MSIM students' internships include video games, cybersecurity

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Here’s a look at how some students in the iSchool’s Master of Science in Information Management program have been spending their summer: Sonal Srivastava  Interning at Blizzard Entertainment in Irvine, California. Blizzard is a video game developer and publisher of games such as World of Warcraft, Diablo, Hearthstone and Starcraft. Q: What are you working on? A: I am interning as User Experience Researcher and Designer. The first phase of my work is exploratory research to find out how our players play games and how they interact with players in and out of the game. This i

'IT identity': Technology can make you feel like a different person

Friday, August 14, 2015

You answer your email, check the traffic, and thumb through your friends' latest baby pictures. With your smartphone in hand, you’re connected, productive, empowered. You feel like yourself. And when you're away from your phone, you’re just not yourself at all. This emotional bond that many share with the technologies they use is what fascinates Michelle Carter, an assistant professor at the University of Washington Information School. The extent to which a person's sense of self is tied to a piece of information technology is what she calls an "IT identity." "We have all of th

MLIS alums play key roles at Library of Congress

Friday, August 7, 2015

John Cole was in danger of becoming a TV-snubbing book snob in the 1960s when the director of the graduate School of Librarianship – now the iSchool – shook up his thinking. Even if they didn’t watch TV, Professor Irving Lieberman told his students it was their duty to learn about it and keep informed about it. The director’s eyes were on the future. “He kept reminding us that it is a wide and ever-changing world of technology, and as new professionals we should look carefully at new developments and see if we can use them to our advantage,” says Cole, who has carried that messa

Students put data to work in Web development class

Friday, August 7, 2015

Students in the Information School’s Client-Side Web Development class have been spending part of their summer doing interesting things with data. Got a song stuck in your head? Tisha Trongtham tapped into the Spotify API to create “Your Next 5 Songs,” an application that recommends five more songs based on one you like. The idea was based on the Seattle Public Libraries’ “Your Next 5 Books,” in which librarians make recommendations based on a book you like. Stephen Rimbakusumo had a different spin on Spotify. He made a guessing game in the vein of “Name That Tune.” Enter

Incoming Informatics class breaks records

Friday, July 31, 2015

The new cohort of Informatics students will find more colleagues for project collaboration and networking when classes begin this fall.  At 210, it is one-third larger than the previous entering class and reflects a high demand for the major. As a STEM major, it is one of several at the University of Washington that have competitive admissions processes.  Applications to the program have increased dramatically (see chart), and the iSchool has grown the size of the program to accommodate the interest. Students in Informatics learn to design and create information systems, user i

Classroom is all fun and games for iSchool's Jin Ha Lee

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Jin Ha Lee has turned a scholarly eye on a topic dear to her heart: Fun. “It’s an important part of our life, and often undervalued,” says Lee, the new chair of the iSchool’s Master of Library and Information Science program. She’s an avid gamer and pop culture wonk who believes the way we play tells a lot about us as a society. Like the stone and wood games of ancient cultures we study in museums, our “Minecrafts” and “Angry Birds,” “Fallouts” and “Wii Fits” and “Dungeons and Dragons” could one day give clues to who we were and how we spent our free time, s

iSchool undergrad Emmanuel 'Izzy' Gambliel is on a roll

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

What do cybersecurity, social dancing, and roller derby have in common? Just ask Izzy. UW Information School student Emmanuel “Izzy” Gambliel is not your ordinary undergrad. As he explains, “I’m very much an individualist. I don’t generally fit in in any box.” For starters, when Gambliel joined the iSchool in 2013 to pursue his degree—while simultaneously earning a BA in Mathematics—the long-time Seattle resident had already enjoyed what most people would consider a long, successful career in high tech. He’d worked for more than 13 years as a game tester, IT manager, pr

UW Distinguished Librarian and iSchool alumnus is a 'born cataloger'

