an alternative to our directory we also offer a Multiple Search Engine Tool and a Top20 search engine. We also have an Apps Directory. We do not collect and sell your personal data. We do not have paid inclusions. We are family friendly. Try us as your home page. We are a great place to start.