iSchool Capstone

Award Winner

2016

The Library of Things Extended: Launching a Public-Library Affiliated Tool Lending Library

In collaboration with the Hillsboro Public Library, the information problem is how to craft an extension of the current non-traditional collection – the “Library of Things” – into one of the few tool lending libraries affiliated with a public library affiliated. To solve this problem, I assisted from research on waiver verbiage to targeted marketing and strategic planning. I have been on the ground floor of a new community resource, a part of the origin story of a burgeoning force in public libraries, a pivotal opportunity to provide an innovative, yet essential service. The “Library of Things” is a service model expanding libraries’ lending capabilities beyond books. Public libraries embrace and exemplify this emerging feature of the “sharing economy”. Talk of the sharing economy tends to revolve around flashy startups which disrupt markets. Yet public libraries were sharing before it was cool: lending materials to people who, in some sense, collectively own them yet may not otherwise be able to afford them. The sharing service model evokes a sense of community, resonates with cultivating genuine connections and lasting engagement.

We The People: Empowerment Through Design

The Indian Judicial System has an unfavorable public image. Layers of organizational, procedural and administrative intricacies pose challenges for citizens, around discoverability and consumability of legal information. Out of over 75 judicial websites that currently exist, over 90% are outdated, poorly designed, and lack a consistent structure, further impacting the trustworthiness of the system. 67% of citizens are more likely to trust their government if it is accessible online (Deloitte, e-Governance 2015). However, citizens require more than an online presence; they need a judicial system to be a beacon of trust, efficiency and consistency. Our team has used Design Science Research methodology to transform traditional approaches towards designing judicial portals. Using National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission of India as a case-in-point, we have redesigned their website by changing the underlying information architecture, redefining content strategy and employing an empathic design pattern. Our contribution to the cause of better jurisprudence is a knowledge artifact - an academic paper outlining a scalable and repeatable process that can be used to develop or re-design any judicial portal. Through this project, we will equip governments with a framework for bridging information gaps in digital governance and improve public perception through value-driven, citizen-centered design.

2015

Beyond BiblioTEC: Creating a Sustainable Pop-up Makerspace Toolkit for Public Libraries

Makerspaces— creative environments dedicated to active learning—are a growing trend in libraries; however, without a contingency plan for sustaining makerspaces, the momentum that libraries have harnessed from the “maker movement” could halt to a standstill. Our research took us to Kitsap County, where nearly 258,000 patrons are served by the regional library system. BiblioTEC (Technology, Education, and Community) is an IMLS award-winning STEM learning lab at Kitsap Regional Library. In order to enable the continued success of BiblioTEC as they enter a new phase of development, we created a Pop-Up Makerspace Toolkit for use in public library learning initiatives. We developed a scalable outcome-based curriculum to provide informal learning for at-risk youth and designed transferable models for library learning labs. Through our work in the community we have helped Kitsap Regional Library strengthen their educational outreach and empower patrons to learn, dream, and make.

Creating an Academic Library in a Women’s Prison

Freedom Education Project Puget Sound (FEPPS) is a nonprofit organization that provides college classes leading to an Associate of Arts and Sciences degree at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor, WA. Classes are taught by faculty from local colleges and universities with the same academic expectations they would have in a typical college setting. Students work hard to meet and exceed these expectations, but they have limited information resources available to support their studies. We have partnered with FEPPS to address this information gap by creating a small academic library for the students inside the prison. Over 1,000 donated books have been gathered, sorted by subject, and entered into a basic inventory catalog. We have established circulation policies and procedures, and have created collection development and maintenance guidelines. Students are already making good use of the library for class assignments and independent learning.

Early Literacy Portal: The Five Practices

Parents and caregivers are their child’s first and best teachers. The first 2,000 days of a child’s life (birth to the time a child enters Kindergarten) are critical for cognitive, social and emotional development. Therefore, early learning plays an important role in preparing a child to be successful in school. Early literacy is a component of early learning that encompasses the skills needed for children to communicate and understand language before they can read and write. There are five fun and simple practices that can be incorporated into daily routines beginning at birth to raise successful learners: talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing. This project focuses on educating the community about these five practices, specifically through the use of a short video series that can be linked and distributed through many channels. Community education will provide people with the knowledge to help make a positive impact on young learners.

Enriching the Joy of Reading for Young Adult Readers in Ghana

Today’s generosity for book donation is well-intended, yet there is a disparity between the books donated by NGOs compared to the need and relevance of receiving young adult readers in Ghana, Africa. Two critical components to the book donation process is missing. First, communication between the school in need of reading materials and the organization providing reading materials are not aligned. Second, donated books do not include briefing materials to help the educator or librarian make recommendations to readers. This Capstone project, Enriching the Joy of Reading for Young Adult Readers in Ghana recommends adding relevant steps and content to the process. By including a “book kit” sticker inside donated books or electronically loaded in the donated Worldreader e-reader, deeper insight to the content will result in a productive, perhaps exciting, reader services exchange between librarian and young adult reader and serve as a means to increase literacy.

Fostering Digital Inclusion in King County with Adult Digital Literacy Workshops for Latinas

Digital technologies can be powerful tools to empower marginalized communities. While libraries and community organizations provide free public access to these technologies, new users must learn to implement these tools in ways that are relevant to their lives. In order to engage with Latina women and their families around technology use, a group of University of Washington students partnered with Casa Latina, an education and worker’s center for immigrant Latino laborers, and library staff from King County Library System and Seattle Public Library. For the project, funded in part by the City of Seattle Technology Match Fund, I created a series of Spanish-language adult digital literacy workshops based on the expressed needs and interests of women at Casa Latina. I am facilitating these weekly workshops at Casa Latina and branch libraries over a six-month period.

Starting from Scratch: Connecting School-Aged Children with Coding Concepts

Many children use technology regularly but are unfamiliar with underlying concepts of computer programming. ScratchJr is an introductory programming language aimed at users ages 5 and up. Similar to the Scratch programming language developed at MIT, ScratchJr works like a jigsaw puzzle, directing users to snap together pieces of code to create strings of commands. Through a series of four after-school workshops, we utilized ScratchJr on iPads to introduce coding and programming basics to twelve 2nd and 3rd grade students at Northgate Elementary School. Under our direction, students learned to create video game narratives in which they controlled their characters' movements, appearances, and speech with the coding commands available on the application. In our final lesson, we introduced students to the original Scratch and collaboratively created a game. We hope that our computer science-based program has given students increased confidence with technology, and has fostered an interest in STEM fields.

Step Stone

With a 21% increase in homelessness over the past year alone, the resources available to Seattle’s homeless are now more important than ever. However aside from word of mouth, the ways to find the nearest shelter or free shower are minimal and dated. Step Stone, a mobile friendly web application, is designed as a resource that aggregates information on amenities in the Seattle area. These amenities could be a place to sleep, get medical aid, or even a place offering free bus tickets. Additionally, Step Stone tracks and displays the capacity of participating homeless shelters in real-time, helping users decide where to seek shelter. Coupled with SMS and email capabilities for institutions to send news and updates to users, Step Stone is the ideal tool to

Tech Prep Courses: Feedback Study for Improving Design

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.