iSchool graduates 311 students in 2014

Monday, July 28, 2014

For the more than 300 graduates of the UW Information School, the ceremony on Sunday, June 15, was a time to celebrate with friends and family and receive well-earned recognition from faculty and staff. This year's distinguished alumnus speaker for the event was Kabir Shahani, Informatics alum and member of the iSchool Founding Board. With more than a decade of experience in the software industry, Kabir has held a variety of roles in product development, program management and general management at Blue Dot, Inc., a social media content syndicator; and at Avanade, a joint-venture of Mi

Johnpaul Jones selected to receive the prestigious National Humanities Medal

Monday, July 28, 2014

The iSchool congratulates Johnpaul Jones for winning the 2013 National Humanities Award. Jones is the lead architect for the University of Washington Intellectual House, which will open its doors in February of 2015.  Jones worked with several iSchool students and faculty on the project and has been a guest lecturer for the school. Miranda Belarde-Lewis, PhD, (Tlingit, Zuni) worked with Johnpaul as an RA on the Intellectual House project; MSIM student and UW Tribal Liaison Ross Braine, (Apsaalooke Nation) has worked closely with Johnpaul and his team; and Cheryl Metoyer has been d

A lost culture: iSchool grad revives tradition of libraries in Cambodia

Thursday, July 24, 2014

When Wanna Net returned to Cambodia after attending the iSchool, his close friends asked him what he had studied in America. “I said library and information science and they just laughed,” says Net. “They said, ‘Why did you do that? Why not economics, law, politics, any other field?’ ” Librarians – and libraries – are underappreciated in an impoverished country that has known decades of destabilizing terror and violence, including fighting between the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge that left Net an abandoned orphan at age 1 or 2. His long journey into scholarly learning was hard

The genesis of 'Jenn': Airline avatar's story begins at the iSchool

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Jenn is the perfect employee: poised, professional, perky. She never complains, never loses her cool, always has the same sweet smile for everyone. Her voice is soothing, nicey-nice, even when customers start messing around in her personal business.  “Are you married?” guys want to know.  She kindly reminds them that she is not human.  When they tell her she’s “hot,” she gently directs them to Alaska Airlines’ warm-weather destinations.  The pretty, brown-eyed brunette is an avatar, the go-to “Ask Jenn” assistant who has provided customers with travel inf

Jake Wobbrock: Ivory tower research and startup innovation are two sides of a coin

Monday, July 21, 2014

I have two jobs, one as a tenured professor of computing and information technology at the University of Washington Information School, in Seattle, and the other as a venture-backed co-founder and CEO of a tech startup called AnswerDash. When I tell people that, many react with, “Oh, those jobs seem very different.” There are more similarities than people realize. Being a professor has a lot in common with being a business executive. First, university professors spend most of their time conducting original research attempting to solve open problems, discover new knowledge and advance th

Info alumna and UW team win Microsoft Research Design Expo

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Can a wristband prevent sexual assault? Courtney Dutton, Informatics '14, and fellow team members designed VIVE, a wearable sensor to help monitor alcohol levels. Here's the scenario. You’re at a club, dancing to a great DJ, and suddenly your wristband vibrates, signaling that one of your friends hasn’t responded to her wristband’s attempt to make sure she’s still conscious and in control. So you search the club and find your friend, extracting her from a potentially dangerous situation. That’s one of the core features of Vive, a technology concept created by University of

Are young people losing their creative edge?

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Since the 1950s, social scientists have studied creativity using a standard called the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Using that measure, researchers have found creativity in decline among young people over the past two decades. Now, a recent study has refined the picture of adolescent creativity. A team of researchers, led by Katie Davis of the University of Washington Information School, found that it matters what kind of art you’re talking about. Taking examples of fiction and visual art published in student literary magazines in the 1990s and 2000s, Davis and her team catalogued

AJ Blechner wins 2014 Borgeson Award

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

MLIS Law student AJ Blechner’s paper, “Improving Usability of Legal Research Databases for Users with Print-Disabilities” received the 2014 Earl C. Borgeson Research in Law Librarianship Award. Blechner’s article will be published in the journal Legal Reference Services Quarterly. The honor carries a $1,000 prize. For her winning paper, Blechner put several Westlaw and Lexis platforms through a rigorous series of tests using as a framework the Web Accessibility Checklist created by AccessSTEM. Her purpose was to test WestlawNext and Lexis Advance functionality from a user-centered p

