Greetings from Earth: Podcast revisits Voyager’s ‘Golden Record,’ 1977

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Forty years ago this month, Planet Earth said hello to the cosmos with the launch of the two Voyager probes that used gravity to swing from world to world on a grand tour of the solar system. Each bore a two-sided, 12-inch, gold-plated copper “Golden Record” of sights and sounds from Earth and its people — and a stylus to help play the record. About 20 billion kilometers (about 12.5 billion miles) from home now, Voyager I has since become the most distant human-made object in space. Voyager 2, in clear second place, is now about 17.2 billion kilometers away. You could call

New iSchool faculty member Alexis Hiniker studies online habits, good and bad

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Almost 80 percent of Americans have smartphones. On average, they check them more than 140 times a day. Many are not happy about it, expressing feelings of dissatisfaction with the waste of time, the meaninglessness of the experience, and their seeming inability to break their onscreen habits, reports new iSchool faculty member Alexis Hiniker. “People are often dissatisfied with the way they choose to use technology, yet struggle to change their behavior,” says the human-computer interaction researcher, who is studying emotions surrounding people’s engagement with technology and t

Data ethics expert Anna Lauren Hoffmann joins iSchool faculty

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

How do the data-driven systems that daily sort us, classify us, and categorize us shape our lives? When are the changes they engender good for us and when are they bad? These are questions central to the writing and research of new iSchool faculty member Anna Lauren Hoffmann, whose work digs into the social, political, and ethical implications of big data and algorithms. “I am looking forward to working with the exceptional faculty, graduate students, and staff at the iSchool in thinking seriously about how data, data-intensive processes, and statistical knowledge impact people’s lives,

iSchool launches redesigned website

Monday, August 21, 2017

The UW Information School rolled out its redesigned website on Monday, Aug. 21. The new-look website uses updated colors and typefaces that align with those used on the main UW site. It features a simplified navigation structure and a tool that gives users the option to customize certain aspects of the site based on their choice of audience – current students, future students, faculty and staff, or “everyone.” The iSchool site is among the first on the UW campus to use the new Drupal 8 publishing platform. The new platform necessitated a complete rebuild by Lead Web Developer Nick

MLIS student digs into the human side of mining

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Savannah Sessions grew up in Maine and gets excited about the human side of mining in her state. For her MLIS Directed Fieldwork, Sessions is working with the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum (MMGM) to shed light on the sacrifices and risks often experienced by miners, many of whom were immigrants. “Mining is a thing of the past, but people are still doing it,” says Sessions. “When I’m reading through correspondence and papers at MMGM, they often describe someone reaching into a pocket of rock and pulling out some incredible specimen of tourmaline or beryl or other mineral.” �

Internship on baseball exhibit perfect for MLIS 'law library nerd'

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

It was a dream internship that combined two passions: law and baseball. Karen Sánchez, an MLIS online student, is spending the summer working for the Law Library of Congress to help it prepare for a June 2018 Baseball Americana exhibit – a look at how the great American pastime has spread worldwide. The exhibit will include a “moot court” on the use of the designated hitter; a small exhibit featuring items from the Law Library’s collection; and a joint program for Labor Day on baseball and free agency/players’ rights and how that relates to antitrust laws. “As a law libra

Joe Janes writes about documents for Publishers Weekly

Monday, August 7, 2017

As a follow-up to the successful publishing of his new book, "Documents That Changed the Way We Live," Associate Professor Joe Janes was asked to think about the future of documents for Publishers Weekly, a weekly news magazine focused on the international book publishing business.  In his opinion piece, Janes says, "What hasn’t changed, though, is the fundamental nature of documents. Our history, as individuals and as societies and cultures, is inextricably and necessarily intertwined with documenting things. Documents provide order and structure to the commonplace parts of our

