Orie is a collaborative digital platform that helps the returning citizens post-incarceration to adapt to their new life with less burden -- to gain basic life skills and access supportive resources within reach.

The aim of Orie is to bridge the information gap between returning citizens and existing resources. By collecting the resources and services provided by official departments and local agencies, Orie will recommend the most suitable resources based on a returning citizen’s incarceration time and community location.

Being available on desktop, mobile and printed format, Orie is able to lower the technology barrier with a multi-modal experience. Certain supporting information including step-by-step guidance, video tutorial and AR support are provided to help reduce the anxiety of taking actions during the re-entry process.

By engaging local citizens and service providers to become content contributors, Orie aims at building a living online community that encourages returning citizens to explore more about the community and gain confidence to go through the re-entry process and lead a promising life.

The Space Between : Re-entry life seems really far away from us and is always related with inequity and vulnerability. For returning citizens themselves, our project aims at helping them see their re-entry lives through the lens as all other citizens with full social rights. For the general public, our project opens up a channel for information exchange to help break the stereotype and advocate all citizens to become content contributors which could be envisioned as a virtuous cycle.

Designers : Jiafeng Zhu, Ziqi Cai

Course : IDX 524 Interaction Design Workshop

Instructors : Jennifer Levin, JoEllen Kames

Project Partner : City of Chicago