Communities Technology Centers (CTCs), such as libraries and nonprofits, teach people vital digital literacy skills. However, many of these organizations have no way to measure the impact of their digital literacy programs. Without a way to quantify impact, CTCs can neither assess the effectiveness of program services nor communicate the impact to funders. Outcomes-based evaluations offer a method to bridge this divide. With that in mind, I created ready to use protocols for surveys, focus groups and class observation that CTCs may use to assess digital literacy outcomes. These ready to use protocols may be used by CTCs to assess outcomes, to better understand program needs and strengths, demonstrate success to funders and potential funders, and ultimately to help ensure that all people have both access and ability to use information and communication technologies.

Most people have extra items, such as textbooks and video games, sitting on their shelves. They may only use them occasionally, but their friends and family could benefit from them. Collaborative consumption - sharing items among groups instead of buying them individually - empowers people to save money and reduce their ecological footprint. While several solutions exist for collaborative consumption, none combine an intuitive interface with a network of trusted friends and family. We are introducing Shelf, a Web application that facilitates the borrowing and lending of physical items amongst peers. Shelf integrates with social circles to leverage existing trust relationships while encouraging viral spread. We have also made security and accountability a primary concern, rewarding users who safely return items and penalizing those who do not. Our user-oriented approach incorporates extensive research and thorough planning to create a useful and relevant solution. Check us out at dontbeshelfish.com.

First Steps Preschool Infant Teachers are responsible for recording accurate and detailed information on paper charts while caring for infants in the Infant Room. One to two teachers care for five to eight infants from 7am until 6pm, Monday through Friday. Teachers dedicate over 60 minutes a day to recording and sharing with parents the activities and behaviors involving the daily health, habits, and significant developments of the infants. This all must be done while performing a variety of tasks such as feeding, changing, rocking, coddling, playing with, and/or holding one or more infants. A charting application on a mobile device in the Infant Room will allow the teachers more time to care for the infants rather than having to additionally juggle clipboards, paper, pens and other objects. Time needed for charting and verbal reports will be reduced while time available for caring for the infants will be increased.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Local courts noticed an increase in ‘pro se’ or self-represented litigation. In order to help better prepare these litigants, King County Superior Court judges and administration have commissioned a study to design the delivery of web-based information to better suit these users. Detailed analysis was conducted on the current website through the review of content inventories and sitemaps. Surveys of user behavior and observation were used to streamline assistance for domestic violence and consolidate Spanish language resources to facilitate ESL needs. In person testing was conducted with potential jurors to determine public perception and usability when facing tasks involving eviction, divorce, and juvenile justice. All data was compiled into a proposal for redesign, and presented to King County Superior Court as a set of recommendations for website improvement to better serve the needs of the pro se population.

Alaska Airlines is a major commercial airline based in Seattle, Washington. They employ approximately 3,000 flight attendants who provide direction and assistance on flights within North America. A daily focus on flight attendant scheduling and productivity metrics is necessary to effectively manage airline costs, minimize operational delays, and forecast future productivity to generate revenue and maintain market share. The interactive Flight Attendant Productivity Tool prototype we developed packages scheduling and productivity metrics in a clean and in-depth decision-making format. The tool provides Alaska Airlines management with continuous access to relevant and accurate staffing data and productivity metrics to monitor flight attendant productivity and forecast staffing needs. It enables Alaska Airlines to maintain efficient airline operation and to remain competitive in the airline business.