iSchool Capstone

2023

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Munch - Simplifying Social Media for Small Businesses

More than ⅓ of small businesses lack social media accounts, despite it being one of the most popular resources for discovering new restaurants. Rather than needing to spend time learning complex interfaces, Munch is a user-friendly web app that enables small restaurants to upload content and improve visibility. Munch allows restaurants in Seattle’s University District to post updates, events, and promotions to a shared community Instagram page. Our Instagram page engages current and potential customers by providing a stream of content from multiple restaurants, fostering stronger customer relationships, and broadening audience reach.
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Pallet Shelter: Collecting Data To Enhance Village Models Aimed At Addressing Homelessness

Pallet Shelter addresses unsheltered homelessness by constructing transitional shelter villages. To gather data on their impact, we developed a solution for collecting anonymized information from village residents. This measures the effectiveness of non-congregate village models in addressing residents' health, well-being, and homelessness journey. Google Forms surveys capture resident and service partner experiences, while a staff dashboard enables data analysis. Our solution provides insights into non-congregate villages' effectiveness by gathering data from residents and staff, enhancing our understanding. A project proposal was created to ensure Pallet is on the right track to obtaining constant data they want to enhance our solution.
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Psycare: Cultural Approach to Manage ADHD Symptoms

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common yet underdiagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders in the US. Research suggests that more than a million people are undiagnosed and untreated because of constraints such as time and money. Psycare provides free support to both diagnosed and undiagnosed ADHD patients by providing non-pharmaceutical interventions to improve anxiety, concentration, and restlessness. It adds a unique angle to the market by drawing upon traditional wisdoms of several Asian cultures and introduces these ancestral practices to a wider audience.
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Stakeholder Investigation for UW Open Scholarship Commons

Verletta Kern and Beth Lytle collaborate to maintain the UW Libraries virtual space, Open Scholarship Commons. To expand this space into a more collaborative online platform, we conducted a needs assessment by interviewing other institutions with similar online platforms, as well as UW faculty. Through qualitative analysis, we determined recommendations and best practices for building an online digital scholarship commons that our sponsors can use to strategically develop an interdisciplinary online community at UW. This project supports the increase of interdisciplinary collaboration across UW.
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Survey and Evaluation of King County Library System Genealogical Collections

The King County Library System genealogical collections have never been evaluated for their efficacy. This project surveyed the state of the genealogical collections through cataloging of collection material, interviewing the target audience and peers, and analyzing how it serves the community. While there was a range of practices from peer libraries, the target audience showed satisfaction with the current state of the KCLS collections and their accessibility, and current practices were evaluated to be effective with the available labor. With the gathered information, KCLS is better equipped to understand patron needs for this particular collection.

2022

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#CancelShushCulture

In Spring of 2020, UW Libraries closed its doors leaving students to adapt to new ways of studying and researching in an entirely virtual environment. When the Libraries re-opened, student use failed to return to pre-pandemic numbers. To investigate, we interviewed UW Fine Arts students to discover if their values aligned with their branch library’s. Unsurprisingly, after years of virtual college experiences, student values now reflect a strong need for socialization and community building from their libraries. It is our hope that these findings will allow UW Libraries to re-align their service model to meet these previously unvoiced needs.
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7 Forms of Respect + iDataBased: Building Respect in the Workplace

The 7 Forms of Respect quiz and assessment tool from CuriosityBased assists teams in building respectful relationships in the workplace. Continuing a previous Capstone engagement, our team developed a more streamlined solution built upon Google Suite and Google Apps Script. The project scope included creating a quiz interface that is intuitive, a more functional test result PDF page, and an eCommerce integration enabling users to purchase a premium assessment if desired. As a Women and minority-owned enterprise, CuriosityBased can leverage the revamped solution to reach an even greater number of stakeholders while reducing manual intervention for the in-house team.
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BeWell: Helping high school students build inter-generational connections

Isolated seniors and disconnected teens - our application aims to bridge the inter-generational gap between youth and elders in the community. As service hours are required for Seattle Public Schools students, our platform allows them to acquire these hours through connecting them to seniors in the community who may need help. Seniors request help for small household tasks by posting on the platform, where students can then pick up the ones which match their schedules. The more time young and old people spend together, the more both parties benefit.
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Birthing a Capstone: A Prenatal and Postpartum Health Toolkit for Public Librarians

Pregnant people are overwhelmed by the vast plethora of information about birth and postpartum while simultaneously feeling lost and without agency. Using NNLM, PubMed, and MedlinePlus, we conducted research on their information-seeking behavior and created a library toolkit for public librarians to create materials for their patrons about maternal health. Our resulting toolkit includes handouts, social media tools, inclusive vocabulary, and bookmarks that are ready-to-go or customizable. Our project makes a difference because the published toolkit on NNLM’s website will increase health literacy and empower library patrons in local communities to be an informed participant in their health decisions.
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Book Clubs As Means of Reducing Library Anxiety

Utilization of library resources is instrumental towards academic success; however, library anxiety can inhibit student’s ability to access library’s resources. The present study investigates how book clubs influence library anxiety. Five librarians were interviewed about their experiences with book clubs. Patterns emerged indicating book clubs offering holistic student support, focusing on building relationships, and addressing different levels of anxiety saw decreases in library anxiety. Suggestions for best practices in designing and running book clubs to decrease library anxiety are provided. Reduction in library anxiety helps increase a student’s ability to use library resources and can thereby increase their academic success.