Capstone Projects | Information School | University of Washington

Creating Inclusive & Representative Subject Headings for the Seattle Art Museum

The Seattle Art Museum’s Historic Media Collection (HMC) is a collection of over 3,000 digitized audiovisual materials related to the museum’s educational programs and exhibitions. Our project’s goal was to develop an initial set of subject headings for these materials. We focused this initial set on Indigenous Art because Indigenous peoples’ identities are historically underrepresented or inaccurately described in controlled vocabularies. To accompany the list, we developed a framework and guide for the museum to use in creating inclusive and representative subject descriptors for other art areas and as part of the museum’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Enhancing Toolkits for Online Medical Library

HEALWA is an online medical library for healthcare professionals hosted by the UW Health Sciences Library via a contract with the Washington State Department of Health. HEALWA sponsored this capstone project with the goal to increase visibility and accessibility of its resources to better serve the information needs of its users. The project encompassed the curation of eBooks for 12 of its existing professional toolkits, creation of 3 new interdisciplinary toolkits, and drafting of 4 blog articles on the online library's news page. The enhanced and newly created toolkits have the potential to facilitate research for Washington State's healthcare professionals.

Evaluating Potential Functionality of a Keyword Taxonomy

IHME has identified the need to evaluate if their keyword taxonomy functionality could be enhanced to improve search experience for public users of their data catalog. The results of this evaluation are a deeper understanding of the keyword taxonomy’s current functionality, how it compares to similar data catalogs, and where valuable changes would enhance current functionality. The results will improve user experience for not only public users, but internal users as well. These changes will also support more efficient internal processes and place IHME in a solid position to grow the functionality of their keyword taxonomy over time.

Extra Lives for a Resource

Don’t Die is a repository of interviews about video games, specifically: -the plight of marginalized voices in the video game industry/culture. -the neglected legacies of systems online that are preventing us from getting along. -the patterns of indifference in media and culture that diminish coverage of labor issues in entertainment industries. Founder David Wolinsky proposed a multi-year project to grow his website into a fully realized resource. Our project focused on the initial development of metadata and taxonomies, as well as making suggestions for future work to set the website up to exist and achieve its long term purpose.

File Management for Artists and Creatives

The guide created for this capstone project aims to educate artists and creatives on the importance of file management while providing a guide for implementation. The survey sent out to artist communities found that artists (1) have a limited understanding of information organization, (2) do not follow an organization system, and (3) feel that information organization is essential. These results inspired the creation of a how-to guide for artists to follow and implement into their creative profession. The guide educates on various information organization topics specific to art and creative use with modeled examples.

Game, Set, Match: Repository Development for Student Research

This project addressed the challenge of organizing and providing searchability for previously inaccessible student projects from eight years of the LIS 536 Metadata for Interactive Media course, which builds on the work of the UW GAME Research Group. With the goal of collocating projects on a broad level for high recall, we built a controlled vocabulary for tagging projects. Then, we set up the repository on Open Science Framework and created governance and usage documents. This repository and searching system improves students' and researchers' ability to explore completed projects so that they can utilize and build upon that work.

GardenSpace: Bridging the Information Gap for BIPOC Urban Gardeners in Seattle

Urban gardening involves cultivating plants in an urban environment like a community garden. In Seattle, BIPOC urban gardeners have historically encountered an information gap that has excluded them from predominantly white gardening spaces. To address this, GardenSpace provides one of the first-ever centralized digital spaces to access resources and connections within the urban gardening community in Seattle. Through our platform, these urban gardeners can explore events, engage with organizations, and learn about diverse community gardens in the metropolitan. By facilitating their integration into the broader BIPOC urban gardening community, GardenSpace fosters inclusivity and unity within Seattle's urban gardening sphere.

Genrefying For the Future

Genrefication is a growing trend in meeting library patron needs. “Research has shown that a genrefied fiction collection is simpler for students to use and locate books” (Sweeney 2013; Dunne 2015). Our capstone project completed all of the planning steps for Ms. MacDonald, the librarian at Hamilton International Middle School, as her regular day-to-day duties did not allow enough time to plan a large scale project. Using strategies such as space mapping, participatory design, data analysis, and graphic design, we completed the planning portion. Additionally, we created a step-by-step guide for genrefication and adding new materials to Destiny Follett software.

Hobbio: Bringing people together through the joy of hobbies

Hobbio is a free online platform dedicated to bringing people together from all walks of life through the joy of hobbies. With a variety of classes from a wide range of hobbies, we help connect you with certified teachers. Whether you’re interested in learning a new skill, exploring a passion, or simply connecting with like-minded individuals, we’ve got you covered. Starting a new hobby can be a difficult task as it often requires expensive equipment, pricey classes, and sometimes, lots of self-discipline. With Hobbio, we recognize these challenges and aim to alleviate them by promoting knowledge-sharing and fostering meaningful connections.

How to Find the Right Capstone Sponsor: A Guide on Maintaining Sponsor Relationships and Communications (for the iSchool)

The information problem I addressed with my project was the difficulties surrounding UW students’ abilities to find a sponsor and maintain relationships with them throughout their Capstone. To solve the issue, I created a student-written Sponsor Handbook, which navigates students through the process of finding a sponsor, interviewing them, maintaining communication, and utilizing conflict resolution techniques in the event the relationship deteriorates. As a result, students now have a resource that expands on the iSchool’s current Capstone resources regarding sponsor relations. This project will give students more confidence while searching for a sponsor and ease their anxieties about Capstone.

iSchool Capstone

2023