Seattle’s young homeless population has long been underrepresented—their stories are largely absent from public conscious. In the University District, young people often face discrimination, stereotypes, and violence from University of Washington students rooted in unaccountable misperceptions. Using Unity, Exposure has created a 3D interactive narrative to challenge preconceived notions of homeless youth and allow an audience of University of Washington students to step into the shoes of a fictional young person experiencing homelessness. The audience will interact with a cast of characters and vignettes based upon stories curated through community-grounded research. By exposing our audience to this community, students are encouraged to confront prevailing misperceptions of young people, develop empathy for them, and engage with movements addressing causes of homelessness. Just as film and literature can communicate lived experiences and motivate social change, the use of an interactive medium will be a novel approach to represent a community long neglected.

When traveling by airplane it is a known rule that you should get to the airport at least two hours before your flight because you don’t know what conditions are like within an airport. It can be difficult for travelers to navigate throughout the airport with unpredictable baggage and security lines. This can cause travelers to miss their flights, lose money, and waste time. Our project aims to solve this information problem by creating a streamlined, user-friendly application which informs users of airport conditions before their arrival at the airport. FlyMate will provide travelers with the information needed to get to the airport on time, know how long it will take to get through baggage and security lines, and find the quickest route to their gate. This will result in travelers being able to navigate more easily and efficiently within an airport as well as reducing the stress of travel.

OPERATION SACK LUNCH (OSL) is one of the largest food rescue organizations in Seattle. They rescue food throughout the greater Seattle area with refrigerated trucks, seven days a week. However, this process involved lots of tedious paperwork. Every food donation is categorized and documented, which becomes a huge time cost for the organization and donors. With our Food in Motion application, donations are entered electronically and pickups are tracked in real time by OSL management. Our application features three aspects for each three parties of our audience: donors, OSL drivers, and OSL managers. Donors can request pickups, input their donations in advance, and communicate with their drivers. Drivers can view their pickup schedule and navigate to pickup sites. With our application, the process of collecting donated food becomes more streamlined and efficient so OSL has more time to collect donations from other donors.

Studies have shown that recent college graduates are not as prepared as they could be and should be when entering the workforce; more than 4 out of 5 students graduate college without a job. Students often encounter difficulties attempting to balance work, school, and social schedules leaving them unqualified to start their careers after college graduation. Our application will connect students to employers, as well as other students, so that they can find short term flexible work. KNAQ makes finding career-relevant work experience easy, thus enabling students to: build a employer-verified portfolio, create professional connections, and earn some hard-earned cash!