As student researchers, we took an opportunity to provide feedback about introductory information technology courses currently offered at the iSchool. We’ve dubbed these courses the 'INFX Suite'. The INFX Suite, implemented in 2010, is recommended to graduate level master’s students who don’t have a technological background when they enter the iSchool. As fast as technology progresses, we wanted to investigate the INFX Suite to see if it was still fresh. Using three questionnaires, quantitative and qualitative methods have been used to gather and analyze data from iSchool faculty and students, and top iSchools in the United States. Research results revealed the INFX Suite is still in line with current technology content trends, however; meeting student expectations consistently is an area that is lacking. Research outcomes will serve as a reference for the iSchool about future INFX Suite design.

Commercial music streaming services represent the fastest growing sector of the music recording industry, accounting for 32% of all digital revenue in 2014. User studies emerging from the field of Music Information Retrieval (MIR) research are currently being used to guide the strategic development of recommendation systems and new methodologies for the navigation of large music collections. This project serves to test the generalizability of seven user personas, constructed in prior research, and seeks to identify the significance of design implications for various user types. Approximately 1,000 users of music services were surveyed in order to determine behaviors and preferences when interacting with such services. Using a stratified sampling framework, key characteristics were extracted to classify users into specific persona subgroups. Such findings can inform designers of MIR systems and music streaming services in the development of targeted approaches, rather than a universal service model.

The current user experience (UX) landscape has seen a shift from the classic days of Garrett and Norman. UX designers invariably experiment with approaches resulting in a slew of methodologies. In an effort to unify the best practices among these, we devised a model that encompasses strategic alignment of organizational resources, market trend analysis and stakeholder buy-in. To pilot test our hypothesis we worked with University of Washington Information Technology (UW-IT) on redesigning the online course registration system. By performing a heuristic evaluation and connecting with users to understand the as-is system, we envisioned what the to-be system needs to accomplish. A proposal was prepared to seek management approval. Thus through the application of the model we were able to provide UW-IT with a feasible design proposal that met user and organizational needs. The pilot test indicates that this methodology provides an effective UX strategy that can help reduce development cost.

This project attempts to assess the virtual reference services of the University of Washington. The service offers students, staff, and faculty 24/7 access to librarians and advanced graduate students from the UW as well as librarians from across the country, in order to have their information needs answered as fast as possible. With access to OCLC’s Question Point, I looked at a sample of chats that occurred during weeks one, five, and ten of Winter Quarter 2014. Chats were coded according to the category of questions, READ Level, time of day, and session time, and an analysis of the data showed that the majority of questions were labelled as either General Information or Known Item Searches. This could be due to a number of factors, including website design, gaps in information literacy instruction, as well as the recent migration of the UW Library’s catalog to Ex Libris’ Primo and ALMA. In addition to the transcript coding and analysis, I conducted a literature review to gauge what has been written in regards to the evolution of virtual reference services, from overviews of its effect on libraries to best practices of assessment and implementation. 

In the Automobile Industry, one of the major challenges faced by the dealers is to understand the priorities of the customers before purchasing a particular car. In the current Sci-Fi age this task is even more challenging as selling a car no longer depends on the inventory, nor price and reputation. In this Capstone project, we are statistically mining consumer survey data and web warehouse data collected in last 3 years by Cobalt (a digital marketing company owned by ADP). The purpose is to better understand the needs of automotive shoppers at different stages in the car shopping process. In our analysis, we connected multiple data sources and built a statistical model that enables the dealers to categorize website visitors into different categories (like new car/used car) of shoppers based on their browsing behavior. The model has been rigorously analyzed and tested and it has proved extremely important and helpful in improving targeted marketing and advertising for Cobalt.

Our research aimed to improve student experience in large university lectures. Specifically, we examined the use of backchannels (a moderated chat alongside lecture) and the effectiveness thereof with respect to students’ grades, level of participation, and overall satisfaction. We began with a survey of 149 responding students, and focused further with interviews. The survey reached two academic quarters of students from an introductory informatics course. Respondents self-categorized into three groups based upon their interaction with the backchannel: contributors, observers, and non-users. This split developed into our personas to interview. Our findings revealed significant supporting evidence of greater interest in lecture and higher participation with backchannel involvement. Further qualitative analysis suggests, also, that backchannel contributors achieved higher grades. Thus, backchannels can enhance student experience in large lectures--especially with our feedback-inspired redesign. Though we prioritized student experience, we believe that instructors, likewise, benefit from a more engaged student base.

Hispanic day laborers are experiencing serious difficulties to seek and maintain the jobs. They have uncertain jobs, very low wages, no benefits or health insurance, limited access and use of information technologies. Casa Latina, our sponsor, is a Seattle-based nonprofit service agency serving the Hispanic community. We would explore the needs and expectations of day laborers in Seattle area and address these needs by building a website that enable networking and manage reputation. This website would help day laborers to show their skills and experiences to potential clients through an easy to use, bilingual (English and Spanish) platform. Clients can also get in touch with the day labors they hope to work for them. In order to make the further profile management easier for Casa Latina staff, we built a user-friendly dashboard which allow further edits according to their needs.