Other Engagement Opportunities
The School of Information offers several opportunities for organizations to work with students outside of client-based courses, ranging from semester-long to single-day community organizing projects
Visit the official UMSI website for the most up-to-date information on client based courses
Information on the site you are currently visiting is no longer being updated as of Summer 2021
UMSI Community Corps
What is the UMSI Community Corps?
New in the fall of 2020, the UMSI Community Corps aims to enhance the capacity of nonprofit, cultural, governmental, and educational institutions while providing students at the U-M School of Information with the opportunity to bring their information skills to real-world projects. The program pairs carefully selected interdisciplinary teams of students with organizations to meet information-related needs. The Community Corps program will be offered entirely virtual throughout the 2020-21 academic year.
Deliverables
What do project partners receive for participating in this program?
Community Corps deliverables are determined mutually between students and project partners.
Project Partner Eligibility
Who can participate?
Potential project partners should meet the following criteria:
Be a public-sector organization (non-profit, government, educational, or cultural heritage organizations)
Able to meet virtually with the student team regularly throughout the duration of the project
Projects
What are some examples of successful projects?
Connecting Data Sources: Audience Feedback, Social Media, and Web Traffic
This project aimed to understand how the partnered non-profit connects their data sources right now, and create a plan for efficient use in the future. Aspects of effective data use include optimized storage, purposeful collection, and improved analysis. Presentation link
What kinds of projects are appropriate for the program?
Potential projects should meet the following criteria:
Projects must be able to be conducted virtually
Projects should have a community or social impact orientation
Project should be information related, including but not limited to projects that focus on:
data organization, visualization, and/or analysis
evaluating the user experience of a technological tool or service
researching community needs and designing solutions
design evaluations relating to technology tools (i.e. web/app design, survey design, etc.)
prototype development
organizational systems
How many projects are selected for this program?
Winter 2021: 8 projects*
Fall 2020: 2 projects*
* Due to variability in the number of enrolled students each year, this number is only a rough estimate.
Timeline
The Community Corps has a flexible timeline for both long-term and short-term projects. Project timelines, including end date, will be determined mutually between students and project partners.
Below is the general format for Fall Semester 2021 and is subject to change in future semesters. We also plan to run a winter semester section of this program beginning in February 2022.
October 9 - project idea registrations due
Week of October 12 - The Client Engagement Team (CET) works with the project partner to scope project and format proposal to show to students, students are matched to project partner projects
Week of October 19 - Student team contacts project partner to set up first meeting, project work begins
December 8 - Fall semester ends
January 19, 2022 - Winter semester begins, program deadlines TBD
Participate
How do I become a project partner?
Potential project partners should complete this brief form with their contact information and a short summary of their project idea. Our Client Engagement Team will review your submission and reach out to you within 3 business days with next steps.
What if I don't have a project right now, but I'm interested in future opportunities or want to learn more?
If you don't have a specific project in mind for the upcoming semester, but would like to stay informed about future opportunities to work with students through our client-based courses or other programs, complete this registration form to be added to our email list.