Capstone team works to restore trauma survivors' voices

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Stories are powerful. Victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and human trafficking often find their voices silenced, their ability to tell their own story taken from them. A group of students from the iSchool have partnered with a Seattle-based non-profit in hopes that they can help survivors reclaim their voices and share their experiences. Informatics majors John Diego, Huy Nguyen, Christy Pham and Marika Rundle have taken on the challenge for their Capstone project, which is the culmination of study at the iSchool. The team wanted to focus on providing services for a group of

Convocation honors 441 iSchool graduates

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

The iSchool honored 441 graduating students from its undergraduate and graduate programs on Saturday, June 3, at its 2017 Convocation ceremony. Graduates include 198 earning bachelor’s degrees in Informatics, 130 master’s in Library Science, 101 master’s in Information Management, and a record 12 doctorate degrees in Information Science. Among them, 350 took part in Convocation. The keynote address was given by Bob Davis, corporate vice president for Skype Business Services and Office 365 Customer Experience at Microsoft Corp. Davis urged graduating students to continue to evolve a

Capstone project makes it easier to visualize a changing landscape

Friday, June 2, 2017

The landscape around Puget Sound is changing rapidly. New homes are built, trees are cut down in one place and planted in another. New roads are constructed and old roads are rerouted. Keeping track of it all is a dizzying challenge. A group of students from the iSchool are creating a program that will help experts and the public visualize those changes to the landscape using data from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Public data like this is incredibly powerful, but it needs a way to be shared and understood easily. For their Capstone project — which is the culminatio

Capstone showcases work from hundreds of iSchool students

Thursday, June 1, 2017

The iSchool’s 2017 Capstone event, held May 31 at the University of Washington HUB, featured 137 poster presentations and 22 online ones from more than 300 graduating students. Projects were judged for awards in several categories, including social impact, commercial potential, research, service, innovation/design, and diversity. Additionally, students in each program awarded a Best in Class prize to their peers. (Winners are pictured.) Held annually, Capstone showcases the breadth of skills and expertise students develop in the B.S. in Informatics, M.S. in Information Manag

'Living Fully': iSchool's Gomez explores Tseltal community in new book

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Information School Associate Professor Ricardo Gomez explores efforts to strengthen community development among the Tseltal Maya people of Chiapas, Mexico, in his new book, “Living Fully: Lekil Cuxlejalil among Tseltal Mayan Communities in Chiapas.” The book, published by One Equal Heart Foundation, is available at Amazon.com. All proceeds will go to the foundation to continue its support for indigenous communities in Chiapas. The book is trilingual – with passages in English, Spanish and Tseltal. Gomez has taken several trips to Chiapas with iSchool graduate students to work on cr

2017 Distinguished Alumna transforms libraries, librarianship

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Patricia Cutright didn’t even know how to turn on a computer when she came to the UW in the early ‘80s. The School of Librarianship she entered had only seven computers, with access to two database systems. To reach those databases, students had to dial up a vendor, wait for a machine whine, then stuff the phone handset into acoustic couplers.  “We were right on the cusp of using computers for online searching then,” says the dynamic leader selected as this year’s recipient of the iSchool Distinguished Alumni Award. “It was a real challenge for me, trying to master a whole

New faculty bring diverse expertise to the iSchool

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

The Information School has six new faculty, including three tenure-track faculty starting in the fall and three lecturers who are already teaching at the school. Miranda Belarde-Lewis (UW), Native North American Indigenous Knowledge, Assistant Professor Belarde-Lewis’s research focuses on intellectual property and protection of indigenous knowledge. She has authored articles on Indigenous ontologies and Indigenous people, activism and social media. She is a founding member of the Indigenous Information Research Group and a past president of the Native Organization of Indigenous

