iSchool Capstone

2013

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PUNCH-n-DONE: A construction industry punch-list management application

In the past decade, the construction industry has been transformed by the use of on-site technology for maximizing efficiency, communication, and data storage.  But one aspect of every project remains under served: the close out, or what the industry calls the “punch” process.   This is the process of identifying every aspect of a project, down to the smallest detail, that needs attention or repair before the building is turned over to the clients. Historically, creating a punch-list is a labor intensive, paper-based process that involves one or more individuals inspecting the new construction, making notes about incomplete or damaged components and then assigning a resource to attend to it. To alleviate this burdensome activity we have created a mobile application that allows construction workers to create, update, sort, view, archive and complete punch-list items on a tablet pc or android phone. Punch-n-Done offers prequalified lists of building components with easy point and click features to help the end user efficiently capture and organize information to distribute to the appropriate resource for completion.
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Rescue

Animal shelters are in need of a technological upgrade to better connect people with animals in need of homes. As the internet becomes the central hub for information exchange, nonprofit shelters now have a necessity to display available animals online. Rescue is a web and mobile application that allows users to browse adoptable animals, provides a system for shelters to create catalogues of their animals and share media with their communities to increase visibility. Based on usability testing, users were able to locate specific information faster than similar applications. Rescue strives to provide a usable and delightful platform for shelters to expose their animals in need to a larger audience.
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Sleep Fixer

Have you ever suffered from a bad sleep schedule that you want to get away from? Don’t you know that using your mobile phone to tracks your sleep schedule is super easy? Sleep Fixer is our Windows Phone answer to this problem. It appears as an alarm clock app, tracks users’ sleep schedule, and visualizes the collected data. The app tracks users’ everyday sleep time, wakeup time, and wakeup mood. Then it uses the data to create multiple charts including the average time in bed, the average time of going to bad, the variance of bed time, etc., and generate a Sleep Score. The app provides a simple data structure and vibrant visualization, which enables the user to get a clear picture of how well he/she sleeps. Furthermore, by comparing the sleep scores generated from different time periods, users can interpret whether their sleep quality is improving.
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Strategy and Analytics for Gamification

Costco Information System (IS) department manages workflow processes like Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and Solution Delivery Method (SDM), to stay ahead of its competition. These processes are very critical to Costco management, as they help to better understand needs of their customers and employees. However, these new workflow processes are extremely complicated and difficult to follow without proper training. In this project, we developed a Gamification strategy for a mobile game application that would help Costco IS employees learn these new processes. It would help enhance their productivity through better process recognition, higher incentives and knowledge certifications. With our strategy, Costco IS employees would easily understand roles and responsibilities within and outside their groups as laid out in these workflow tools. Our Gamification strategy would make their learning fun, engaging and hassle free experience.
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The Department of Mysteries: An Alternate Reality Game for Information Literacy

The Department of Mysteries game addresses a twofold problem in information literacy instruction: 1) Instructors need new techniques to prepare their students for changing information needs and practices, and 2) students require encouragement to use information resources outside of their comfort zones. Addressing these elements individually is insufficient, as past efforts have failed to address the range of learning styles. Games provide structured play and social opportunities as internal motivation, allowing students to “mess around” as they explore concepts and skills that aid their critical development. The Department of Mysteries addresses these concerns through puzzles, skill challenges, and narrative segments, both online and face-to-face.
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The MED Project: A Microbial Ecology Sample Tracking System

The J. Lampe Lab at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center currently uses a manual organizational model to manage thousands of samples that is prone to data loss and human errors. The lab is a part of the cancer prevention program and conducts multi-million dollar research studies that evaluate changes in human gut microbial composition from variations in diet or disease states. These studies necessitate an effective system that supports the tracking of these samples through various stages of analyses. We created the MED Project to address these limitations and provide complementary features that will increase process efficiency, in addition to retaining data integrity. The solution integrates an adaptive database system with a user interface designed for lab technicians to intuitively record and retrieve sample metrics. The database incorporates statistical automation, quality controls, and analytical reporting, while the front-end structures forms for accessible data input and manipulation. The implementation of this product provides the lab with a system that centralizes all studies and associated samples, accurately monitors assay processing, and automates time consuming, repetitive tasks.
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The Multicultural Access Project (the MAP)

Youth librarians are uniquely able to encourage cultural awareness in the populations they serve. Despite increasing emphasis on cultural competence for librarians, many library science programs have no requirement for such training and librarians have never received instruction in cultural competency. The MAP project seeks to create a central hub for librarians to receive training and to access materials and resources that will provide a culturally rich and welcoming environment in libraries.
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The Neutropenia Clinical Dashboard

Every year in the United States, an estimated 20-30% of patients with potentially fatal diseases are misdiagnosed. At the same time, integrating existing electronic medical records systems to gain a comprehensive understanding of patient medical trends is often complicated and time-consuming at best, delaying critical decisions necessary to patient care. Finally, in many cases patient clinical data continue to be entered and stored in error-prone spreadsheets. The Neutropenia Clinical Dashboard was developed to provide clinicians and staff at the Severe Chronic Neutropenia International Registry at UW Medicine the tools to accurately and efficiently analyze patient bone marrow, physical development, clinical event, and medication data, and in the process improve patient diagnosis and care.
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The Seattle Jazz Archive

The Seattle Public Library’s Special Collections has done a fantastic job of preserving Seattle’s local history, but one of Seattle’s mainstays, its music, has yet to be addressed. This project broke new ground for Seattle Public Library by establishing a foundation for preserving audio recordings as part of the library’s special collections and providing the framework for building a collection in years to come. In addition to writing a collection scope statement, Dylan Joy and Dave Zelonka examined the issues of preservation, copyright, and access in regards to collecting archival audio material and tested a pilot collection. Now equipped with the necessary tools, the Seattle Public Library is closer to providing access to the art and history of Seattle’s jazz music than ever before.
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Too Many Programmers: Infsek

Companies today are looking to hackers and security professionals to help them secure their assets and protect sensitive information. In this field, there are limited resources for interested individuals to learn and stretch their skills. To address this, we have engineered a website to educate those interested in hacking and security. Our solution acts as a networking platform allowing people of varying skill levels to come together and help each other learn. Through our website, professionals can create and host web challenges to be attacked by sandboxing, the process of duplicating an environment. Users obtain their own unique copy of the challenge in order to complete it at their own pace, communicating with other members for tips and advice. We have successfully created a working prototype that is being currently used by invited members in a beta testing phase. We have a number of security professionals and college students using the site and providing us with feedback on how to continue the project. We hope that our success with this project will provide an innovative solution to hacking and security education.