HEALWA is an online medical library that provides resources at no additional cost to eligible healthcare professionals in Washington State, in partnership with the WA Department of Health. HEALWA sponsored us to redesign their medical toolkits as part of their outreach and expansion project to increase utilization among potential users. We evaluated HEALWA’s toolkits for accessibility and functionality using their eJournals, eBooks, Databases, and Continuing Education materials, and we created new interdisciplinary toolkits for specific health topics. Our toolkit recommendations have the potential to improve health outcomes for Washington state residents by promoting healthcare provider access to clinical research information.

Sleep deficiency affects over 20% of the estimated 300,000 children with arthritis nationwide. The Sleep Self-Management Intervention for Children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis study at the UW School of Nursing is developing a web-based learning application that will help children be better equipped to improve their sleep quality. The SleepWell skill for Alexa was researched and designed in tandem with this study, for use as a potential tool to provide additional ad-hoc support with sleep. The voice user interface design of SleepWell includes guidance for relaxation techniques, a soothing sound and music library, and tools for developing healthy sleep habits.

We are a mentorship management system that enables organizations such as companies and universities to build meaningful mentorship between their employees/alumni and the tech of tomorrow. Our system handles each step of organizing a mentorship program, right from inviting potential mentors and mentees to signup to matching them using our mentor-mentee matching recommendation system to introducing mentors and mentees to each other and checking in on their progress. The existence of such a platform will help ensure companies can quickly set up their own mentorship programs and make their contribution in giving back to the tech community.

The Emma B. Andrews Diary Project consists of 19 volumes of letters and diaries from the Golden Age of Egyptology (1889-1913). Built in Omeka, the website has not been updated since 2013, yet it has accrued a wealth of content. Our project set out to restructure the information architecture, redesign the metadata by creating linked relationships, and edited the custom theme to improve usability.

The Public Health Department of Seattle and King County maintains a comprehensive collection of data called the Community Health Indicators (CHI) dataset. These indicators aim to measure health behaviors, health outcomes and demographics of King County residents. The CHI online data portal draws in a broad range of users, including researchers, nonprofits, policy-makers and concerned citizens. However, some users had difficulties navigating and understanding this website. Our team utilized a user-centered design approach to create a three-part solution to tackle these problems. Our solutions include: 1) information reorganization and search functionality, 2) video tutorials, and 3) data visualizations.

The usability of online collections is predicated on their information architecture and the quality of user experience design. Institutions investing in digitizing collections are dually tasked with creating an online experience that intuitively facilitates casual and curated browsing, search features, and logical connections to relevant content. Utilizing qualitative research methods - structured interviews, usability tests, affinity mapping, etc. - this work sought to discover the challenges faced by cultural institutions who provide online collections, and how those collections might be experienced by lay users. The resulting identified trends indicate an industry-wide need for improved user experience design and information architecture.

Hidden Gem is a resource for people looking to discover new places and activities in the Pacific Northwest. Instead of having the same list of 'touristy' activities pop up from the current databases, people can view and contribute to a growing list of unique and interesting experiences. Our resource will allow users to continuously awe themselves and create a closer connection between them and their city. Hidden Gem brings the lesser-known places to life and provides people with the information they need to plan their next adventure.

The Orbis Cascade Alliance is a nonprofit consortium of 39 universities throughout the Pacific Northwest. They advance learning and research by combining the physical and digital library resources of their member universities to serve over 275,000 students. For my capstone, I constructed and conducted a series of tests designed to evaluate the Alliance’s catalog user interface and the information architecture through which they organize digital and physical materials. The results of these usability tests, card sorting activities, and interviews will help the Alliance to continue to promote academic success and better research.

This project set out to create a linked dataset using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) data model, describing Historical Children’s Literature volumes from the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. The dataset describes both physical items and digital surrogates accessible via UW’s CONTENTdm digital collections platform, including many volumes digitized by a 2017 MLIS capstone group. The publishing of bibliographic datasets using the RDF model has the potential to bring greater exposure to library collections as this structured data can be queried across institutional and subject-area boundaries to connect users to content in new ways.