2 iSchool students earn honorable mentions in Computing Research Association awards

Monday, December 21, 2020

When the Computing Research Association announced its recipients for the 2021 Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Awards, two iSchool students were excited to see their names among the honorable mentions. The iSchool nominees, Emily Bascom and Jenny Liang, faced a competitive group of students who have been involved in multiple research projects and professional positions as interns, volunteers or teaching assistants — or all of the above. Bascom, a junior pursuing the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) track in Informatics, is involved in two projects that are making a difference i

With Google Inclusion Award, Karen Fisher to design technology for Syrian refugees

Monday, December 21, 2020

Karen Fisher, a professor at the Information School, recently received a Google Award for Inclusion Research to support her work in designing mobile technology for young Syrian refugee women in Jordan.  The award recognizes researchers who use computing and technology to positively impact underrepresented communities.  “We were ecstatic,” Fisher said. “We were totally surprised to get this award because it’s extremely competitive.” Fisher and her research team have spent seven years working with Syrian refugees, studying how they interact with digital media and

iSchool COVID-19 Student FAQ

Friday, December 18, 2020

Last updated: Dec. 18, 2020 There are a lot of instances of misinformation and unsubstantiated rumors around COVID-19. Continue to rely on the UW coronavirus page as the definitive source of all information about how the UW is responding to this public health crisis, and the impacts on you. For questions about graduate admissions specifically, including details about I-20 processing, UW has created a graduate admissions FAQ for incoming/prospective students and families. This is an evolving situation, and we will be updating the information here as-possible. If you have additional iSchoo

Lab's quest: fairer, smarter search results

Friday, December 18, 2020

Can our search results be fairer? Can the systems that generate them be smarter? Are the recommendations we get from Google, Amazon or Netflix really the best they can be? Those are some of the topics researchers investigate in the Information School’s InfoSeeking Lab, which works to make search and recommendation systems fairer, more diverse and more transparent. The lab migrated from Rutgers University to the University of Washington with its director, Associate Professor Chirag Shah, when he joined the iSchool in 2019. It recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary — a decade

Jacob Wobbrock receives Google Inclusion Award to create accessibility toolkit

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

UW Information School Professor Jacob O. Wobbrock recently won a $60,000 Google Inclusion Award to support his work in creating an Ability-Based Mobile Toolkit. The toolkit would help programmers build applications that are more aware of and responsive to a user’s abilities. “Right now, your phone knows very little about your abilities,” Wobbrock said. “It’s designed in a way that makes many ability assumptions… People with certain disabilities don’t always match the ability assumptions of the technology.” As a professor of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Wobbrock h

$16 million grant makes TASCHA research more nimble

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

A major grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has transformed the iSchool’s Technology & Social Change (TASCHA) research group, allowing its work to make immediate impacts on the library field. As the Gates Foundation was winding down its Global Libraries Initiative in the mid-2010s, it named TASCHA as one of three key partners to continue the mission with a legacy grant. Chris Coward, a principal research scientist at the iSchool and TASCHA director, explained that the $16 million grant allows researchers to be much more nimble and proactive with their work. Rather t

Research team studies how libraries are coping with COVID-19

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Libraries are a vital part of communities — a place to learn and connect with other people. And while libraries have long been more than the physical resources within their walls, that fact has been clearer than ever since the COVID-19 pandemic forced libraries to close their buildings. As the pandemic changes everything, iSchool students and researchers are working to understand how librarians are adapting and how their programming is changing to meet community needs. Katya Yefimova (pictured above), an iSchool Ph.D. candidate, and Brandyn Boyd and Anna Gibson, Master of Library and I

Distinguished Practitioners in Residence have practical effect on MLIS program

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Students studying to be librarians need to know what they’re getting into, say local public library leaders. “This is a wonderful profession, but you need resiliency in working with the public all day. The staff encounters a multitude of social problems that weren’t there 30 years ago: homelessness, the digital divide, people with mental health issues. That’s all part of what we do,” says King County Library System Executive Director Lisa Rosenblum, who oversees 50 libraries in 36 highly diverse cities. The iSchool is bringing this real-world awareness into its classrooms with