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

As a kid, Steve Shadle ran his very own library. Collecting all of his Scholastic Book Club books together, Shadle gave each one a spine label, put cards in the back and checked them out to all of his friends. Differentiating each as ‘fiction’ and ‘nonfiction,’ he even placed an ‘8’ on poetry books, the work of a Dewey Decimal prodigy. Now, Shadle is this year’s recipient of UW’s Distinguished Librarian award. “I was a born cataloger,” he said. “It was always libraries as a kid. I was always a reader. Libraries were a comfortable environment for me.” A Spokan

iSchools organization names David Fenske executive director

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The iSchools organization has named David Fenske its new executive director. Fenske, who is dean emeritus of the College of Computing & Informatics at Drexel University, will oversee administrative operations for the iSchools organization for the next two years. The position of executive director was created earlier this year, in accord with the organization’s recent incorporation as a 501c3 in Washington, DC. Fenske is the first individual to hold the position. The iSchools organization is a worldwide association of information schools dedicated to advancing the information field. Th

Bryan Gula: Startup CTO, 'Grease' Danny Zuko and Informatics student

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

With his quaffed, jet-black hair, bright eyes, and beaming smile, Bryan Gula looks like he was born to shout ‘greased lightnin!’ And starting July 9, he will. Starring as slick, cool-guy heartthrob Danny Zuko, Gula, a rising senior in UW’s Information School, is using his theater skills in more ways than one. Originally from Gig Harbor, WA, Gula started at UW in 2012. After hopping into intro computer science courses and entering the University’s emerging musical theater program, Gula sought an additional major for his tech/developer mind. “I have a business persona but I’m a

Four iSchool MLIS students receive 2015-16 Spectrum Scholarships

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

The American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Diversity announced the winners of the 2015-16 Spectrum Scholarships with four University of Washington Information School master of library and information science (MLIS) students among the 60 winners.  Winners include: Nicola Andrews, second year student; Erica Ervin, first year student; Sunny Kim, first year student; Sarah Reis, first year student and ProQuest Scholar in memory of Ron Clowney.  According to the ALA press release, the Spectrum Scholarship Program received three times as many applicat

iSchool's Jake Wobbrock featured in New York Times

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Jake Wobbrock, an associate professor with the UW iSchool, talked to the New York Times about his role as founding CEO of AnswerDash, which provides automated customer service for websites. At the iSchool, Wobbrock specializes in human-computer interaction, working to improve the ways humans interact with computers, devices, and information. In the Q&A published Tuesday, Wobbrock talked about his dual role as a professor and CEO of a start-up: “My board has told me that I was pretty self-aware as a first-time C.E.O. It might be because at some level I have a dual identity. I d

iSchool alum wins scholarship for copyright work at college library

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

University of Washington Information School alum Kathleen DeLaurenti has been awarded the 2015 Robert L. Oakley Memorial Scholarship, the American Library Association announced. The scholarship, established by the Library Copyright Alliance, supports research and advanced study for librarians in their early- to mid-careers who are interested and active in public policy, copyright, licensing, open access and their impacts on libraries. DeLaurenti, who earned her MLIS at the iSchool in 2008, serves as the arts librarian at the College of William and Mary, where she led a user-centered redesig

Grace Lee wins 2015 Borgeson Award

Friday, June 26, 2015

MLIS Law student Grace Lee’s paper, “Draw Me a Picture: Instructional Visual Displays in the Academic Law Library” received the 2015 Earl C. Borgeson Research in Law Librarianship Award. Lee’s paper will be published in the journal Legal Reference Services Quarterly. The honor carries a $1,000 prize. In her winning paper, Lee explores how law librarians can incorporate visual displays into academic law library services. Lee considers whether visual aids such as infographics could be an effective way to convey information in law libraries, and concludes that it's a potential starting

Capstone 2015: Showcasing student ingenuity

Monday, June 22, 2015

The iSchool’s signature Capstone event featured 133 projects from 339 graduating students, making it the largest Capstone ever. Projects were judged to determine which had the most potential for commercialization and social impact. A new Discovery award recognized research projects. Attendees were encouraged to vote for the audience choice awards. (All winners pictured left.) Held annually, Capstone showcases the breadth of skills and expertise students develop in the B.S. in Informatics (INFO), M.S. in Information Management (MSIM) and the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS)