AI-generated information carries risks along with promise

Monday, February 13, 2023

Artificial intelligence platforms such as ChatGPT have caught the attention of researchers, students and the public in recent weeks. For this dean's message, I have invited Chirag Shah, an Information School professor and expert in AI ethics, to share his thoughts on the future of generative AI. — Anind K. Dey, Information School Dean and Professor ChatGPT has caused quite an uproar. It’s an exciting AI chat system that leverages huge amounts of text processing to provide short, natural-sounding responses as well as complete complex tasks. It can write long essays, generate reports,

Island life experiences inspire MLIS student

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Growing up in Guam, Katrina Lujan found sanctuary in a small, underfunded library. Her life-long love for books led her to pursue an education and career in librarianship.  Lujan, a first-year Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) online student based in Portland, was recently awarded a scholarship from the Information School Scholarship Fund, supported by alumni and donors. Alongside her studies, Lujan is also a library coordinator in a women-only state prison.  Her passion for librarianship and working for and within historically underrepresented communities stems

Researchers shed light on city governments' data

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

The idea grew out of a disagreement. Eva Maxfield Brown was an undergraduate student six years ago at the Information School. She was paying close attention to a controversial issue before the Seattle City Council to allow a new NBA arena to be built in the SoDo District. So was one of her professors, Nic Weber. When the vote occurred, they read about it the follow­ing day. They disagreed on why a council member voted a certain way and even whether that member’s vote was de­cisive. So they sought out the council meeting recording. “It took us a surprising amount of time to find the

Informatics student inspired to improve health care

Monday, January 9, 2023

Julius Cecilia has found it hard to watch his sister, who has life-threatening food allergies, end up in the hospital repeatedly. He wanted to find a way to make life easier for her and for other people who suffer from similar conditions. Cecilia was looking for a way to help, perhaps by volunteering, when the pandemic hit and he was stuck at home. Instead, he began exploring the options for technology that could help. He started learning to code and experimented with creating an app that could help his sister navigate her food allergies. This work led him to discover Informatics and the Un

Ph.D. student works to unlock devices' insights

Monday, January 9, 2023

The devices we wear and carry in our pockets know a lot about us. They know our movements, our locations, and our attention spans. Orson (Xuhai) Xu thinks they should be more responsive to our needs. “The devices around us should be able to listen better,” the Information School Ph.D. candidate said. In fact, Xu thinks devices such as smartphones and smartwatches hold the potential to help people change bad habits and improve their mental health. But to get there, researchers must first gain a firm understanding of what they can learn about people from the data, a focus of Xu’s resear