iSchool Capstone

2014

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The Paul and Mildred Brownell Photograph Collection

The Paul and Mildred Brownell Photograph Collection is a large unprocessed collection composed of photos, film, and ephemera from the mid-twentieth century of the Brownells’ experiences as UW Alumni, Seattle Public School teachers, and their travels in America and abroad. These items span almost 5 decades and are a valuable experience of living in the Pacific Northwest as UW alumni. The collection has been organized into specific series with regards to intellectual order which facilitates curatorial use of the collection and some public access for general research, which is imperative to keeping UW history alive. Special attention has been paid to the context in which the items were created and in preserving these items. A preliminary Encoded Archival Description (EAD) finding aid has been created to enrich Special Collection’s growing EAD database and will allow others to share in Paul’s experiences.
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Tipout: Tip Handing for Waiters

The goal behind our project is to reduce the amount of computation waiters and waitresses perform at the end of their shifts while trying to “tip out” their support staff. Currently in most high-class restaurants, the math and tracking for payouts is left to the individual waiters to handle, which can often be complicated and difficult to keep a detailed history of. As of right now, most waitstaff do this computation by hand which takes significant amount of time. By creating a web application that will be accessible on phones and desktops, we can allow employees and businesses to keep better track of what tips they are making and who they are distributing to wherever they go.
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Tracking Information Desk Interactions at the Seattle Public Library

Over the summer, The Seattle Public Library (SPL) made the switch from manual counters for reference activity to a digital clicker application. Rather than use a hand-held manual counter, librarians now track interactions at their information desks by clicking “Reference” or “Non-Reference” in an online form. However, with increasingly busy desks and more technology related questions coming forward, does this online clicker serve as a reliable measure of the information needs of SPL patrons? We conducted a total of 56 two-hour long observations across 13 SPL branches, paired with an employee questionnaire, to determine the reliability of this system. Our data found that patron needs are not necessarily reflected by the current application. In order to better serve and fund our public libraries, we propose a comprehensive tracking application that will more thoroughly track the investment needs of the SPL system.
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TravelMeet

When traveling, people can have difficulty getting the inside scoop on where to go and what to do. They also miss opportunities to meet other interesting travelers from various walks of life. So, we created TravelMeet, an Android app designed for travelers who want to meet others, find activities, and experience new cultures in a fun and spontaneous way! In addition to allowing travelers to create and join outings, TravelMeet helps local businesses and event organizers connect with out-of-towners. TravelMeet will enable travelers to do what they value most when they travel: experience new things, meet new people, and have fun!
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User Behavior Analysis: The Case Study of Golder Associates' Collaboration Workspaces

Golder Associates (Golder) has over 5,000 consultants located worldwide, and works with clients in many sectors including oil and gas, mining, and waste management. One primary internal SharePoint tool Golder consultants use to share information and stay up-to-date is Collaboration Workspaces (CWS). Within each CWS, sub-sites are broken down by client sectors, technical communities, and regions; however, not much is known about how consultants use the sub-sites and if CWS meet their needs. Our team performed user behavior analysis on a user activity log in conjunction with user research for the purpose of improving users’ internal communication, efficiency, and satisfaction within five CWS sub-sites. We helped Golder better understand the user composition, user habits, important existing features, and potential improvements of these CWS sub-sites. More important, we created a methodology that is replicable, can be built upon, and will be applied to other CWS sites to further facilitate information sharing.
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UW Data & Analytics Website Redesign

Enterprise Data & Analytics is UW’s main web site for enterprise institutional data and analytics, providing resources and how-to information that assist UW faculty and staff in accessing and using data to do their jobs and make data-informed decisions. The current website of Decision Support is built under UW-IT Information Technology site within a functional aspect navigation only. Meanwhile, the issue of accessing online resources by mobile devices is not heavily concerned in the Decision Support site. As the problems addressed, our team aims to redesign the Decision Support site from following five aspects, Info-structure, Findability, Information Delivery, Responsive Design and User Engagement. The project scope crosses from user research, workflow design, prototyping, development, and launch & maintenance. The expected outcome of this project is to address new interface of Decision Support site and deliver streamline content with the goal of enhancing brand visibility, usability, accessibility and the ease of website maintenance.
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UW Faculty Perceptions of Undergraduate Research Skills

What do you do when numbers don’t tell the whole story? The University of Washington Libraries received data from faculty members about undergraduate research skills in its 2013 Triennial Survey. Confidence had dropped regarding student abilities to develop and refine research topics, find scholarly information, and critically evaluate sources. To find why these numbers were lower than desired, we interviewed 13 faculty members in ten different departments who teach UW undergraduates, asking them about their expectations for students, important research skills in their discipline, and factors that do and don’t lead to student success. Using the qualitative data collected, we formulated recommendations for the UW Libraries Teaching and Learning Group. These recommendations will help librarians work toward measurable improvement in student research skills, while taking into account the size of the university, programs that are already in place, and the comments and suggestions heard most often during our faculty interviews.
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Voices on the World Stage: Processing the Power of Individual Experience in Recommendations for Action

Women Weave the Web” is a digital action campaign sponsored by World Pulse, a global women’s advocacy network. In Phase I of the on-line campaign, 182 journal entries from women in 41 countries over a 10 week period were analyzed to make recommendations not only concerning world-wide internet access, but also library development, internet affordability, internet rights, and technology related violence against women. Advocacy partners wish to access World Pulse data to augment their agendas with compelling stories on women’s issues for communication to global leaders. Through a process which focuses on the journal entries, women’s advocacy groups are shown real solutions to global problems while maintaining the integrity of individual experiences. Included in campaign advocacy packages, graphic summaries of recommendations, specific examples, representative quotes and links to original entries present the information in layers that will increase the utility of this powerful and unique data collection.
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Waitless: Digital Dining Experience

Our mobile application, Waitless, addresses the problem of an outdated user experience that is found in almost every restaurant around the world. The current ordering system is inefficient, requiring the customer to wait for an employee to bring them a menu, and wait yet again before ordering. Waitless is a more efficient ordering system that improves the customer dining experience, bringing it into the digital age. Waving down a waiter will be a thing of the past with orders going from the user’s mobile device straight to the kitchen. The impact of Waitless is to save our users time and provide them the convenience of ordering throughout their meal, something that is difficult with a traditional menu. By speeding up the dining process from start to finish, restaurants will be able to flip tables faster and serve bigger tickets, meaning more profit for business owners.
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We CAN: Building a Sustainable Non-Profit

We CAN is a proposed nonprofit organization providing nature and animal assisted activities for youth victims of violent crimes in the greater Tacoma area. Being the victim of a crime should not be a lifelong punishment. We feel that children who participate in our programs, along with traditional therapy, should have a greater chance for successfully recovering from trauma and abuse they have had to endure. Our programs use animal assisted activities and nature adventures to help children who have experienced trauma or abuse learn to develop healthy trusting relationships to live full and productive lives.