Our Gallery day with Debra went very well; she came in with one of her associates, Bayu, and we went through the ethnographic research we have conducted so far. We ended up finishing 3 expert interviews, 4 interactive interviews, an interactive card sort, and part of an immersion study. They were very impressed by the amount of information and insights we had collected despite relatively little contact with Imani Unidad (scheduling issues).
Debra especially seemed to really enjoy our interviews/card sort with landlords around South Bend as they reinforced some sentiments against ex-offenders that Imani Unidad has been suspecting for some time. Going further, the interviews provided very interesting insights as to why certain biases and discriminatory practices exist. Debra and Bayu took a lot of notes during this part of our presentation, and they wanted us to continue this line of interviewing with other realtors and land lords that don’t just serve students. In the next few weeks, we are planning on finishing our ethnographic research, including the immersion of calling different apartment complexes and landlords as an ex-convict looking for housing.