PowerPoint Modules

1. Dexter: The Missouri Census Data Center's Data Extraction Utility

   This is the largest and most important of the modules. It covers the basics of the data archive and using dexter to access it. This is the module that forms the basis of our workshops on how to use dexter. Around 60 slides.

2. Dexter Tutorial, Part 2: More Advanced Topics And Exercises

   A continuation of the previous module that deals with more advanced options, especially those contained in Section V of the Dexter query form. Around 45 slides.

3. Accessing Large Table Files With Dexter

   This used to be part of the main tutorial but was split off as a separate module in 2007. It deals with special considerations when using Dexter to access data sets where the variables are organized into logical tables This means the Census Bureau Summary (Tape) Files and the various base tables data sets from the American Community Survey. Around 31 slides.

4. The MCDC Data Archive

   This module focuses on the underlying collection of public data files comprising the data archive. It provides a brief historical perspective on how the collection came to be. It also deals with various naming conventions, directory structures, common geographic and other identifier variables, etc. Some of this material also appears in the base Dexter tutorial, but this one has much more depth. Around 59 slides.

Dexter Annotated Examples Library ("xsamples")

For those who prefer to learn strictly through looking at examples of how something works the xsamples collection of Dexter extraction examples may be the best place to start. While the tutorials also provide many examples, here they are more uniformly structured, displayed and explained. Most include links to sample output as well as to the relevant data directories (using Uexplore), data sets, metadata and saved queries. The directory page provides an overview to help you find an example that deals with a specific kind of data set or Dexter feature that may be of interest.

Dexter Online Help

This is the ultimate reference resource for using the Dexter module. It is readily accessible from the Dexter query form (where the section header lines double as hyperlinks to the section of the Online help module related to that section.)

Dexter For Data Junkies

This is a new (early 2009), experimental tool for demonstrating the power of using these tools to access specific data sets. The idea is akin to the xsamples modules, but place less emphasis on the technical details of filling out the Dexter coding form and more on what the data sets are about and how to create practical data products. These are frame-based modules that let you view three major window panes at once:

• The explanation / tutorial frame
• the Dexter query form (captured as a scrollable graphic file), and
• An Output frame

At this point (February, 2009) we have only two modules in this collection. We await user feedback to see if there is sufficient interest to warrant developing more of these. Ideas for making them better/different are always welcome.

Unless otherwise noted all tutorials and help modules are written by John Blodgett, OSEDA, U of Missouri Columbia.