After three years and 24 successful projects in Jackson, the School of Information’s Citizen Interaction Design initiative will expand to other Michigan communities in 2016.
Directed by Cliff Lampe, associate professor of information, the initiative partners community groups and local governments with student teams that work to identify and solve problems for the organizations using information resources.
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Through CID, U-M students have facilitated projects that include a website for the reporting of distressed properties, a local history project in partnership with an area museum and an interface to streamline the process of starting a small business in Jackson.
CID, a finalist for the Michigan Municipal League’s 2015 Community Excellence Awards, kicked off in 2013 with a three-year partnership with Jackson. The program includes an annual design class, student internship programs and Alternative Spring Break activities.
Beginning in fall 2016, the program will expand to two yet-to-be-announced cities, focusing on how designing information technology can lead to more community engagement. Several Michigan cities have approached CID about potential partnerships, and are working with SI faculty and staff to solidify relationships.
Jackson’s size and its strong civil society layer have made it a good partner city for CID for the past three years, Lampe said. “It’s big enough that there’s enough going on,” but not too big.
To follow up on successes in Jackson, CID will be looking for cities with these same population characteristics that express a strong interest in innovating on civic engagement and have identified civic projects that students can take on, he said.
While CID gives students real-world projects to add to their portfolios, the biggest reward is the lessons learned.
“I learned a tremendous amount about what it means to work with communities and the value that good information resources can give to communities,” said senior Melissa Weintraub, whose group partnered with the community-watch group B2 Watchers to increase its visibility.
On the technology side, she discovered the importance of sustainability. “An easy, simple solution is more important than a fancy solution that won’t be around after this semester,” she said.
At the Civic Tech Exposition this month, teams presented their solutions to community members and received feedback from panelists. As the event opened, Jackson City Manager Patrick Burtch told the crowd that when the initiative began, he didn’t know how the city would find enough projects to keep the students busy.
“I’m here to say that it worked out far better than I ever expected,” he said.
