The Oregon Rural Communities Explorer: USER TUTORIAL

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The Oregon Rural Communities Explorer USER
TUTORIAL
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This tutorial will explain

• What the Rural Communities Explorer is
• Where tools of the site are and how to use them
• How you (and others) can contribute content to
  the site

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The Oregon Rural Communities Explorer

• www.oregonexplorer.info/rural
• A website that provides public access to reliable
  social, demographic, economic, and environmental
  information about Oregons rural counties and
  places
• For rural leaders, engaged residents,
  philanthropies, and program managers

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6 Modules of Tutorial

1. Create data profile reports for communities
2. Learn about rural communities issues
3. Make maps
4. Access stories research archives
5. Find other resources available to the community
6. Learn how OSU faculty and community members can
   contribute

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Module 1 Create Profile Reports

• Use The Oregon Communities Reporter Tool to get
  social, demographic, environmental, and economic
  data for all 723 (urban and rural) places and 36
  counties in Oregon.
• Data come from many sources including U.S. Census
  Bureau, other federal agencies, state agencies,
  and, soon to come, local agencies and research

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Information How-To
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Places Census Tracts Census Designated
Places
Community Counties Places
Now youre ready!
Type community
Select community from map
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Create a new report in this same window
17 Clusters click to expand
Print (recommended) or download report
Click variable name for definition and source
Click for charts
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Module 2 Learn about Rural Communities Issues

• Use the Learn About A Community Learn About
  A Rural Issue pages to find out about the
  causes, consequences, and significance of
  environmental, demographic, economic, and social
  issues
• Use the Community Model to think about how
  communities work and change from a systems
  perspective

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Broad definition of community
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Definition of place
To provide better access to data, unincorporated
places were assigned census tract boundaries
Often a small town is located in the same
census tract as other towns, therefore they will
share the same data
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Takes into account the people, the built
natural environment, and the social system in the
community when considering development
Information to move toward a systems perspective
on community
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19 Rural Issues featured with research essays and
information tools
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Multimedia story about the many definitions of
rural and how they impact our understanding of
rural Oregon
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Topic definition and data tool at start
Followed by an overview of the rural slant on the
issue
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Module 3 Making Maps

• Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map
  issues across the state (by county, census tract,
  watershed, etc.) will help you
• Target money and effort on the places that have
  need
• Identify communities with similar issues that
  could work together or learn from each other
• See how different areas of Oregon face different
  problems and have different assets

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Many, many map layers to turn on and off
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Click on layer name for definition and source
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Ask the map for more information about a point
Zoomed in on Bend, OR area
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Print or download your customized map
The map tells you about the point you clicked on
(using the Identify Visible tool) with all the
layers that are on top of it
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Module 4 Access Stories Research Archives

• Stories are written and submitted by community
  members to the Life in Oregons Rural
  Communities Story Competition and by OSU
  students
• Research is written by OSU faculty and community
  members and archived into ScholarsArchive_at_OSU
• ScholarsArchive_at_OSU is Oregon State University's
  digital service for gathering, indexing, making
  available and storing the scholarly work of the
  Oregon State University community. It also
  includes materials from outside the institution
  in support of the university's land, sun, sea,
  and space grant missions and other research
  interests.

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Browse by Collection
Search by community names, issues, or type of work
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Module 5 Access Other Resources

• Use data tools, issue expert database,
  organization guides, and social networks to
  access
• More data and better analysis tools
• Experts who can help assess and explain
  community issues
• Partners and allies
• Other engaged rural Oregonians

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Data Tools
Issue Experts
Organizations Social Networks
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Data Tools

• Tools to come
• Data quality assessment
• Statistical interpretation
• Data analysis

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Issue Experts
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Local Organizational Resources
Click on a County
Access Rural Development Initiatives Social
Networking Site
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Module 6 How can you contribute?

• Through ScholarsArchive_at_OSU
• Write and archive reports about rural issues
• Send to Lena Etuk for archival with Title,
  Author Name, Abstract, 4 Keywords, Geography,
  Relation to Oregon Explorer Portals
• Or archive them yourself
• Submit organization names to Local Resources

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http//ir.library.oregonstate.edu/dspace/
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Describing your submission
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Uploading the file
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Add your organizational resource
Send Lena Etuk, at Oregon State University, your
organizations web address and a short description
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Congratulations, you have completed the online
tutorial for the OR Rural Communities
Explorer! Now youre ready to explore Oregons
communities!