Lecturer Laura Schildkraut teaches empowerment

Monday, August 7, 2017

Laura Schildkraut wants students in her Gender and Information Technology class to know two things about the workplace: You are empowered to take control of your career, and professional relationships and interactions are complicated.  “I want to show the women in the class that this is a great field and they shouldn’t shy away from it because in some cases women don’t seem to be welcome,” says Schildkraut. “And, for all students, it’s about empowering them to understand what many women go through and to help them be better managers, colleagues and subordinates. I want stud

iSchool alumna brings diverse books to Wahluke School District

Monday, July 31, 2017

Angelina Buck was in first grade when her teacher at Mattawa Elementary School was reading a book about Native Americans just before Thanksgiving. Angelina raised her hand. The story wasn’t right, she said. It wasn’t what she had learned while growing up with the Wanapum Tribe. “She said that what she was hearing in the story was conflicting with what she had learned about first-hand, being Native American and growing up in a Native American culture,” said Alyssa Buck, Angelina’s mother. Angelina’s teacher invited her to visit the library to find a better book. When Ange

New leader takes helm of popular Informatics program

Thursday, July 27, 2017

When Scott Barker walks the UW campus, he’ll often hear students chatting, and it amazes him how often he hears one word in particular. That buzzword: Informatics. Barker, who has chaired the iSchool’s undergraduate program since 2007, recently stepped aside to allow another faculty member, Amy Ko, to take the reins. Under Barker’s watch, Informatics grew from humble beginnings to become one of the hottest majors on the University of Washington campus. When the program started with 35 students in 2000, Barker said, “I had no expectation that we’d be where we are today. We we

iSchool faculty adds another ally for indigenous scholars

Monday, July 24, 2017

Museumgoers look at a Native American basket and see a beautiful object. What many don’t see are the layers of knowledge it contains, says new iSchool faculty member Miranda Belarde-Lewis. There is the knowledge of what plants to gather for weaving, at what time of year, and how to prepare them. The chemistry of which dyes to use and how to make them. The history behind each design and what it represents. The knowledge of how to construct something that holds water or clams. The rituals involved in different stages of production. “There is so much knowledge encoded in each basket. That

A change in leadership brings new energy to the iSchool

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Change is a healthy part of life. In the life of an individual, it’s important to shake up the routine and see what new adventures life has in store. In the life of an organization, it’s essential to bring in new perspectives, new ideas, and from time to time, new leadership. For me and for the iSchool, the time is right for change. As I approached the end of my second term as dean, I faced the difficult decision of whether to continue on or step aside. Knowing that I had great confidence in our provost, Jerry Baldasty, to choose an outstanding new dean, I decided to embrace change a

Q&A with the iSchool's next dean, Anind Dey

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Anind Dey will soon join the University of Washington Information School as its next dean, succeeding Harry Bruce. Dey comes to the iSchool from Carnegie Mellon University, where he has been a professor since 2005 and has led CMU’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute since 2014. We asked Dey a few questions to introduce him to the iSchool community. Q: What about the UW iSchool sparked your interest in the job? A: There were a number of things that excited me. I know several of the faculty in the iSchool (a couple who are graduates from my program at CMU), and have always been impress

TASCHA report: Libraries aid global development

Monday, July 17, 2017

Put the whole world online and freedom and equality are bound to rise, right? Not necessarily. While access to information is key, access alone isn’t enough to ensure progress around the world. People also need the social and economic wherewithal to make information usable and meaningful, iSchool researchers say in a report presented to the United Nations. The report, a partnership between the iSchool’s Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), traces access to information and communication technolo

Incoming Dean Anind Dey featured in Seattle Times

Thursday, July 13, 2017

“I’m coming to a school that’s doing really well,” the Information School’s incoming dean, Anind Dey, told columnist Katherine Long of The Seattle Times. Long wrote about Dey’s hiring and how he fits at a school that changed around the turn of the century from a library school to one that’s is “as much about managing data as it is about helping library patrons find the right book.” Dey spoke to long about how the need for information experts is expanding and how that increases the relevance of iSchool programs. Long wrote: “Library-science programs around the count