Ph.D. student investigates Tribal health communication online

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Nicole Kuhn’s research as an iSchool Ph.D. candidate is a balancing act between the slow, deliberate pace of academia and the quick, in-the-moment pace of social media. Kuhn’s research focuses on Indigenous health communication on social media and is deeply connected to her ongoing work on Indigenous research ethics. Her work relies on careful relationship building with Indigenous communities, which takes time. Thanks to a Ford Foundation predoctoral fellowship and a National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship, she will have the time that is needed to ethically engage in

iSchool research helps neurodivergent people succeed on the job

Monday, November 27, 2023

Sock wrangler Chelsie Fonseca does a little of everything at John’s Crazy Socks, an online retailer and social enterprise that features thousands of pairs of quirky socks. She packs the Happiness Gift Boxes and does the gift wrapping. She painted a mural with blue-and-yellow flowers — the colors associated with Down syndrome — in a bathroom at the company’s Long Island headquarters. She even took a turn modeling at a beauty, fashion and art show in October 2022, wearing a pair of the company’s Halloween-themed socks decorated with ghosts, bats and candy corn, along with a black lacy

iSchool's Chirag Shah honored for information behavior research

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Information School Professor Chirag Shah is the recipient of this year’s ASIS&T SIG USE Outstanding Contributions to Information Behavior Research Award, which recognizes one scholar each year for their body of work in the field.Shah’s work in intelligent information access systems focuses on task-oriented search, proactive recommendations and conversational systems. His current research centers around AI-driven information access systems that provide personalized recommendations, seeking to make such systems transparent, fair and free of biases.Shah has published nearly 200

MLIS alum breaks down barriers in libraries, education

Monday, November 13, 2023

Nicola Andrews believes education should be more accessible — and she’s working toward that goal in her academic and professional work. Andrews, the recipient of the Information School’s 2023 Graduate of the Last Decade Alumni Impact Award, is the open education librarian at the University of San Francisco. The GOLD Award celebrates recent graduates for their contributions to the information field. Andrews — who is from Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (Auckland, New Zealand) and is a member of the Ngāti Paoa iwi, a Māori tribe — came to the iSchool with a background in librari

Scientific approach to librarianship and leadership

Monday, November 13, 2023

Michael Fosmire was a dedicated UW graduate student in physics when he first became interested in science librarianship. He knew little about it, although he spent long hours in the old physics library poring over academic papers. He began asking the librarian there questions: What does this profession mean? How do you get a job like this? “I was seeing that the role might be more fulfilling than spending my days in a lab,” says the Purdue University librarianship professor and scholar, who, after graduating with his UW master’s in physics, switched academic gears and entered the UW

Childhood inspiration leads Informatics alum to a future in public health

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

As a child, Aditya Ramani dreamed of a career in medicine. But when he had to dissect a pig in his 10th-grade science class, he learned he didn’t have the stomach for some aspects of the medical field.“After having to do the dissection, I remember thinking, ‘I can’t be a doctor. I need to find a different way of helping people,’” said Ramani, ’20. “So when I started exploring computer science, I found it to be a way for me to still give back to my community but through technical skills.”Ramani’s interest in a career in technology brought him to the iSchool to major in Infor

Jason Young works to bring worlds together

Monday, November 6, 2023

Over the past six years as a senior research scientist with the iSchool's Technology and Social Change Group (TASCHA), Jason Young has done expansive and eclectic work. A short list of projects includes supporting Indigenous communities in the Arctic and Peruvian Amazon, advocating for library visibility in Africa, and collaborating with local rural librarians to develop interventions for misinformation. This agility as a researcher, as well as his reputation for collaborating with and uplifting others, are why, according to founder of TASCHA Chris Coward, Young was an obvious choice to replac

Librarianship skills translate perfectly for elected official

Monday, November 6, 2023

Catherine McMullen, MLIS ‘08, can tell you that librarianship and public office have a lot in common. After more than a decade working for public libraries, last year McMullen campaigned for the role of clerk of Clackamas County, just south of Portland, Oregon.  “It was a long journey, but a lot of fun,” McMullen says. “And one of the most enjoyable parts is meeting the voter where they're at and having conversations with voters about how processes work.” She considers her election to have been “one of the largest job interviews with the most interviewers.” McMullen an

In UW public lecture, Jevin West discusses power and pitfalls of generative AI

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

During “Generative Misinformation,” an Oct. 27 talk at Town Hall Seattle sponsored by the University of Washington Graduate School’s Office of Public Lectures, iSchool associate professor and Center for an Informed Public co-founder Jevin West discussed how generative artificial intelligence is making it more challenging to make sense of the information we see online and understand what’s taking shape in the world around us.  Opening his lecture, West said that when assessing the power, potential and pitfalls of the continued development of generative AI and its societal im

A Google Slides extension can make presentation software more accessible for blind users

Monday, October 30, 2023

Screen readers, which convert digital text to audio, can make computers more accessible to many disabled users — including those who are blind, low vision or dyslexic. Yet slideshow software, such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides, isn’t designed to make screen reader output coherent. Such programs typically rely on Z-order — which follows the way objects are layered on a slide — when a screen reader navigates through the contents. Since the Z-order doesn’t adequately convey how a slide is laid out in two-dimensional space, slideshow software can be inaccessible to people wit

Students investigate how artificial intelligence perpetuates biases

Monday, October 30, 2023

Many people believe that technology is just a tool, neither good nor bad. Damian Hodel isn’t one of those people. “That's an old but wrong story that technology is neutral,” said Hodel, a second-year Ph.D. student at the University of Washington’s Information School. “I think many people agree with that idea, and I would say that's not true. That's misinformation basically, or at least a misunderstanding. “Technology is never neutral, because technology is developed by humans, and humans, as we know, aren't neutral.” As computer technology, and especially artificial inte

Author Nic Stone: 'representation is our sign that we are not alone'

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Author and storyteller Nic Stone told the audience for this year’s Spencer G. Shaw Endowed Lecture how the stories we read shape the way we see the world, reminding us that we all have our own authentic story to share. “Everything we do is a narrative. Everything we talk about is based on a narrative. Every idea we have about how the world should be is based on a narrative,” said Stone.  Stone discussed her childhood love for books and her inspiration behind becoming an author during the lecture over Zoom on Oct. 19. She emphasized the power of storytelling in influencing the

Researchers help librarians tell Tacoma's story

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

How do you get people to contribute their stories to a community archive when the concept itself can be confusing? That’s one of the challenges a UW Information School team faced while working with staff from Tacoma Public Library to develop their Community Archives Center. Their goal was not only to make Tacoma’s archives successful but also to create a toolkit that other libraries can use to establish their own community archives. The two-year project, which wrapped up recently, was made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, said Chris Jowaisas, a s

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