Cara Bloom

Presentation outlining our solution to the downtown construction problem; given April 25^th, 2014 at the Student Project Expo to government officials, members of the community, faculty, and local media.

The Project

Citizen Interaction Design (CID) is a collaborative initiative between the University of Michigan School of Information and the City of Jackson to develop community-focused projects. Team Dig was given the task of creating a way to keep citizens engaged and learning about their downtown during upcoming infrastructural construction in the heart of the city.

We worked throughout the semester with Downtown Development Director Jonathan Greene and Mayor Patrick Burtch doing research, holding focus groups, and speaking with experts in the field as well as members of the community.

Our final product was a two-phase plan to help the city communicate effectively about the construction as well as keep the citizens engaged in downtown business. We completed Phase I including a comprehensive communication strategy, business contact registry, research into potential engagement ideas, and a sustainability plan. Phase II is currently being carried out by a second CID team who are creating the engagement portion of the plan.