Mission

CIRC’s mission is to link public information and spatial dynamics for timely policy decision-support, through interactive visualization and spatial analysis. 

Stakeholders

While we primarily serve governments, non-profit organizations and other intermediaries, our broader goal is to integrate Internet accessibility with emerging computer technologies including geographic information systems, and data visualization, to assist underserved, under-resourced, and special needs communities, organizations and populations in making more informed decisions.

An Integrated Decision-Support Framework

Historically, policy analysis has been conducted in a sector-specific rather than integrated fashion, due to agency-mandated information systems architecture.  Today, policy makers, researchers and government agencies are increasingly utilizing geographic information technologies to examine the place-based impacts of public policies, and many state and federal agencies have established Internet-based data warehouses or geospatial portals for accessing data.  However, most of these initiatives focus only on sector data access and download rather than decision support.

Furthermore, communities often lack the expertise and technological infrastructure required to (1) download data from warehouses, (2) import this data into an information system, and (3) develop new interfaces for conducting “what if” scenario analyses. Policy makers care less about agency-specific data repositories or warehouses and more about using a policy-based decision support framework for addressing time sensitive issues.  CIRC provides this integrated framework.

A “Patchwork Quilt” Approach to Decision Support Information

Although numerous federal datasets exist, they usually lack the detail needed to address community or regional policy issues. Similarly, regional governance issues that transcend state boundaries are not effectively addressed with state-level datasets, and often these datasets are not collected or formatted in a consistent fashion across boundaries.

An Integrated  Data Framework _______________ •Administrative •Agricultural •Census •Economic •Environmental •Human Services •Health •Rurality

Governments and NGOs also have varying resources and competencies for acquiring data and making it available to the public.  Rather than focusing on the limitations of data availability across communities, states and regions, CIRC uses a “patchwork quilt” data acquisition approach by integrating data from Federal, state / local agencies, and non-profit organizations. Since data is continuously being created, updated, and made available to the public in a “chaotic” fashion, CIRC acquires data on an ongoing basis, and focuses on how it can be utilized for decision support at the community, regional and national levels.

CIRC’s information systems enable policy makers and researchers to: (1) geographically visualize community, regional, and national-level data via the Internet; (2) integrate new spatial data and overlay these data to conduct location-specific analyses; and (3) generate maps, dynamic reports, and “what if” scenarios that utilize the integrated nature of our information systems.

Who are we?

RUPRI’s Community Information Resource Center, located in the Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri–Columbia, is uniquely positioned to address the rural-urban differential in accessing, using, and adopting information and communications technologies for decision support.  Our understanding of rural resource limitations and the challenges faced in data management, small area data statistics, and mapping applications in rural settings defines our unique role among information technology-based centers.

The Rural Policy Research Institute provides objective analysis and facilitates public dialogue
 concerning the impacts of public policy on rural people and places.