Capstone Projects | Information School | University of Washington

MelonYeah: A Nightclub Events Platform

Our project addresses the lack of unified platforms between nightclubs who want to advertise events and customers who want to search for nightclub event information in a easy way. Currently, nightclubs either advertise events on their own websites, or create Facebook events. Therefore, if a customer wants to look for a nightclub event, he will have to manually search through many sites. To address this problem, we designed a mobile application with two interfaces that allows nightclubs to advertise their events so customers can find the information in the same platform effectively in a timely manner. We gauge success by comparing the speed of customers in finding information using this mobile application. Our solution enables nightclubs and customers to exchange information more efficiently in their mobile phones.

MIST – Mobile Cloud Infrastructure for Environmental Disaster Relief

In the event of an environmental disaster, coordinating relief efforts involves hundreds of stakeholders, and mistakes can mean the difference between life and death. Accurate information is crucial, and a lack of infrastructure can impede collaboration and communication between rescue teams. In our research, we met with emergency volunteers, disaster researchers, and the Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team to identify user needs in disaster scenarios. We leveraged our findings to develop MIST – a ruggedized, portable server infrastructure designed to bring the power of cloud technology to isolated emergency situations. With custom engineered hardware and software, MIST provides a centralized environment to communicate and share data on desktop and mobile devices. In addition, we developed an Android application that automatically transfers data between MIST and other rescue teams. With MIST, rescue workers can rapidly collaborate and share information between teams, reducing avoidable mistakes, and helping them save more lives.

Mobile eLearning for UW Medicine Reviewers

eLearning is, in essence, short and interactive online training. To be successful, an eLearning module must have, among other things, buy-in from all stakeholders. At UW Medicine, peer reviews are also important. That’s why the review process for eLearning needs to be as easy as possible. Access from mobile devices is a breeze. Keeping user experience and look-and-feel consistency across all platforms is an essential. This project addresses all these requirements for eLearning targeting residents and attending physicians. This project was done in collaboration with Learning Gateway, a small team at UW Medicine, who develops and delivers eLearning on a learning management system used enterprise-wide. The solution contains the following components: 1) Conversion of Adobe Flash interactions to HTML5 files. 2) An iOS application and a new responsive website for reviewers. 3) Consistent look and feel for both the iOS app and the site.

Modernization of the Website for a Cultural Museum

mohCare Appointment Scheduler

Currently, most hospitals are using traditional methods for scheduling appointments, checking-in at hospitals and maintaining patient’s profile. mohCare Inc. is exploiting this problem space by building the next generation of patient connect platforms for hospitals. Our project focuses on appointment scheduling and doctor discovery platform for mohCare on the iPad and iPhone. In the current scenario, booking an appointment with a doctor is a cumbersome process which consumes a lot of time. With the mohCare appointment scheduling app, this process is streamlined and can be done in just 3-5 clicks due to its user friendly interface and personalized features. Also, this app simplifies the process of finding the most suitable doctor, by allowing search based on location, ratings, speciality and available timings. Thus, our app aims to mobilize most aspects of the interactions between patients and hospitals and bring self-service in the healthcare industry.

mohCare iOS App

mohCare Inc is building the next generation of patient connect platforms for hospitals by empowering patients and doctors to leverage new mobile technologies. Our app focuses on the sign-up process for a variety of mohCare platforms. Signing up on a healthcare related app needs to be simple and secure at the same time. Using our app, patients can securely identify themselves based on personalized questions from their profile in other medical systems. Patients can add their family members without any hassle through a simple yet secure process which allows digital signing of medical information release documents. Our app also includes a dashboard which shows alerts, rewards, appointments and family member schedules. Thus, our project will act as a starting point for all the future mohCare platforms and allow a streamlined sign-up process.

Mood Taxonomy for Video Games and Interactive Media

The objective of this research is to improve our understanding of how people perceive and describe the mood of video games and interactive media. The mood element and its respective controlled vocabulary was developed by the Game Metadata Research Group at the iSchool, in collaboration with the Seattle Interactive Media Museum (SIMM), as a part of the Video Game Metadata Schema.In order to evaluate the applicability of the mood element, I have conducted user interviews in which gamers were asked to evaluate the current mood CV and apply mood terms to familiar game titles. Next, I have compiled a list of over 1500 games, with applied mood terms, and sourced genres and release years. This project rectifies the scarcity of past research, enabling cataloguers and users of the SIMM to search and organize video game metadata by mood.

NetJeeves: Bringing Light to the Network

With networks being as complex and many-layered as they are, problems can exist in staggering varieties and walking through them blind provides no solution for future occurrences. NetJeeves is the beginnings of a network manager that brings disparate elements of network management together and provide users with a simple, but clear overview of their network state. NetJeeves reduces clutter while highlighting the most relevant issues in a highly visual interface, providing information that can be used to diagnose issues that may not be solved by automated fixes. With NetJeeves, informa-tion about the network and connected devices are given at a high-level without becoming a black box for users, as may occur in other existing technologies, ensuring transparency of the network without overwhelming users.

On Demand, Interactive Instruction: Modeling Best Practices in Online Instruction at City University

With a growing number of courses offered online there isconsiderable interest in distance education. As universities negotiate standards in online instruction we ask: How will effective communication, interaction, and motivation be established in the absence of face-to-face instruction? What will be the role for instructors in online education? How will students’ learning outcomes be assured and improved? To address these concerns, City University created a new set of standards for their online classes: the Exemplary Course Standards (ECS). But CityU was unsure how to start applying these. Our team modeled ways to use the ECS by redesigning a core course on critical thinking. We created an online experience that is interactive, uses story-structure, formative assessment, and caters to a variety of student types and needs. Education is an old art form but as the medium we teach through changes, we must adapt to harness the power of online instruction.

One Book, One Town: Oral History Project

The Trumbull Library System in the town of Trumbull, Connecticut selected baseball as the theme of their annual One Book, One Town event for 2014. The theme honors the 25th anniversary of the Trumbull Little League winning the Little League World Series over the heavy favorites from Taiwan. In order to extend the conversation with patrons, I developed a program for collecting and preserving the memories of townspeople who remember or participated in the Little League World Series of 1989. This spring, I am recording the stories of townspeople in a series of story sharing sessions. The Trumbull Library System and local historical societies will receive copies of the audio in two formats, CD and on flash drive. The multiple formats and copies at multiple locations will help ensure that there are copies preserved for future researchers interested in this unique piece of local history.

iSchool Capstone

2014