The non-profit organization Forest to Furniture promotes good Forest Stewardship practices and works to connect together the chain of people involved in woodworking, including Land Owners, Sawyers, Truck Drivers, Woodworkers and Clients. People need a website to connect. The website serves three goals: to be accessible to clients, to connect members of the woodworking industry together and to inform the greater public. This website includes an information page, a page of partners and a blog to highlight different stewardship practices in the philosophy of Forest to Furniture. The purchaser gets to know the story of their furniture- the land it came from, the age of the tree, the hands it touched. Forest to Furniture adds value to the otherwise mundane task of selecting furniture by empowering people to recognize that their choice in furniture is about more than just the furniture- it’s a vote for the process that created it.

Often when people come across words they do not know, they search for definitions and find them quickly to get through the line they are reading. But for vocabulary to be memorized long-term, there must be spaced repetition of studying over a period of time. Currently, there is no way to seamlessly curate vocabulary without interrupting one’s daily flow and effectively study said vocabulary until mastery. ForWord incorporates a browser extension and a gamified platform in order to accomplish these things. ForWord’s target audience is college level English Second Language learners, however anyone user can improve their English skills. Special algorithms are utilized to make word recommendations based upon one’s interests and vocabulary level and to engage them using a gamified platform. If used on a regular basis, ForWord can aid in improved mastery of the English language, heightened eloquence, and the ability to read even the most verbose books.

In 1941, a group of Seattle citizens joined together to create the Friends of The Seattle Public Library, a non-profit which advocates, educates, and raises funds on behalf of The Seattle Public Library. The Friends group has been and still is influential in supporting The Seattle Public Library by supporting existing library programs, funding new library programs, improving library facilities, and purchasing tools and technologies. I have partnered with the Friends of The Seattle Public Library to create a digital collection as well as training materials for future volunteers. The organization has archival files from its past but has no method for managing these materials. Therefore, I selected and digitized documents to create the start of an online repository, using Omeka, of key documents from the organization’s history. These documents shed light and provide unique perspectives on the organization, the library, and the history of Seattle.

Many of us have been hooked to playing video games for over 10 years now, secretly wishing to make money of our talent to understand the game play. Our sponsor Unikrn provides a platform for eSports enthusiasts to gather insights, play and bet on popular games like League of Legends, Counter-Strike and more. Our market research suggests that users have difficulty comprehending how eSports betting works and tend to bounce off their website. To address this problem, we made it our mission to redesign Unikrn’s web experience. Through extensive user interviews, competitive analysis and user stories, we designed new interactive UI and workflow that delight users and help make informed gaming decisions. Our tests have shown higher engagement rates with the new UX. Once implemented, the new experience will be more user-friendly and trustworthy; targeting an audience of 600,000 users who will together wager around $85 Million in 2016.

Research and professional journals confirm micro and small businesses lead the way in Web 2.0 adoption. Although these businesses “are increasingly using social media technologies as part of their business activities… [it is] often as a supplemental promotional tool and without any clear idea of how to measure performance” (Atanassova & Clark, 2015). Many lack a strategic plan guiding their social media practices in a manner supporting their overall mission and goals. The barriers creating these gaps are often identified as lacking time, budget, and technology skills. Knowledge barriers include a limited awareness of information resources, software and platform features, implementation strategies, and best practices for user engagement and interface design. Our workshops help business owners overcome these barriers by providing a methodical approach, information resources, and analytic training with the goal of integrating social media as a tool into their overall business plan.

We collaborated with the Pilchuck Glass School to survey, assess and curate a collection of their library resources to be properly preserved, described and made accessible for research. These resources include an archive of DVDs that consist of artist demonstrations dating back to the early 1980’s and ephemeral items such as museum catalogues from all over the world. We delivered a detailed strategy plan for the preservation of these items, including a collection development policy to guide the future development of the library. Our hope is that with this foundation in place Pilchuck will be able to apply for grant funding to continue the preservation process.

In 2013, Western Washington University’s Office of University Residences began creating a departmental intranet. As of December 2015, though the intranet was up and running, staff were not confident working within it. Administrators worried that a lack of training would lead to a disorganized intranet. My Capstone sought to build staff enthusiasm and confidence around the intranet, giving them the skills to add content in ways that ensure easy access to well-organized content. I collected staff feedback, which I used to develop and implement two in-person intranet trainings. Trainings focused on skill acquisition as well as active discussion about the intranet. I also created supporting documentation and recommendations for the future. Staff evaluations of these trainings were encouraging, and this in-person training will be incorporated in new employee orientations. This Capstone helped to build energy and discussion around the intranet, and will assist with its long-term success.

The fitness industry is currently worth $27 billion, and has grown less than 2% over the last 5 years. Gyms have abysmal retention rates ranging from 40-70%, and spend nearly 9 times as much in acquisition costs. At the same time, more than 200 million Americans today are considered overweight. How is a growing problem not matched by an industry specifically designed to solve it? Because people fall into the TRIBE – Time, Results, Interest, Body Image and Energy, the top five excuses for not working out. Gymfluence uses habit-centered design techniques to help people mitigate the TRIBE. We analyze user behavior, anticipate excuses, inform gym staff and enable the staff to influence users through data and a positive reward cycle. Additionally, we help users document their commitment to their personal wellbeing. And the kicker? Half our app can only be opened inside the gym!

The Kearsarge Seed Savers Group is a small group of farmers and gardeners in rural New Hampshire with an interest in preserving open pollinated seeds that are either rare or of local interest. Due to competition with hybrid varieties more suitable to long distance transport and disease resistance, more than 90% of the United States fruit and vegetable varieties have vanished. This group’s mission is to preserve heirloom varieties whilst also creating a Darwinian effect that increases production by saving seeds from the best plant and utilizing each generation. Although dedicated to the conservation of often long forgotten varieties, the group has struggled with organization and communication. The solution presented was the development of an Access database to serve as a dynamic catalog for the seed collection that monitors inventory levels for storage and distribution. This is connected to a website for means of communication via xml.