At Sea in a Deluge of Data

Monday, July 7, 2014

This spring, more college students than ever received baccalaureate degrees, and their career prospects are brighter than they were for last year’s graduates. Employers responding to this year’s National Association oAt Sea in a Deluge of Dataf Colleges and Employers’ "Job Outlook 2014 Survey" aid they planned to increase entry-level hiring by almost 8 percent. But what they may not realize is that these seemingly techno-savvy new hires could be missing some basic yet vital research skills. It’s a problem that we found after interviewing 23 people in charge of hiring at leading e

Wobbrock and Ko appointed 2014 Presidential Entrepreneurial Faculty Fellows

Monday, June 30, 2014

University of Washington President Michael Young announced the appointment of ten new members to the university’s prestigious Presidential Entrepreneurial Faculty Fellows (EFF) program. This year’s appointees join eight continuing fellows previously selected for success in initiating groundbreaking programs to translate research into products and therapies, in collaborating with industry, and in sharing their knowledge with other UW researchers. Throughout their two-year terms, the ten new fellows will serve as mentors to other UW faculty, researchers and staff with entrepreneurial aspi

Five MLIS students receive 2014-15 Spectrum Scholarships

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Diversity announced the winners of the 2014-15 Spectrum Scholarships with five University of Washington Information School master of library and information science (MLIS) students among the 50 winners. The UW iSchool was among the top three MLIS programs receiving awards. Winners include: Karen Chen, first year residential student (ProQuest Scholar); Xochitl Rocha, first year residential student (ALSC Scholar in honor of Ellen Fader);  Katherine Van Arsdale, incoming online student  (ProQuest Scholar); April Ybarra, first year o

Mike Eisenberg gives closing remarks at 2014 iSchool Convocation

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Dean Emeritus Mike Eisenberg delivered these closing remarks at what will be his last convocation. Eisenberg retires in December after 15 years at the UW iSchool, a school he helped shape into one of the top information schools in the world. "Thank you, Dean Bruce. I greatly appreciate the honor of being asked to say a few remarks to close this convocation. This is special for me in a number of ways. First – these students. I’ve worked with many of these graduating students – on all levels, MLIS [particularly iYouth] and MSIM, PhD, and especially the Informatics students. This year

Katie Davis presents at TEDSalon Berlin

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

‘Bits of Knowledge’ was the theme of the first official TED event in Germany, held at the AdmiralsPalast in Berlin on June 23, in collaboration with the TEDxBerlin team. iSchool Assistant Professor Katie Davis was one of 15 speakers and performers who explored the “nexus between technological innovation, science, politics and the economy" at TEDSalon Berlin. More than 1200 people attended the sold out event, including TED fellows, TEDx organizers, and sponsors. Davis spoke about “Understanding the App Generation,” from her book, co-written with Howard Gardiner entitled “

Graduating doctoral students pursue academic and industry careers

Monday, June 23, 2014

Hard work and perseverance are a given for those pursuing a Ph.D. in Information Science at the iSchool. This year's seven Ph.D. graduates celebrated their significant achievements and their new careers as faculty members and researchers during the iSchool's graduation ceremony in Meany Hall on June 15.  iSchool Ph.D. Graduates (in order from left to right in the photo): Jeff Hemsley is a computational social scientist, drawing on theories from sociology and communication to study social media. His current research looks at information flows in social media networks, with an emphasi

David McDonald to chair HCDE; new HCI faculty bring data visualization and design expertise

Friday, June 20, 2014

The ‘i’ in iSchool means information, but for many of its current and incoming faculty, the ‘i’ also stands for the interactions people have with technology and information. Human-computer interaction (HCI), a strategic area for research and instruction at the iSchool, makes it easier for people of all ages to use digital technologies to accomplish their goals. New hires Jessica Hullman, Jaime Snyder and Jason Yip are adding HCI expertise in data visualization and digital youth — areas identified as important for iSchool growth. They join several other HCI researchers, inc