What Is Our Project?

Rooted in a desire to connect past and present, this research project bridges today’s Miami University students with the young activists who trained for Freedom Summer in 1964. Through a storytelling-focused mobile website, the team uses their Communication Design backgrounds to create an engaging, educational experience that honors the Mississippi Summer Project and empowers current students. A central aim is to spotlight the historic Freedom Summer training site on Miami’s campus—formerly the Western College for Women. Spanning multiple semesters, the project has extended far beyond the classroom, earning recognition through two Undergraduate Research Forum presentations, an Undergraduate Research Award, and a presentation at the 2024 National Civil Rights Conference in Alabama. With plans for a lasting deliverable, the team ensures that the legacy of Freedom Summer continues to inspire future generations.

Research

This two-year project has involved extensive reasearch, including exploring the Freedom Summer Digital Archive at Miami University, reading books, watching films, listening to speeches, etc. Most recently, we've expanded our research methods to better understand our users, the technology we're working with, and of course the topic we are presenting. 

Below are some of the research methods we've utilized: 

Competitive Analysis

A competitive analysis involves looking at competitiors for both strengths and weaknesses—learning what there is for you to improve on from their strengths, and what gaps there are in the market for you to fill. We looked at other storytelling sites to inspire our project. We also learned from other Freedom Summer resources that ours has the unique value of being delivered in a mobile-friendly storytelling way. 

Annotated Bibliography

We have been reviewing Freedom Summer sources for almost two academic years now, however, this latest annotated bibliography focused on understanding our target audience. Many sources contained psychology information, which is summarized and conencted to our project. 

Interviews and Surveys 

Our project includes interviews, surveys, and even meetings with experts (such as Alia Levar Wegner, a Digital Collections librarian here at Miami University).  Our survey is still ongoing, so if you are Miami student, staff or faculty, please feel free to contribute by completing the survey here. There is no current data on this information we are collecting, so your contribution is so valued and appreciated (the survey itself should take between 5-10 minutes). 

Card Sorting 

A card sorting is a way to gather information from users by having them organize cards. In this instance, we had users organize cards based on their interest level of Freedom Summer topics, which tells us what sections we should focus on, and how to distribute attention-grabbing elements on each topic. 

We have also met with many wonderful individuals throughout our project who have offered amazing advice, recommendations, and critique. All voices who have shared their thoughts are much appreciated!