Megan Finn: Understanding disasters and information

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

UW Information School Assistant Professor Megan Finn is passionate about disasters — specifically, understanding how they shape the way people share and use information. After earning her B.S. in Computer Science at the University of Michigan, Finn, who joined the Information School in July, 2014, spent three years as a Research Engineer at Hewlett Packard in Silicon Valley. After that, she entered U.C. Berkeley’s School of Information, where she earned her master’s and Ph.D., spending the last two years as a postdoctoral researcher with the Social Media Collective at Microsoft Resear

Jessica Luke appointed senior lecturer at the Information School

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Jessica Luke is interested in people and the role that museums play in human development over an entire life span – subjects that connect well with information behavior and early learning research at the Information School. “I am so pleased to join the iSchool. It is such a welcoming, supportive group, filled with people doing such interesting and compelling work,” says Luke. In addition to her iSchool appointment, Luke is a senior lecturer for the museology graduate program. Her research is focused in particular on museums and youth development, family learning, and parent in

iSchool appoints information management expert as lecturer

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Michael Doane is an expert in information architecture and content management. As an experienced business consultant, he has worked with clients in all types of industries to develop data models and taxonomies for their enterprise content management systems. Doane, a newly appointed iSchool lecturer and master of library science alumnus (2005), brings his 18-year experience to graduate students so they can learn both the theory and practice of information management (IM) in a wide variety of settings. “I like to teach students how to use the 'tools of the trade' that they will most lik

UW students hack housing at Zillow Hackathon

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Zil­low and UW’s depart­ment of Com­puter Sci­ence & Engi­neer­ing, with par­tic­i­pa­tion from the federal government, recently hosted the Hack Housing Hackathon at Zillow headquarters in Seattle. The goal of the weekend-long hackathon was to develop innovative solutions to help home buyers and renters who have particular needs—specifically first-time homebuyers, senior citizens, and low-income renters. Hackathon participants received newly released government data (on top­ics such as fed­eral hous­ing pro­grams, apart­ment build­ings with acces­si­ble apart­ment

Michael Freeman brings data visualization and global healthcare experience to the classroom

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

New iSchool Lecturer Michael Freeman is passionate about transforming students into skilled and independent learners who are inspired to create positive change. “I’m excited about empowering students with technical capabilities, and exposing them to socially impactful applications of those skills,” says Freeman. “ As a self-taught developer, I’m looking forward to guiding students through the challenging and fulfilling process of learning how to code – something any student can do. Coming from the global health field, I plan to demonstrate the diverse and impactful ways of achie

Valentine’s Day ‘edit-a-thon’ to address Wikipedia gender gap

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

There is a widely recognized gender gap in the English language Wikipedia. Several campus units are teaming to offer a four-hour hands-on workshop and discussion to bring feminist dialogues and theory to the information website, the seventh most-viewed in the United States. The event, titled “I Love To You: Critical Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon,” is being organized by Amanda Menking (pictured), a doctoral student in the Information School, and Monika Sengul-Jones, a graduate researcher visiting the UW communications department from the University of California, San Diego. “Essen

Annie Searle joins iSchool faculty

Monday, February 2, 2015

As an internationally known expert in operational risk management and ethics of information, Annie Searle has a lot to offer students in the University of Washington Information School. Searle joins the iSchool as Lecturer in August. Searle is very familiar with the iSchool. She has served as affiliate instructor since 2006 and developed two courses on information and operational risk that are now regular electives for the masters of science in information management (MSIM) program. She teaches those courses, as well as a course on policy, law and ethics in information management.

Gamification scholar joins iSchool faculty

Monday, February 2, 2015

The iSchool's new senior lecturer, Joel Ross, encourages students to take on a 'playful', or questioning attitude when learning to solve problems. He says this approach allows them to learn how to learn. Ross applies this philosophy to his own work studying gamification and use of digital and non-digital games for purposes other than entertainment. “I’m excited to be joining the iSchool and for the opportunity to teach within a creative, interdisciplinary environment—one in which students and faculty are focused on developing new ways that technology can be used to improve the world a

New iSchool faculty take a fresh look at data visualization

Monday, February 2, 2015

Seeing is believing. Or is it? Two new researchers at the iSchool suggest there may be more going on than meets the eye in the data-driven visualizations we rely on daily – the treemaps and flowcharts, scatterplots and interactive timelines that make a mass of data accessible and digestible. A hundred questions can lurk beneath the colorful surface. Who created the visualization? What assumptions went into the design? What biases? How accurate are the sources? How reliable the presentation? Too often, consumers don’t ask such questions when encountering an image, say Jessica Hullman and

Q&A with the co-editors of Circulation: Megan Carlin and Becky Ramsey

Monday, February 2, 2015

Launched in 2013, Circulation is the student-run journal of the Information School. The publication is a venue for students’ creative expression and academic work, and is intended to support interest in literature and scholarly communication at the iSchool. It is published electronically three times a year, with additional contributions on their blog and social media platforms. The Winter edition marks the first time the journal submissions were peer-reviewed. Co-editors and MLIS students Megan Carlin (MC) and Becky Ramsey (BR) offered their thoughts about the peer-review experience and t

Technology & Social Change Group to work with Gates Foundation Global Libraries on legacy strategy

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The University of Washington Information School’s Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA), including their longstanding research collaborators at the US Impact Studies group, has been identified as one of three lead legacy partners expected to continue the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries initiative and build on their 20 year, $1 billion global investment to help bridge digital divides both in the United States and globally. “This is a tremendous honor. TASCHA strives to conduct research that makes a difference in the world, and it will be a gre

In Remembrance: Peter Hiatt, 1930-2014

Friday, January 23, 2015

The iSchool pays tribute to Peter Hiatt, who was appointed director of the University of Washington Graduate Library School in 1974 and retired in 1998 as professor emeritus. His many accomplishments at the UW included formulating and implementing a change in curriculum for the school’s two-year master's degree program in the fall of 1979. At the time, the UW and UCLA were the only schools in the nation to offer a two-year master of librarianship program. The curriculum change addressed the impact of new technologies on libraries and expanded the number and depth of specialties available

Jason Yip: Partnering with kids to design learning technology

Friday, January 16, 2015

When new iSchool Assistant Professor of Digital Youth Jason Yip was a young kid growing up near Washington, D.C., one of his favorite pastimes was learning about science by exploring the area’s world-class museums. “Not that I don’t love Seattle—but one thing Seattle does not have is free museums,” Yip said. “I got lucky—my parents were like, what do we do with him? Let’s just take him to the museum! I loved them, and I loved tinkering and messing around with things. By the time I was in high school, I was in love with science.” That early love of science led Yip to an

Informatics students impress industry panel of judges with search services

Thursday, January 15, 2015

In a crowded field of search engines, it is quite a challenge to come up with a search service concept that is new and relevant to potential users. Undaunted, the Informatics students in William Jones’ ‘Introduction to Search’ course accepted the challenge as part of their culminating class project. “Students have built these search services in areas overlooked by the “big guys,” said Jones, “and I’m impressed with the quality, creativity and sheer hard work going into them.”  The class divided into six teams and used open source software to create a proprietary se

'Going Viral' scores second major award for author Karine Nahon

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Choice magazine has named Going Viral an Outstanding Academic Title (OAT) from over 7,000 works reviewed in 2014. Less than 10 percent of publications achieve this rating, making the designation significant to academic librarians that rely on the magazine’s reviews to help make decisions about their collections and to researchers looking for important scholarly trends. Books that make the OAT list are considered excellent in their presentation and scholarship, distinctive and important in their field, and valuable to undergraduate students. “When we started the journey of writing