MSIM program opens new doors with Early-Career Accelerated track

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

There were plenty of good reasons for the iSchool to enable students to earn their Master of Science in Information Management in as little as a year, but one stands out above all: access. Research showed that the two-year Early-Career option was not serving more cost-conscious domestic students who were considering one-year master’s programs such as MBAs. As a result, a year ago the iSchool introduced a one-year Early-Career option and welcomed its first cohort of 30 students. Now called the Early-Career Accelerated MSIM, the program track has gained a strong footing. “Our progr

Q&A: Gaming, music fandom groups provide human connection during the pandemic

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

With COVID-19 cases spiking again across the United States, many states are issuing new curfews and lockdowns that look similar to the first stay-at-home orders issued in March. These announcements are coming right in time for the winter holiday season, when Americans normally gather with the people they love. But with this year’s recommendations to keep in-person gatherings small, how can people find a way to connect with others? One option is to find community in online spaces that celebrate a shared interest, such as playing a video game together or bonding over the

'Force of nature': Jill McKinstry's passion for libraries runs deep

Friday, November 6, 2020

Universities expect graduate students to engage in scholarly research. Undergraduates, not so much. Jill McKinstry, champion of rigorous undergraduate learning, set out to change that on the University of Washington campus. “Undergraduates were not often getting those opportunities to do original research and contribute to the world of knowledge,” says the 2020 iSchool Distinguished Alumna, director of Odegaard Undergraduate Library for 17 years. Working closely with partners over the years, the tenacious library leader helped push through such innovations as writing and research tutors

Dynamic duo lead MSIM program to new heights

Friday, November 6, 2020

It was 2015, and the timing was right. The iSchool’s Master of Science in Information Management program needed an infusion of energy, and Hala Annabi and Sean McGann were ready for a challenge.Harry Bruce, then the iSchool dean, made them an offer they couldn’t pass up: come to Seattle and reinvigorate the MSIM program. For McGann, who was chair of the Computer Information Systems Department at Appalachian State University, it was a chance to come in as program chair and do the work that really excited him — teaching and developing programs. For Annabi, who was chair of the Management I

Our mission matters more than ever

Friday, November 6, 2020

We’ve just been through a contentious election season in a difficult year, full of hardship for far too many people. When we emerge from our current crises, we have to envision a better future — and how our work can help take us there. COVID-19 and the social unrest of 2020 have underscored the importance of being nimble and doing work that addresses real-world problems. That’s exactly what I love about the iSchool. We adapt quickly, and our work translates to tangible results. To cite just a few examples: The Center for an Informed Public, led by Associate Professor Jevin West, is fo

20/20 vision: Informatics continues to see the future

Thursday, November 5, 2020

Twenty years ago this fall, the University of Washington launched the Informatics program, an undergraduate degree with an unfamiliar name and a vision to study how people use technology to find and share information. Consider how forward-thinking Informatics was at the time. While computers and the internet have been disrupting the world for decades, Informatics came of age in the era of smartphones, the rise of social media and the dawn of big data. “As researchers, it's our job to be prescient,” said Amy J. Ko, the Informatics program chair. “Because we try to understand what is

Brian Selznick tells iSchool audience about the road to 'Hugo'

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Author and illustrator Brian Selznick turned the Information School’s 2020 Spencer G. Shaw Endowed Lecture into an engaging conversation, even though he couldn’t speak to people face-to-face. Selznick spoke over video on Oct. 29, devoting much of the time to some of the 51 questions submitted from audience members who were curious about how he got into writing and drawing, who influenced his work and what it was like watching Martin Scorsese adapt his book into a major motion picture. The event, typically held at the HUB on the UW campus, went online in response to the COVID-19 pande