About the Individual Tools
Community Surveys
Community surveys allow people to gather information about local attitudes
and opinions regarding precisely defined issues, problems or opportunities.
This interactive tool can be helpful as citizens set priorities for a community
survey, determine sample size, evaluate surveying techniques, and identify
questions.
Community Development Capacity Index
Growth and development cannot always be measured by traditional economic indicators.
This online survey can be used by communities to measure change in their organizational
capacity for community and economic development projects. Use this instrument
to create a baseline measure of your community's capacity and to measure how
for your community or region has advanced toward meeting local goals over
time.
Tourism Development Capacity Index
Tourism development cannot always be measured by traditional indicators. The
TOURISM DEVELOPMENT CAPACITY INDEX (TDCI) is an assessment tool that provides
a framework for communities to benchmark or evaluate the impact of tourism
development initiatives. It can be used to assess progress toward meeting
community goals by measuring change in both organizational and financial resources.
Assessing and Developing Tourism Resources
This self contained module helps communities develop a strategic plan for
tourism development. This interactive online tool outlines a step-by- step
process for organizing a planning committee, conducting an inventory and an
evaluation of tourism assets, identifying community goals, and developing
strategies for tourism development.
Retention and Expansion Program for Travel
and Tourism Businesses
Retaining and expanding existing tourism businesses is vital to a successful
tourism program. The tourism business retention and expansion survey includes
questions about local business conditions, training, future business goals,
marketing and the tourism industry in general. Results of the survey are useful
in planning education and incentive programs to help tourism business prosper.
Telecommunications Infrastructure Readiness
Index
The Telecommunications Infrastructure Readiness Index is an inventory and
evaluation diagnostic of the telecommunications Infrastructure in your community.
There are three components: Part A, the telecommunications Quotient helps
you analyze individual affinity for using telecommunications technology; Part
B, the Infrastructure Index, helps the community document local Internet access
and evaluate the community presence on the World Wide Web (after completing
this survey a benchmark score is calculated for future analysis); Part C,
includes an inventory of telecommunications providers in your community.
Thumbs Up - Evaluating Community Websites
Thumbs Up is an evaluation tool designed to help community members find what
works and doesn't work in the design and planning stages of their websites.
By choosing random community websites the user of this tool gets to view other
community's attempts at putting their presence on the Internet. Following
the look at the site an evaluation form is presented in a modified "Siskel
and Ebert" thumbs up or down format. This fun and straightforward scoring
puts some quantitative value on impressions of the website.
The Illinois Community Network (ICN)
ICN is an online resource for communities documenting community practices
and other resources. The site was designed to support community networking
efforts around the state of Illinois at the local and state levels with an
interactive, dynamic, and updated resource of community network information.
I-Know Rural Development Knowledge Network
This knowledge network will connect knowledge providers with knowledge users,
and increase collaboration and coordination among local organizations on issues
related to rural community and economic development. If you are a rural development
practitioner in Illinois, we invite you to participate in this "COMMUNITY".
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