Blockstack uses third-party reviewers who interact with, review, and provide scores for the apps in the App Mining program. The scores from each reviewer are used to determine an app`s ultimate rank. In this section, you learn more about the reviewers and how they score.
Blockstack uses third-party reviewers who interact with, review and provide scores for the apps in the App Mining program. The scores from each reviewer are used to determine an app`s ultimate rank. In this section, you learn more about the reviewers and how they score.
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## Product Hunt
Product Hunt is the place to find the best new products in tech. They have a massive trove of user data (upvotes, comments, etc), that they use for ranking. Product Hunt ranks apps based on a “community” score.
Product Hunt is the place to find the best new products in tech. They have a massive trove of user data (upvotes, comments, etc.) that they use for ranking. Product Hunt ranks apps based on a “community” score.
Their community score is determined only by the number of **credible** upvotes an app received on Product Hunt, relative to other apps that are registered. For example, if an app got more upvotes than any other app in a cohort, their community score would be 100. If a different app got 60% as many upvotes, they’d get a score of 60. Blockstack converts these scores into *z-scores*, more about z-scores below.
Their community score is determined only by the number of **credible** upvotes an app received on Product Hunt, relative to other apps that are registered. For example, if an app got more upvotes than any other app in a cohort, their community score would be 100. If a different app got 60% as many upvotes, they’d get a score of 60. Blockstack converts these scores into *z-scores*.
## Democracy Earth
@ -31,37 +31,36 @@ votes.
After a voting period, each app has a certain amount of upvotes and downvotes.
First, Democracy Earth calculates the percentage of total votes that are
upvotes. If an app receives 90 upvotes and 10 downvotes, the resulting
upvotes. If an app receives 90 upvotes and ten downvotes, the resulting
“likability score” is 90. Secondly, Democracy Earth calculates a “traction
score”, which ranks how many total votes (including downvotes) an app received,
score," which ranks how many total votes (including downvotes) an app received,
relative to other apps.
## Digital Rights Reviewer
As a "digital rights reviewer", New Internet Labs reviews apps submitted to the app mining program on the basis of the degree to which they respect and protect users` fundamental digital rights. Digital Rights Reviewer ranks based on the following criteria:
Blockstack Auth, and is the Blockstack ID:
As a "digital rights reviewer," New Internet Labs reviews apps submitted to the app mining program based on the degree to which the apps respect and protect users` fundamental digital rights. For these review, the use of Blockstack Auth and Blockstack IDs are evaluated. The reviewer checks if Blockstack Auth is:
- the only auth method
- one of multiple methods (presented equally with all others)
- a secondary auth method
- not used at all
- more detail [here](https://github.com/blockstack/app-mining/blob/master/DigitalRightsAuthScoringCriteria.pdf).
The app`s use of gaia. Each app will be given a rating based on which category it falls into:
- doesn`t use gaia at all
- uses gaia for some things (some data is stored elsewhere or we are unable to determine if some critical user data is sent elsewhere)
- data is only stored in gaia.
{% include note.html content="The digital rights reviewer does not provide an exact testing environment. Instead, the reviewer tests various environments changing month to month. Reviews are conducted on the latest version of macOS, Windows, iOS, or Android with either the platform's default browser or the latest version of Chrome or Firefox." %}
If your app fails a test, by definition you`re not eligible for App Mining since your app does not have working Blockstack Auth. For more detail [here](https://github.com/blockstack/app-mining/blob/master/DigitalRightsAuthScoringCriteria.pdf).
**Please note:** Digital rights reviewer will not provide an exact testing environment, but will test various environments changing month to month. Review will be conducted on the current public release of mac, windows, iOS or android with either the default browser on the platform or the current release of chrome or Firefox. If your app fails this test, by definition you`re not eligible for App Mining since your app does not have working Blockstack auth.
The digital rights reviewer also checks for an app`s use of Gaia Storage System. Each app is given a rating based on which category it falls into:
- doesn`t use it at all
- uses it for some things (some data is stored elsewhere, or the reviewer is unable to determine if some critical user data is sent elsewhere)
- data is only stored in the Gaia Storage System
## Awario
Awario is a tool that brands world-wide use to better understand the online "conversation" surrounding their brand and to collect meaningful data with which to grow it. If you are interested in using Awario independent of App Mining, please [see Awario’s documentation](https://awario.com/help/) as it answers most questions about how the platform works.
Awario provides Blockstack with an awareness score beginning with the second month an ap is in the program. App Miners do not receive a score from Awario in their first eligible month so that Awario can spend that first month evaluating, honing, and updating an apps' brand data. The purpose of this is to zero in on only relevant data.
Awario provides Blockstack with an awareness score. App Miners do not receive a score from Awario in their first eligible month. The first month Awario instead spends evaluating, honing, and updating an apps' brand data queries. The purpose of this is to zero in on only relevant data.
