Capstone Projects | Information School | University of Washington

Spotty: An App to Find Bathrooms

Spotty (Spot a Potty) is a mobile-first web application to help people on the go find public restrooms that fit their needs. Lack of bathroom access is a serious humanitarian and public health issue; good bathrooms are difficult to find, particularly for people who have to be on the move frequently. Spotty addresses this by allowing users to find nearby locations as well as view features and reviews in advance, helping them save time and have better peace of mind.

St. Mary Digital Parish Archive

Saint Mary Catholic Church in Corvallis, Oregon, was founded in 1861. Its parish archive opened in 1981. Unfortunately, the archives are tucked in a locked room in the parish hall, preventing newcomers from learning the history of the parish. A website was created to solve this information problem: attached to the main parish website, this site allows parishioners, community members, and those interested in church history to connect with these artifacts. This online resource serves as a door-opener: delivering a portrait of the 160-year history of the parish.

Staff-Portal: A redesigned tool suite for Jefferson-Madison Regional Library

I created a prototype for a redesigned suite of library staff tools to replace a defunct web portal for the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library. I evaluated what functionalities the library's staff most needed in a tool suite and focused on the two primary functionalities of list-making and material withdrawals. This tool suite was designed using interviews and observational research to be approachable, helpful, and easy to learn. In addition, I focused on clear documentation and resources to lay the groundwork for technical implementation of the program in the future.

Supporting Student-Driven Reader’s Advisory & Collection Development at Ballard High School

Ballard High School had a small but incredibly popular Manga collection. Titles were often checked out, limiting reading options. We created a Manga Club to allow students a voice in building the collection. Students suggested titles and applied for grant funding, ultimately purchasing 250 new titles. Additionally, we met with the Library Leaders Club to learn what students wanted from their library. With their input, we were able to create readers' advisory materials to promote library resources. Our work empowered students to share their expertise, take ownership of their library, and directly shape the collection and readers’ advisory tools.

SustainaBUILD: Helping small businesses adopt sustainable packaging

Packaging and containers currently account for roughly 28% of all solid waste in the United States. Businesses are not incentivized to transition to sustainable packaging when plastic packaging is cheaper and easier to access. SustainaBUILD analyzes the current packaging consumption of small foodservice businesses and recommends sustainable alternatives, informed by current city regulations so businesses can reduce their waste and save time. With the entire process taking less than five minutes, SustainaBUILD dramatically increases the efficiency of sourcing sustainable packaging and allows business owners to dedicate more time to serving their customers and benefiting their communities.

Tadashi - The Ultimate Team Experience

Tadashi aims to give in-class teams positive working experiences when completing their projects. After conducting interviews, we identified three core concepts behind what makes a great team: communication, accountability, and reflection. We implemented those three concepts into a centralized platform with four key features: a teambase, messaging, reflection board, and task management with rolling leadership. Our platform makes a difference because teamwork is more than just completing tasks, it is about learning and applying good foundations that students can take into their careers. Tadashi aims to reduce negative experiences because we know the magic that good teams can create.

TEI for Svoboda Diaries

The Svoboda Diaries Project is a digital humanities collection of 49 diaries that cover the life of Joseph Svoboda as he traded up and down the Tigris river in the Ottoman Empire during the late 19th century. We’ve been working to standardize their implementation of TEI, updating the existing TEI to fit current standards and creating guidelines and future work guides to help direct implementation of the metadata on a broad scale.

The Beacon Archive Online

Bellevue High School has yearbooks (The Beacon) going back to 1924 stored in the back room of the Library. The older yearbooks are fragile and important to the history of BHS, so it is important for stakeholders to be able to access them. I created an Online Archive complete through 1950 so that anyone can access our Beacon collection at any time without negative consequences for the materials. This project makes a difference for our Bellevue community because now students, staff, alumni, and community members can access these historical documents and learn about the history of BHS.

The Clean Air Tool - here to help people maintain healthy air quality in their indoor spaces

Research validates the importance of maintaining good air quality within indoor spaces which helps reduce exposure to smoke particles, allergens and viruses. A beneficial tool that assists in improving indoor air quality is a portable air cleaner device/purifier. The Clean Air Tool helps users find a qualified portable air cleaner that is customized to their space to help mitigate the risk of unhealthy air. COVID being considered an airborne disease and with an increase of air pollutants around the world, now more than ever, it's crucial to create a product that helps implement extra safety precautions for any individual.

The Diversity and Social Justice Collection at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology

In 2020, the Lake Washington Institute of Technology library, with their DEI department created the Diversity and Social Justice collection. While the initial work of adding books to the collection was finished, there was much left to be done, including writing a collection development policy and creating finding aids to help students find books within the collection. Our team was able to complete these tasks, as well as establishing collection assessment guidelines and performing an assessment. We believe that, not only have we helped advance the college’s DEI goals, we have helped make the library a more accessible place.

iSchool Capstone

2022