Lecturer Greg Hay shares technical know-how with students

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Greg Hay has a saying he likes to use in the classroom – learning how to “chop wood,” which means learning how to get things done. He is a pragmatic kind of guy. Hay, who has been teaching at the iSchool since 2008, was recently appointed as a full-time lecturer. He is an alumnus (’07) of the iSchool’s Master of Science in Information Management program and has bachelor’s degrees from the University of Washington in history and anthropology. Early on as an anthropology undergrad, Hay participated in the UW East African Student Tour in Kenya, where he studied with Mary Leakey.

iSchool Ph.D. student wins Microsoft dissertation grant

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

iSchool Ph.D. candidate Martez Mott is among the inaugural winners of Microsoft’s Research Dissertation Grants. The $18,000 grant will support Mott in his research on taking an ability-based design approach to touchscreen devices. Mott’s work on “Smart Touch,” which was featured recently in a story and video on the University of Washington’s website, focuses on making such devices usable for people with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s disease and other conditions that impair their motor skills. “I intend to create intelligent interaction techniques that allo

Elizabeth Manriquez wins Borgeson award in law librarianship

Friday, July 7, 2017

MLIS law student Elizabeth Manriquez has earned the 2017 Earl Borgeson Research Award in Law Librarianship for her paper, “Stronger Together: Embracing Google and Linked Data in Law Libraries.” Manriquez’s paper will be published in the journal Legal Reference Services Quarterly. The honor carries a $1,500 prize. In her paper, Manriquez evaluates the use of linked-data technology in law libraries and argues for its widespread adoption. Linked data is a method of publishing structured data so it can be interlinked and made more useful through semantic queries. Manriquez said a lec

iSchool's VIEWS2 project influences new approach to storytimes

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Libraries have adapted their storytimes for children to promote early literacy – a response to research such as the UW Information School’s VIEWS2 project, School Library Journal writes. In an article on its website, SLJ writes that storytimes have evolved from a passive listening experience into an interactive one in which librarians use technology and play, along with books, to help children develop their skills. The changing approach was influenced in part by VIEWS2 – Valuable Initiatives in Early Learning that Work Successfully 2. The study provided data that librarians could a

Minor in Informatics to be offered beginning in fall

Thursday, June 29, 2017

The University of Washington Information School will offer a minor in Informatics beginning in the fall. The minor, approved by the UW Curriculum Committee in June, will complement a wide variety of majors on campus by offering students an opportunity to learn about data, design, policy and ethics, and code in order to solve information problems. “The Informatics minor may be especially helpful to students in the humanities and social sciences who love their major, but also are looking for a way to stand out among their peers,” said program chair Scott Barker, who worked to establish th

'Calling BS' wins Knight Foundation grant to fight misinformation

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

“Calling Bullshit” is getting a boost. The project led by the Information School’s Jevin West and Biology Professor Carl Bergstrom, will expand its reach, thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Knight Foundation. In response to an open call for ideas to improve the accurate flow of information, West and Bergstrom proposed “Calling Bullshit in the Age of Fake News.” For their project, they will develop a curriculum and set of tools to teach students and the public to better assess quantitative information and combat misinformation, with an emphasis on data, visualization and statisti

ALA honors Harry Bruce with tribute resolution

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

The American Library Association honored iSchool Dean Harry Bruce with a tribute resolution at its annual conference in Chicago in June. Bruce is stepping down after more than 11 years as dean and was recently honored at a celebration on the UW campus. You can read more about him and leave messages on our tribute site. The full text of the resolution is below. A Tribute Resolution Honoring Dr. Harry Bruce Whereas Dr. Harry Bruce has strategically led the University of Washington Information School for 11 years, growing the school to the #2 ranked MLIS program in the country (U.S. N

Anind Dey named next dean of the iSchool

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Professor Anind Dey will become the next dean of the University of Washington Information School, President Ana Mari Cauce and Provost Gerald Baldasty announced Wednesday, June 28. Dey will succeed Harry Bruce, who is stepping down this summer after 11 years as dean. Cauce and Baldasty shared the news with the iSchool community in an email: “We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Anind K. Dey as the next dean of the Information School. Anind comes to the UW from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, where he is the Charles M. Geschke professor and d

