iSchool Capstone

2019

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Colonial Theater Centennial Book

The Colonial Theater in Idaho Falls, Idaho is turning 100 years old. The Idaho Falls Arts Council needed assistance in archiving and compiling photographs and documents to create a commemorative book for this 100 year mark. I arranged and conducted research at The Colonial Theater and The Museum of Idaho. I discovered, scanned, documented, and transcribed photographs and relevant records. I presented my findings to the Arts Council and they were pleased with the images and accounts that I discovered. Now there is more than enough content to create a book to celebrate this staple of the Idaho Falls community.
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Community Storytelling in Hamilton, WA

Hamilton, WA, a small town in Skagit County, is devastated by flooding every 3.5 years. Since 1975, residents have contemplated moving the town. Forterra, a non-profit land conservancy, wants to help. Community Storytelling in Hamilton, WA is a project initiated by Forterra, in order to better understand the community, through personal narratives and history. My involvement with this project included creating an interview guide, conducting interviews, compiling recordings, and completing a final report on my observations and common themes. This report, and the residents’ stories themselves, will assist Forterra’s continued work with residents through this transition.
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Connecting Communities and Heritage

The Aleutian and Pribilof Island Association’s cultural heritage collection contains materials pertaining to the history, language, and traditions of the Unangax peoples of the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands in Alaska. The collection was not inventoried or classified, making finding items in the collection challenging for patrons. I performed an exhaustive inventory of the collection; created a culturally appropriate classification system based on DDC; and organized the collection and designed signage to encourage easy browsing and location of materials. The collection is now more accessible, allowing patrons to access important information about Unangax cultural heritage and history.
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Creating Community Archives for Wallingford United Methodist Church

Since 1912, Wallingford United Methodist Church has served the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle. Their archive serves as a witness to the work of the congregation for LGBT inclusion since 1984, as well as other social justice movements and the daily life of a local congregation. However, the archives have not been well maintained, nor inventoried. My project identified and processed the archives while developing a finding aid which the congregation hopes to post online. In the future, both members and outside researchers will be able to access the archives while allowing the congregation to retain their records.
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CubeRule, a Cyber Security Education Platform

Cube Rule is an AWS developer education program integrated with Security Innovation’s simulation platform, “CMD+CTRL”. Cloud technology has become extremely popular. But as technology becomes more advanced, so do hackers. Many developers don't learn about security until late in their careers, which leaves a wide opening for malicious actors. Cube Rule provides a gamified simulation for developers to look through a hacker's eyes and exploit AWS vulnerabilities. Developers of all skill-levels can utilize the program, as CMD+CTRL provides hints and a scoreboard. By teaching developers to defend their platforms, Cube Rule will create a safer future for everything online.
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Curating Federal Document Collections for Arizona Memory Project

The Arizona Memory Project (AMP) is a digital platform providing access to primary sources from contributors across the State of Arizona. My project focused on Arizona Related Federal Publications, a collection of federal materials contributed by the State of Arizona Research Library. The collection, comprising over 1,500 federal publications, was too large to navigate easily and contained inconsistent and missing metadata records. To improve accessibility, I created a multi-stage plan to: i) begin organizing the large collection into smaller, topical collections, ii) standardize metadata to meet Dublin Core and AMP standards, and iii) digitize additional relevant federal publications.
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Data-Driven Parking in Seattle's Belltown North Neighborhood

An average driver in Seattle spends 58 hours a year looking for parking. To reduce this burden, city officials must first understand on-street parking occupancy and parking behaviors. The challenge is that pay station transaction data doesn’t reflect actual parking occupancy throughout the year. To reconcile this problem, we leveraged publicly available information assets to build statistical models to predict paid parking occupancy in Belltown North. Our machine learning model, analysis of factors related to occupancy, and documented process is moving the needle toward a citywide system of policies and driver tools that streamline the parking experience.
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Deepcare

Deepcare is working with SEIU 775 Benefits Group, Washington’s leading homecare benefits provider, to uncover key causes of turnover in the homecare industry. The annual turnover rate is approaching a staggering 60%, meaning that in Washington alone, 30,000 additional aides will be needed in the next decade. We built a data-mart and performed some data analysis in order to uncover the causes and predictors of this high turnover rate, and found out that much of what was conventionally thought to be true about this industry wasn’t. These results will let SEIU Benefits Group most efficiently teach and train workers.
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Demystify Adolescence and Curate Inclusion: Puberty Resources for Diverse Youth

Adolescent resources on puberty are lacking in public libraries. Information is scattered, outdated, and non-inclusive of LBGTQ+ children and children of color. All adolescents need more relevant, accessible information on sexuality, reproduction, gender, and their changing bodies. This project assessed over 200 books and online resources for sexual and ethnic diversity. The Lake Oswego Public Library collection was improved with materials purchased, consolidated call numbers, annotated booklists, and a blog. A toolkit was created for use by other libraries. The library’s collection now reflects the experiences of its diverse patrons, with better access to resources for their safety and well-being.
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Describing Born-Digital Collections: Adapting and Improving Content Standards

Descriptive standards used to develop archival descriptions—also called finding aids—are well-suited to describe the fundamental documentary elements of collections of analog materials; it becomes necessary to assess these standards’ applicability for born-digital materials, which are being ingested into repositories with increasing frequency. After writing archival descriptions of a born-digital collection which is to be accessioned by UW’s Special Collections, I have evaluated where these standards do not address the fundamental documentary elements of born-digital materials. I have also developed a set of recommended adaptations to these standards, so that they can adequately convey relevant information about born-digital materials.