John Palfrey's love for libraries on display at Ed Mignon lecture

Friday, May 12, 2017

John Palfrey, a noted scholar and author, gave a lively talk on passion and advocacy for libraries May 11 at the iSchool’s annual Ed Mignon Distinguished Lecture at the UW HUB. Palfrey, a law professor and internet freedom advocate, is head of school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He highlighted some of the key points from his most recent book, “BiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google.” He said that while some may argue that digital collections are making library stacks less necessary, there’s still a vital role for libraries as physic

Michelle Martin's 'embedded' students promote diversity

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

The books children read have a powerful ability to shape how they see and interpret the world. That’s something Michelle Martin, Beverly Cleary Professor for Children and Youth Services at the iSchool, knows well. Some books are mirrors, reflecting readers’ experiences and helping them understand their own lives. Other books are windows, helping readers empathize with people whose stories are different than their own. Both books are important to young readers. Martin turned that concept into a hands-on lesson in her first term of teaching at the iSchool. In her class, Multicultural R

Documents that Changed the World: Delayed stock market ticker tape, 1929

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Timing is everything, they say. In the latest episode of his Documents that Changed the World podcast series, Joe Janes of the UW Information School explores how an overload of critical information helped trigger the stock market crash of 1929, and thus the Great Depression. “This is a story about fortunes lost, lives ruined, a world plunged into a decade of depression, the end of an era,” Janes says in the podcast. “And, a story of infrastructure. And like any infrastructure, nobody pays any attention — until it goes wrong.” In the podcasts, Janes, an iSc

Patricia Cutright, '83, named 2017 Distinguished Alumna

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Patricia Cutright, the iSchool 2017 Distinguished Alumna, has had a long and distinguished career in libraries. She is currently dean of libraries at Central Washington University and served as director of libraries at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and Eastern Oregon University. Cutright has earned more than 25 prestigious honors, including the 2002 Oregon Librarian of the Year; 2003 LITA/Gaylord Award for Achievement in Library and Information Technology presented by the American Library Association and the Library Information and Technology Association; 2002 Jean McKenzie / Woman

iAffiliates Day focuses on technology's role in changing world

Friday, April 28, 2017

“Digital transformation” was the theme as dozens of iSchool corporate and community partners, faculty, staff and students attended the 2017 edition of iAffiliates Day on Thursday, April 27, at wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ (the Intellectual House) on the UW campus. Mike Cowden, general manager at Slalom Consulting, and Heather Andersen, managing director at Accenture, opened with a joint presentation on how sustainability has become a key strategic issue for technology companies. With the world’s population expected to grow to 10 billion by mid-century and consumption of resources growing even f

Mae Benne, retired library science professor, passes away

Friday, April 28, 2017

Mae Maxine Benne, retired University of Washington professor of library science, passed away recently at Horizon House in Seattle at the age of 93. Mae taught children’s literature, storytelling and children’s library service at the UW library school from 1965 to 1988 to future school and public librarians who were inspired to carry on Mae’s fundamental belief in the power of the written word and the right of children to have access to information and the freedom to learn. She found she loved library work as a high school librarian in Oberlin, Kansas, and enrolled at the University

Q&A with author and educator John Palfrey

Friday, April 28, 2017

John Palfrey is the head of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and is a noted scholar, law professor and internet freedom advocate. His most recent book is "BiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google." Palfrey is the iSchool's guest at the 2017 Ed Mignon Distinguished Lecture on May 11. Before his visit, we asked him a few questions about his book and the role of modern libraries and librarians. Q: In “BiblioTech,” you say nostalgia is a losing strategy. Why does nostalgia hurt libraries’ cause? A: Nostalgia is too thin a reed for libraries t

'Calling BS' strikes a chord with students

Monday, April 24, 2017

In spring 2017, iSchool Assistant Professor Jevin West and Biology Professor Carl Bergstrom launched a new course at the University of Washington, "Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data." The topic struck a nerve. The "Calling Bullshit" website had a viral effect right after its launch in January; news organizations across the country covered the story; and the first 1-credit class was booked up within one minute after registration began. Below you'll find some of the news coverage and resources related to the class, including all of the lectures, now available on the iSchool YouT