Native identity shapes Ph.D. student's outlook

Monday, March 9, 2020

To Lisa Dirks, community engagement is a key part of research Lisa Dirks has taken an unusual path to her Ph.D. She came to the Information School as an accomplished researcher with a master’s in library and information science (MLIS) and master’s of health science administration. But she felt pursuing her doctorate would give her the strong theoretical foundation she needed to support American Indian and Alaska Native community engagement in the research process.  For the past 15 years, Dirks has conducted research in the area of health sciences, focusing on Indigenous communit

iSchool researchers' short paper named best at iConference

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

The best short paper at iConference 2020 hailed from the University of Washington Information School, while a second iSchool paper was among the finalists for the award. “Challenges in Organizing and Accessing Video Game Artifacts” by iSchool Associate Professor Jin Ha Lee and Ph.D. candidate Marc Schmalz, with collaborators Stephen Keating and Jeewon Ha won the award announced March 26 at the international conference, held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Short research papers are limited to 3,000 words and often explore new or provocative themes in information scie

Experts debate causes of internet misery at packed Town Hall

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

“Is the internet making us miserable?” A panel of three scholars — two from the University of Washington Information School and one from the Seattle University Philosophy Department — debated that topic before a packed crowd of more than 200 at Town Hall Seattle on Feb. 12. Moderator Paul Franco, a UW Philosophy lecturer, opened with the night’s key question about misery. All of the panelists agreed that the internet itself isn’t solely to blame and that people’s interactions with it are a result of factors on both ends of the exchange. “The economic incentives around tec

Career Fair, Library Expo put students in touch with employers

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Hundreds of students put their best feet forward for potential employers at a pair of career-focused iSchool events in early February. First, students lined up at the HUB on the University of Washington campus on Feb. 3 to meet with representatives from 35 companies and organizations at the iSchool Career Fair. The event was open just to iSchool students for the first two hours, then to students from across the University of Washington for the remainder of the four-hour event. The Career Fair showcased a wide range of information technology and information science jobs and internship

Daunting challenges require a bold strategy

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

As anyone who follows the news knows, these are fraught times. Democratic discourse has grown caustic at every turn. Our planet is showing the devastating strains of climate change. Misinformation muddles what is generally understood about seemingly everything, as we’re currently seeing with the spread of the coronavirus. Often policymakers are making crucial decisions based on poor information or in the absence of information. These are not times to nibble around the edges and hope the most serious problems will resolve themselves; they are times to think big and imagine how we can p

Dutch university bestows honorary doctorate on Batya Friedman

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Batya Friedman, a professor in the Information School, has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Delft University of Technology in Delft, Netherlands. The honor was one of two given to researchers who “symbolize new perceptions in design” during Dies Natalis, the Dutch school’s 178th anniversary celebration, on Jan. 10. Friedman gave a keynote lecture during the event’s Program Design for Values Symposium. Friedman is founder and co-director, with iSchool colleague David Hendry, of the UW’s Value Sensitive Design Lab. The two also co-wrote the 2019 book “Value Sens

Winfo hackathon focuses on equity-minded solutions

Monday, January 27, 2020

The student group Women in Informatics (Winfo) recently hosted its eighth annual hackathon, bringing together a diverse group of prospective and current Informatics students as well as others from across the UW to develop technology-based solutions for a broad array of issues. This year’s theme, Driven by Difference, emphasized innovation that promotes equity. Over the course of 12 hours on Jan. 18, more than 270 students split into teams and designed projects that addressed problems such as climate change, health and accessibility. Since the hackathon attracts many prospective Informa

At Town Hall, researchers hear calls for action on misinformation

Sunday, January 26, 2020

The UW’s Center for an Informed Public is tackling some complex issues, but the theme of the new research center’s first major public event boiled down to a few simple words: “Think more, share less.” That advice from CIP Director Jevin West drew one of the biggest reactions during “Who Can We Trust? Technology’s Impact on Democracy,” a panel discussion featuring the Center’s five lead researchers on Jan. 23 at Town Hall Seattle. West and fellow researchers Emma Spiro, Kate Starbird, Chris Coward and Ryan Calo (pictured left-right at top) laid out their plans for how the

Researchers win fellowship to study new frontier in tech education

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

A decade ago, teaching kids to code might have seemed far-fetched to some, but now coding curriculum is being widely adopted across the country. Recently researchers have turned their eye to the next wave of technology: artificial intelligence. As AI makes a growing impact on our lives, can kids benefit from learning how it works? A three-year, $150,000 award from the Jacobs Foundation Research Fellowship Program will help answer that question. The fellowship awarded to Jason Yip, an assistant professor at the University of Washington Information School, will allow a team of researcher

Ph.D. students explore top tech companies through internships

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

iSchool Ph.D. students are taking their research expertise beyond the academic arena and into some of the world’s most influential tech companies. This past summer, several students completed internships at places such as Apple and Microsoft, engaging in projects to advance the information and technology field. Several students focusing on human-computer interaction (HCI) honed their skills and knowledge while on industry research teams. Rachel Franz, who worked with the Ability Team at Microsoft Research, helped to make virtual reality accessible for individuals with limited head

Students share supply-chain expertise with Starbucks

Monday, January 13, 2020

Some of the world’s best coffee grows in forested, mountainous areas along the equator in Central America, Africa and Asia. Starbucks buys its beans from nearly 400,000 mainly small farms in more than two dozen countries in these regions. The Seattle-headquartered company now has launched what it calls a bean-to-cup initiative to pull back the curtain on this side of its supply chain. This ensures that the best, most ethical practices are used growing and harvesting the coffee beans. The initiative also could potentially share the stories of the people growing the beans with the people bu

Biomedical and Health Informatics degree option now available

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Starting this academic year, Biomedical & Health Informatics (BHI) will be the newest transcriptable degree option within Informatics, joining Data Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Information Architecture, and Information Assurance and Cybersecurity. BHI students will learn how to leverage their data, design and development skills to impact biology, medicine, and personal health or wellness. Approved courses explore the unique context of information challenges due to patient privacy regulations, unconscious bias, ethical considerations, and other factors. While most Informatics

iSchool adds second Informatics admissions cycle

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Students wishing to major in Informatics now have two opportunities each year to apply to the University of Washington Information School’s program. The iSchool has added a second annual round of admissions beginning with the spring 2020 cycle. The second admissions cycle will give transfer applicants and current UW students greater ability to complete the prerequisite courses and receive decisions on their applications in a timely manner. It does not, however, increase the total number of students admitted to the program each year. Upcoming Informatics application deadlines are April

Chirag Shah wins grant to develop effective, transparent search recommendations

Friday, January 3, 2020

It’s uncanny, and sometimes maybe a little creepy. When you search for something on Amazon or Netflix, the search engine seems to know you — or at least know enough about you to recommend the right brand of tube socks or the right movie. Something is going on behind the scenes to make that happen, but how much do you know about how those results are generated? And how much do you want to know? Chirag Shah, an associate professor at the University of Washington Information School, will explore such questions in a three-year research project on explainable recommendation systems. S