Community Projects

SOCHI students were involved with a website redesign project for the Peace Neighborhood Center. Peace is an Ann Arbor non-profit that provides programs for children, families, and individuals who are impacted by social and economic problems. A team of five SOCHI students redesigned the website to make it more usable and aesthetically pleasing. The team also installed a content management system that will allow Peace staff members to update their website more easily.

This project was carried out in conjunction with Community Information Corps (CIC). Possibilities exist for future SOCHI involvement with Peace. One possible area of emphasis is the center's computer lab which is used for a variety of purposes: homework and educational support, Internet access, and employment assistance.

SOCHI is always on the lookout for new projects. If you have any suggestions for additional ways SOCHI can get involved in the community, drop us a line!

Alternative Spring Break

Each winter term, a number of SOCHI students participate in Alternative Spring Break (ASB). During ASB, students are placed in professional work environments during the week of spring break where they can:

• gain practical job experience
• develop leadership skills as information professionals
• provide a service to an organization, institution, or community
• learn new skills
• create professional partnerships
• pursue their fields of interest

Organizations in Washington, D.C. and New York hosted SI students this year. Here's a short list of some projects that HCI students worked on during ASB:

• Queens Borough Public Library (QBPL)
  • Subject Analysis & Classification for Queens Library's Internet Resources. Observed and reported on customer interactions with QBPL online catalogs and Self-Check machines at Central Library. Both human interface and physical design elements were considered for possible improvements.
  • Indic Language XML Character Map. Created character maps for transliteration of Indic languages in XML.
• NetAid
  • Global Sisters Internship. NetAid's College Activism Department hosted an information architect intern who assisted with research and strategic recommendations for the creation of NetAid's web community for college-aged women.
• LINC Project
  • Web Development for Activism Coordination. LINC supports a range of groups, one of which is a national coalition of grassroots groups working on welfare rights issues. This national coalition has an absolutely bare bones staff and needed help developing a website and Intranet to allow them to coordinate their activism online.
  • Database planning and design. An intern worked with LINC's Circuit Riders on several database projects with grassroots economic justice organizations.
• American Red Cross
  • Web Design for RedCross.org. An HCI student spent a week updating the organization's website content and created a Flash slideshow for the Red Cross Museum.