### Awareness scoring
@ -74,17 +73,17 @@ At a high-level, Awario focuses on two major aspects of awareness mentions and r
</tr>
<tr>
<td>reach</td>
<td>The estimated reach of the combined mentions collected for your brand, for example, Hhow far the tweet about said app traveled online.</td>
<td>The estimated reach of the combined mentions collected for your brand, for example, how far the tweet about said app traveled online.</td>
</tr>
</table>
Mentions are captured and provided to App Miners. For the purposes of App Mining, the focus is on reach which is the less gameable and thus more suitable for App Mining. For example, it would be fairly easy to create many fake individual mentions (for example, a Twitter bot), but it would be unlikely that those fake mentions generate much if any actual reach. Using reach, Awario provides beginning in the second month of an app`s entry, a **Reach Score** and a **Growth Score**.
Mentions are captured and provided to App Miners. For App Mining, the focus is on reach which is the less gameable and thus more suitable for App Mining. For example, it would be reasonably easy to create many fake individual mentions (for example, a Twitter bot), but it would be unlikely that those fake mentions generate much if any actual reach. Using reach, Awario provides beginning in the second month of an app`s entry, a **Reach Score** and a **Growth Score**.
An app's **Reach Score** is based on total reach of all eligible mentions for the previous calendar month. A score is `log10(total_reach)`. So, if an app reaches 10 people, the score is 1, 100 is 2, 1000 is 3, and so on. This is much better than only using your actual reach, because outliers would totally skew the distribution. No matter what your reach is, you need to improve 10x your reach to increase this by 1. Using `log10` is also similar to how Blockstack handles the `theta` function in the mining algorithm, because the higher a score, the more an app needs to improve to bump its score.
An app's **Reach Score** is based on the total reach of all eligible mentions for the previous calendar month. A score is `log10(total_reach)`. So, if an app reaches 10 people, the score is 1, 100 is 2, 1000 is 3, and so on. A `log10` calculation is much better than only using the actual reach because outliers would totally skew the distribution. No matter what an app's reach is, to improve 10x its reach only nees to increase this by 1. Using `log10` is also similar to how Blockstack handles the `theta` function in the mining algorithm, because the higher a score, the more an app needs to improve to bump its score.
A **Growth Score** is the month-over-month (MoM) growth in an apps total reach (not `log10`). If an app went from a reach of 1000 to 1500, its MoM growth is 0.5 (or 50%).
Like all the other reviewers, the z-score is first calculated for each of these metrics, and then then averaged. Then, the theta function is applied, resulting in a `final` Awario score.
Like all the other reviewers, the z-score is first calculated for each of these metrics, and then averaged. Then, the theta function is applied, resulting in a `final` Awario score.
### What counts as reach
@ -92,11 +91,11 @@ The Awario team directly builds the query and search parameters for mention aler
Websites are also excluded from reach totals. Such exclusion is generally pretty accurate and useful in a normal business use-case, it can be gamed because of the way Awario estimates the website reach. The site`s Alexa rank is used in the reach calculation meaning, for example, a mention on Github would register as massive reach, even if that particular mention didn’t really spread that far.
Mentions and associated reach from Blockstack accounts are not counted. This is allows Blockstack PBC to support apps publicly, without worrying that it needs to be evenly distributed across apps, which simply isn’t possible. Also not counted are the handles of all Blockstack PBC employees and all official Blockstack PBC managed accounts such as `@blockstack`. This is so everyone at Blockstack PBC can continue to freely support applications without running the risk of unintentionally biasing the results.
Mentions and associated reach from Blockstack accounts are not counted. This allows Blockstack PBC to support apps publicly, without worrying that it needs to be evenly distributed across apps, which simply isn’t possible. Also not counted are the handles of all Blockstack PBC employees and all official Blockstack PBC managed accounts such as `@blockstack`. This is so everyone at Blockstack PBC can continue to freely support applications without running the risk of unintentionally biasing the results.
### Mention auditing
As part of the monthly process for generating Awario scores, queries not only optimized for mentions of the eligible apps, Awario also helps to audit the mentions coming in. This audit ensures that mentions that shouldn’t count don`t. Awario is confident in their ability to only collect and count relevant mentions through their search operators and are available to answer and questions or concerns App Miners may have. Last, with Awario’s platform, it is extremely easy to remove individual mentions (and thus the associated reach count) or to blacklist any accounts found to be fraudulent or accounting for false-positive mentions.
As part of the monthly process for generating Awario scores, Awario also helps to audit the mentions coming in. This audit ensures that mentions that shouldn’t count don`t. Awario is confident in their ability to only collect and count relevant mentions through their search operators. The Awario teamis also available to answer and questions or concerns App Miners may have. Last, with Awario’s platform, it is extremely easy to remove individual mentions (and thus the associated reach count) or to blacklist any accounts found to be fraudulent or accounting for false-positive mentions.
Mary Anthony
6 years ago