iSchool Capstone

2017

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#EscapeStone

We designed #EscapeStone: a series of interactive puzzles that enabled a team of managers at Starbucks Corporate Headquarters to break down information silos that frequently manifest in professional work teams. The team collaboratively solved problems in the context of an Escape Room - a time sensitive, immersive puzzle game that necessitates teamwork and information sharing. The uniquely structured environment ensured that they worked together to solve the challenges; as a result, team members reflected upon each other's problem solving strengths and communication styles. Through a designed experience, team members collaborated to “escape,” then evaluated their process in order to improve information sharing.
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'Where Do I Go?' An Investigation of Patron Flow at Minneapolis Central Library’s First Floor

This project came out of a desire for a more cohesive service model to be provided for patrons on the first floor of the Minneapolis Central Library, part of the Hennepin County Library system. This is the main entry point for patrons into the library as well as a triage point for most questions. Patrons can be bounced between a Welcome desk, the Service desk, the Information desk on the this floor alone. HCL has recently adopted the “patron commitments” and the analysis of the data collected during this project has been through the lens of fulfilling these patron commitments.
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206 Hip Hop Archive

While Seattle is best known for its grunge and indie music scenes, it has had a rich hip hop history as well. Currently there is no single repository, digital or physical, that is devoted to the collection and preservation of materials related to hip hop in Seattle or the Pacific Northwest. By building a robust collection of Seattle hip hop from the 1970s to current releases, making it publicly accessible in UW’s Suzzallo Library, and creating a LibGuide to promote the collection, we hope to bring more awareness and recognition to the diversity of voices in Seattle’s music scene.
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A Checkup on our Healthcare Staff

Miscommunication in healthcare teams has been identified by researchers as a serious impediment to patient safety. To address this issue, The University of Washington Medical Center’s WWAMI Institute of Simulation in Healthcare created a program called TeamSTEPPS. Since its inception, the program has done amazing work in improving healthcare communication. Unfortunately, TeamSTEPPS currently has no evaluation tool to quantitatively evaluate healthcare teamwork and communication, which makes ascertaining TeamSTEPPS training effectiveness difficult. For my Capstone, I decided to fill this gap and worked with the TeamSTEPPS clinical director to develop, test and refine a new Teamwork Observation Tool. Through the employment of this tool, TeamSTEPPS will enhance their curriculum, which will lead to better healthcare collaboration and improved patient outcomes throughout the United States.
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Actively Me: Taxonomy design for an outdoor activities app

Actively Me is an app that centralizes outdoor activity discovery, selection, and planning. A major element of the app is the ability to match users to activities based on individual preferences and temporal factors. The goal of this project was to construct a functional and scalable taxonomy that successfully addresses the information architecture and user needs of the app. Facets,terms, and structure were identified through combination of domain research, user surveys, and card sort testing.
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Activist and Artist: Planning & Envisioning Selma Waldman Collection

Our project was twofold. First, we finished processing the Selma Waldman collection for the Special Collections Department at Seattle Public Library. Waldman was a local artist and political activist who left her extensive paperwork, marginalia, and correspondence to the library. The majority of the collection had been processed previously, but we still needed to finish the last few boxes and cross-reference our findings with the preliminary finding aid. Next, we designed an exhibit for SPL to use in the future. Using SmartDraw we came up with a design to showcase Waldman’s art and activism for the public.
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Argos

We set out to address the problem of forgetfulness the stress that comes with it. We built a hub that connects with smart home devices. It learns from your interactions and notifies you with actionable reminders. If you leave a light on and we predict that it should we off, we will send you a notification and let your turn the light off from your phone. Our project makes a difference because it allows people to go about their lives without the constant worry that they forgot to do something.
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AspenCat Cleanup

The Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC) is an organization that supports libraries statewide. CLiC’s AspenCat Union Catalog allows over 100 small and rural libraries to share resources. Small libraries often cannot devote lots of time to work on their catalogs and only twelve CLiC staff serve all of Colorado. That’s where I came in. At time of submission, I had examined over 600 brief and duplicate catalog records—over 400 of which I resolved by merging and/or overlaying. After supporting CLiC staff at cataloging trainings, on May 15 I traveled to Rocky Ford, CO to assist in a hands-on staff training.
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Audio Archiving for Music Producer, Randall Dunn

This ambitious project involved cataloging, organizing, and enriching metadata for the content of dozens of hard drives spanning the nineteen-year career of esteemed record producer, and musician, Randall Dunn. Additionally, a digital preservation plan was developed and updated according to OAIS standards as a means of making formal recommendations for further preservation actions.
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Ava

Ava is a chatbot designed to facilitate and continually improve Avanade’s online customer service. Avanade has partnered with the iSchool to develop a solution that will align with their new marketing platform. Avanade‘s vision of the future revolves around artificial intelligence, and Ava is a step in that direction. With the dawn of AI on the horizon, integrating new ways for humans to interact, experience, and use technology are becoming the norm. Artificial intelligence is real, it’s driving business results, and will be a first-class citizen in the enterprise by 2020.