A Michigan State University professor and his students just launched a new web site designed to engage people in the design and improvement of the Michigan Avenue corridor that connects Lansing and East Lansing.
According to excerpts from the article:
Led by MSU professor John Monberg, Our Michigan Avenue was created by a group of students in his Ethnography and Interaction Design class.
The web site was created in an effort to learn about ideas to improve Michigan Avenue and highlight businesses along the corridor.
As an interactive site, community members can vote, voice their opinions and add their own ideas on events and places along the stretch, which connects Lansing and East Lansing.
“The big problem is that there is a disconnect between Lansing and East Lansing,” Monberg said. “Twenty years ago, Lansing and East Lansing could thrive independently. As we move from an industrial to an information economy, our region will need to make decisions to respond to the challenges of globalization.”
The site, he said, will encourage community participation.
Together, the MSU students embarked on learning a new programming framework, Ruby on Rails, generating stories, posting Google maps and images and making the Web site ergonomic.
Monberg said he hopes the site can be used in the future to catch the attention of urban and city planners.
Read the entire article here.
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