Our commitment to diversity is stronger than ever

Monday, October 9, 2023

Generative AI such as ChatGPT has recently burst onto the scene, and like most advancements in technology, it caters to a homogeneous population — white, male, able-bodied and English-speaking. When technology reflects only part of the spectrum of lived experiences, it puts underrepresented people at a huge disadvantage. It’s a cycle that will keep repeating until diversity is baked into every stage of design and development. Diverse thought benefits everyone. For our faculty, it leads to more impactful research and more engaging classroom discussions. For students, it’s critical for

Cindy Aden takes new role as teaching professor, MLIS chair

Monday, October 2, 2023

Cindy Aden, who wrapped up her term as the Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the iSchool in June, is staying on as a teaching professor and taking over as chair of the Master of Library in Information Science program. Aden has a long, varied history in libraries. She graduated from the iSchool’s MLIS program in 1987 and has served in the Library of Congress and at academic libraries. She has also worked in public libraries and for private companies, including Amazon and Corbis. Before taking on the role of Distinguished Practitioner in Residence, Aden was the Washington State Lib

Library luminary eager to share practical expertise

Monday, October 2, 2023

After 21 years at OCLC, most recently as vice president for research and membership & chief strategist, Lorcan Dempsey was ready for a change. The opportunity to serve as the University of Washington Information School’s Distinguished Practitioner in Residence (DPIR) came at the right time for the librarian, writer and advisor. While at OCLC, a global library organization headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs, Dempsey wrote extensively for the library community. His research articles and public scholarship sh

5 iSchool MLIS students awarded ALA Spectrum Scholarships

Monday, September 18, 2023

Five University of Washington Master of Library and Information Science students are among the recipients of the 2023-2024 Spectrum Scholarships, the American Library Association has announced.  The Spectrum Scholarship Program provides scholarships to American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Middle Eastern and North African, and/or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students to assist them with obtaining a graduate degree and leadership positions within the profession and ALA. The aim is to increase the number of racially and ethnically divers

Professor driven by firm belief in social justice

Monday, September 18, 2023

Nassim Parvin uncovers hidden sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia and other social injustices in technology and product design — issues that surface as biases in self-tracking devices, for example, or in the assumptions embedded in the original AI-powered voice of Alexa: nice, white and utterly submissive. “You can curse Alexa and she will ask you in a calm voice if she can help you more,” says the new iSchool associate professor, whose work is centered in feminist philosophy. “Kids growing up with such technology may internalize the notion that because Alexa is a female character,

iSchool Ph.D. student presenting at U.N. Science Summit

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

iSchool Ph.D. student Marx Wang is presenting at the 2023 Science Summit at the United Nations General Assembly. His compassion for others and interest in technology has led him to advocate for mental health and well-being on a global platform.  The central theme of the Science Summit, taking place Sept. 12-29, is the role and contribution of science in helping support the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. Wang is hosting two sessions on Sept. 15, a virtual event and an in-person one.  The virtual session addresses the critical need for comprehensive mental health education

In Museology program, students learn to be change makers

Monday, September 11, 2023

Until recently, collections in the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum typically featured the island’s maritime past and lumber mills. Nothing was newer than a half-century old. “It was still that colonial project,” said Lillian Xie, the museum’s collections manager, “a lot of white people history.” The museum’s current exhibits paint a richer picture, including exhibits on Filipino Americans, African Americans, the Pride community and other aspects of island life. It’s the kind of transformation that students learn to lead in the University of Washington’s Museology ma

iSchool's Walsh applies data science to literary world

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Bad book sales data is like a bad credit score: it can stymie an author’s career and constrain future book contracts and publishing opportunities. Yet book sales data is proprietary — it’s purposefully hidden from the public, as well as researchers, humanities scholars and librarians. Access to this data, along with tools to understand it, is essential in holding the mainstream publishing industry accountable for who gets book deals, which largely determines whose books are housed in libraries and available to library patrons. In fact, according to Melanie Walsh, who has moved into

MSIM student wins fellowship to travel the world

Friday, September 1, 2023

Erica Adams is preparing for the trip of a lifetime: eight countries in eight months. Adams, a Mid-Career Master of Science in Information Management student specializing in user experience and cybersecurity, will travel to countries across Africa and Asia, experiencing different cultures as a recipient of the prestigious Bonderman Fellowship. Each year, a select group of University of Washington students are provided a rare opportunity to independently travel the world and visit four to eight countries as Bonderman fellows. The fellowship offers students the chance to engage in independ

Q&A: As AI changes education, important conversations for kids still happen off-screen

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

When ChatGPT surged into public life in late 2022, it brought new urgency to long-running debates: Does technology help or hinder kids’ learning? How can we make sure tech’s influence on kids is positive? Such questions live close to the work of Jason Yip, a University of Washington associate professor in the Information School. Yip has focused on technology’s role in families to support collaboration and learning. As another school year approaches, Yip spoke with UW News about his research. What sorts of family technology issues do you study? I look at how technologies m

iSchool's Saveski looks for common ground on social media

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Democracy requires talking with different people, listening to them, trying on their points of view, even if you don’t agree with them. But those healthy conversations are increasingly rare in the politically polarized world online, says new iSchool Assistant Professor Martin Saveski. Left or right, people are stuck fast in their partisan internet corners, with often toxic consequences. “It’s no longer that we disagree on a particular issue, it’s that we don’t want to engage at all, and that’s problematic,” says the innovative researcher, who has a Ph.D. from the Massachusett

Researchers study how a chatbot can teach kids supportive self-talk

Thursday, July 20, 2023

At first, some parents were wary: An audio chatbot was supposed to teach their kids to speak positively to themselves through lessons about a superhero named Zip. In a world of Siri and Alexa, many people are skeptical that the makers of such technologies are putting children’s welfare first. Researchers at the University of Washington created a new web app aimed to help children develop skills like self-awareness and emotional management. In Self-Talk with Superhero Zip, a chatbot guided pairs of siblings through lessons. The UW team found that, after speaking with the app for a week

Guidebook fosters inclusive decision-making about oceans

Monday, July 17, 2023

The decisions we make about our oceans need to be informed by sound data, and more importantly, the process for collecting and interpreting that data needs to be inclusive of the diverse realities, values, and knowledge systems of local marine communities. All too often, however, that isn’t the case. Researchers with the University of Washington’s Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) investigated the reasons why and have collaborated to create a training resource for communities to foster inclusive data-driven decision-making. Inclusive Ocean Data for Decision-Making is an open

iSchool announces first slate of 2023 faculty hires

Monday, July 10, 2023

The University of Washington Information School is honored to welcome six new faculty members while three others take on new roles in the school. These scholars provide intellectual leadership in our research areas and also inform undergraduate and graduate education in the Informatics, Library and Information Science, and Information Management programs, as well as the Master of Arts in Museology, which officially joined the iSchool on July 1.  The range of expertise and intellectual leadership represented among the faculty members highlights the iSchool’s highly interdisciplinary n

MLIS students' game illustrates challenges of prison librarianship

Monday, June 26, 2023

Prison library staff face unique challenges, but there is a lack of research into their experiences. Four first-year Master of Library and Information Science students set out to fill this gap through a project for their LIS 570 Research, Assessment and Design class. Professor Ricardo Gomez asked his students to do quarter-long research on a topic of their choosing and put it together as a deliverable. Katrina Lujan, Ruth Nordquist, Bianca Phipps and Katherine Puebla investigated the resources and support available to prison library staff. They decided to take a creative approach and crea