Executives have a blind spot on risk, Annie Searle writes

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

C-level executives often have a blind spot that can put their organizations at risk, iSchool Lecturer Annie Searle writes in the final issue of The Risk Universe. The blind spot she identifies is that CEOs are often, and sometimes willfully, unaware of key information about the risk posed to their businesses when they put their trust in people and processes. As executives, they are held accountable for outcomes, yet they must delegate to senior management teams. However, employees are often reticent to bring bad news to the boss, and the boss may be more inclined to accept a rosy picture th

MLIS students awarded ALA Spectrum Scholarships

Friday, June 23, 2017

The American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Diversity announced the winners of the 2017-18 Spectrum Scholarships, with three University of Washington Information School Master of Library and Information Science students among the 61 winners.  iSchool winners include: Cristal Fiel, a third-year online student; Jasmine Gutierrez, a second-year online student; and Charlene Hien Quach, a first-year student. Fiel currently works as a grant maker, funding historically underrepresented communities for the San Francisco Arts Commission, and hopes to work in a public libr

MLIS students improve state health-care website's accessibility

Friday, June 16, 2017

Sarah Carnes knows how utterly frustrating it can be to apply for insurance through a health-care exchange. Carnes, a Master of Library and Information Science student living in the Boston area, wanted to throw her computer out the window while trying to navigate the process for her own coverage — and she’s familiar with insurance from her past careers. She couldn’t imagine having to navigate the system without that knowledge, or if she had a physical or mental disability. “If I had had any issues, I would not be insured,” Carnes said. “If it was difficult for me with no impa

iSchool Ph.D. candidate awarded prestigious Cobell Fellowship

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Sandra Littletree, a Ph.D. candidate at the UW Information School and member of the Diné/Navajo Nation, was among five researchers to receive the inaugural Cobell Summer Graduate Research Fellowship. The aim of the program is to support American Indian and Alaska Native student researchers who might not otherwise have access to funds to conduct research and related activities during the summer months. Each will receive a cash stipend to defray costs associated with summer research, a faculty mentor on their campus, access to the Director of Research and Student Success at Indigenous Edu

Read-a-Rama makes books part of the fun

Monday, June 12, 2017

Kids stomp and shimmy as iSchool Professor Michelle Martin starts them off with a song. They build sandcastles, make Japanese fish prints, and squeal with delight as they wrangle blobs of slime larger than their heads. This is not your parents’ story time. This is Read-a-Rama, Martin’s program that uses books as the springboard for hands-on activities, winning kids’ enthusiasm as it promotes early literacy. On this evening, the theme is “Read-a-Rama Under the Sea.” Students from Martin’s LIS 598 class (History of Children’s and Young Adult Literature) read books such a

iSchool honors Harry Bruce with heart and song

Thursday, June 8, 2017

The iSchool sent Dean Harry Bruce off in style and song on Wednesday, June 7, in a heartfelt celebration of his 19 years of service to the school, 11 as dean. Faculty, staff, alumni, students and friends gathered – along with Bruce’s family – in the Walker-Ames room at the University of Washington’s Kane Hall to pay tribute and share stories. UW Provost Jerry Baldasty, iSchool Founding Board member Don Horowitz, Associate Professor Joe Janes, and Assistant Dean for Planning and Administration Mary Clark were among about a dozen colleagues, friends and Ph.D. students who gave sp

‘Documents' podcast by iSchool's Joe Janes now a book

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

A popular podcast by Joe Janes of the University of Washington Information School is now a book. “Documents that Changed the Way We Live” is being published this month by Rowman & Littlefield. Since 2012 Janes, an iSchool associate professor, has written and produced episodes of a podcast about the origin and often evolving meaning of documents. The podcast, “Documents that Changed the World,” has prompted about 350,000 iTunes downloads. In the podcasts, Janes explored documents as disparate as the Rosetta Stone, the AIDS Quilt, Florida’s&