Why Research Matters: Designing Forms for Citizen Feedback

For several months in 2018, Austin Tech Alliance and the City of Austin worked together with the Office of Police Oversight to understand why there was a drop in residential Austin Police Department (APD) complaints. We initially went into the research phase thinking that we would provide a design update to the paper form, but after almost 30 interviews with community members and criminal justice groups, we delivered 27 recommendations that were presented to the APD working group and City Manager.

During this event, we will chat with the research team, a community liaison who helped us engage residents, and the Police Monitor. We will explain that research is an important part of the design process and that solutions come from people.