These terms cover this website and every tool, corpus, dataset and research material the Rural Institute makes available. The short version: these are experiments, they are offered as-is, and you use them at your own risk, even though no personal or organizational information is required to use them. Nothing is stored, retrieved or shared.
Everything here is a pre-alpha experiment. Nothing is a product, a service or professional advice. We make no promise that any of it is accurate, available or fit for anything in particular. If you act on something you found here, that decision is yours, and you agree not to hold the Institute or anyone associated with it responsible for what follows. The rest of this page says that properly.
The Rural Institute (“the Institute”, “we”, “us”) is an initiative in formation. It is not currently an incorporated entity. This website and the tools linked from it — including GroundWork, Let's Begin Here: Rural Revitalization, Let's Begin Here: Climate & Rural Impacts, Let's Begin Here: Food Systems, the Re:Vision Framework Tool and TOD (the Town Operating Dashboard) — are experimental research prototypes at pre-alpha stage.
They are made available as a courtesy, to support and to be transparent about research in progress. They are not products, not services, and not offered for sale. There is no sign-up, no account, no subscription and no customer relationship of any kind.
By accessing this website or any of the tools, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, please do not use them.
All materials are provided “as is” and “as available”, with all faults and without warranty of any kind.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express, implied or statutory, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy, completeness, currency, security, uninterrupted or error-free operation, and any warranties arising from course of dealing or usage of trade.
We do not warrant that any tool will be available, that it will work, that defects will be corrected, or that it will continue to exist. Features are unfinished. Some are broken. Tools may be withdrawn, altered or taken offline at any time without notice.
Nothing on this website or in any tool constitutes professional advice of any kind. That includes — without limitation — legal, financial, investment, accounting, tax, grant-writing, insurance, engineering, architectural, planning, environmental, agricultural, public-health, medical, employment or policy advice.
The corpora are compiled from primary sources and verified at the point of entry. Verification confirms that a record faithfully represents its source. It does not make the underlying source correct, complete, current or applicable to your circumstances. Source material may be superseded, contested, partial or simply wrong, and the analytical views built over it are early work that may contain errors.
Do not rely on anything here for a decision with real consequences — financial, legal, operational, planning or safety — without independent professional verification. Where a tool produces a reading, a score, a match or a projection, it is an artefact of a research method under development and not a finding, a rating, a valuation or a recommendation.
There is no registration and there are no user accounts. Where an interface appears to offer sign-in, sign-up, saving, export, payment or support, that feature is unbuilt and will not work. We provide no support, no service levels, no uptime commitment and no guarantee of data retention. Anything you can see today may be gone tomorrow.
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, neither the Institute nor any of the Associated Parties defined in section 6 shall be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, funding, data, goodwill, opportunity or anticipated savings, arising out of or in connection with your access to or use of — or inability to use — this website, any tool, any corpus, or anything derived from them. This applies however the liability arises, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, statute or otherwise, and whether or not we were advised of the possibility of such damage.
Where liability cannot lawfully be excluded, the total aggregate liability of the Institute and the Associated Parties to you for all claims is limited to one hundred United States dollars (US$100).
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.
In these terms, “the Associated Parties” means: The Rural Institute; Re:Vision; ReD Associates; Field States; and each of their respective founders, co-founders, directors, trustees, officers, members, employees, contractors, consultants, volunteers, researchers, partners, collaborators, funders, licensors, successors and agents — including, for the avoidance of doubt, Damien Newman and Stacey Frost in every capacity.
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Institute and the Associated Parties from and against any and all claims, demands, proceedings, losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to: your use of this website or any tool; any decision, action or omission taken in reliance on anything obtained from them; your breach of these terms; or your infringement of any right of any third party.
The exclusions and limitations in sections 2, 3 and 5 are made for the benefit of the Institute and each of the Associated Parties, and may be relied upon by each of them.
The tools, interfaces, frameworks, methods, structure and original written content are the property of the Institute or its collaborators, and are protected by copyright and other rights.
The corpora contain material drawn from third-party sources — including grant reports, public agency documents, published literature and other records. All rights in that source material remain with its originators. It is surfaced here for research, study, commentary and analysis. If you hold rights in material you find here and want it removed or corrected, write to us and we will act promptly.
Please do not:
Citing, quoting and building on this work in your own research is welcome. Tell us what you are doing and we will tell you what the data will and will not support.
There are no accounts, so we do not collect names, credentials or profiles through these tools. We keep minimal, aggregate analytics about site traffic in order to understand usage.
Please do not submit confidential, personal, sensitive or proprietary information to any of these tools. They are prototypes, they are not hardened, and we cannot guarantee the security, retention or deletion of anything entered into them.
This website and the tools link to third-party websites and sources. We do not control them, do not endorse them, and are not responsible for their content, accuracy, availability or practices.
We may amend these terms at any time by posting a revised version here, with the date above updated. Continued use after a change means you accept the revised terms. Because the tools themselves change constantly, we recommend re-reading this page if you intend to rely on anything at all.
These terms and any dispute arising from them are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles, and the courts of that Commonwealth shall have exclusive jurisdiction.
If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable, it shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force.
Questions about these terms, corrections, takedown requests and reports of broken things all go to the same place: hello@theruralinstitute.org.