Students tackle real-world problems in Informatics projects

Students in the Information School’s Intellectual Foundations of Informatics (INFO 200) and Client-side Web Development (INFO 343) courses showed their final projects in a pair of open houses on Dec. 9 and 10.

In INFO 200, students work in teams on a quarter-long project where they identify a problem, do user research, and consider the social and ethical issues, then design and prototype a solution. Students presented their work to iSchool faculty and visitors in the Commons at Mary Gates Hall.

Among the INFO 200 students’ project prototypes: an app to crowdsource reports of potholes and other minor repairs within a city; an app that helps match voters to presidential candidates who fit their views; a campus textbook-exchange website; and an app designed to match people with social circles based on their interests.

In the Web development class, which is part of the core Informatics curriculum, students worked in teams to create effective, usable, dynamic, and responsive applications that meet user needs.

Among the INFO 343 students’ work: a website that maps U.S. nonprofit organizations; a data project designed to make scholarly articles more accessible; and a database for the iSchool’s GAMER group to catalog video games.