AI research to aid in remembering historical figures

Wednesday, October 14, 2026

The words and images of famous American writers like James Baldwin or Mark Twain circulate widely online, and are often invoked in social and political conversations. These texts and images — frequently paired together — sometimes draw from their youth or old age, or from very different parts of their prolific careers. These pairings reflect different interpretations of the same writer and ultimately help shape how they are remembered. Text-only searches can miss the visual details that contribute to those interpretations. These cultural figures are not only cited by individuals

Renowned children's author shares her story at Shaw Lecture

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Author Christina Soontornvat reflected on her path from her parents’ Texas restaurant to the pages of her own books during the 2026 Spencer G. Shaw Lecture: “The best way to understand my work is through embarrassing childhood photos of myself.” Soontornvat is the only author to receive Newbery Honors for both nonfiction and fiction in the same year, for “A Wish in the Dark” and “All Thirteen,” which was also the first nonfiction work to win the Young Readers category of the Kirkus Prize. She gave the annual lecture for the Information School on Oct. 8 at the HUB.She began b

When we collaborate with communities, we make a lasting impact

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Research is most meaningful when it extends beyond labs and publications. Doing work that improves people’s lives often requires us to collaborate with community partners and trust their knowledge and expertise. For example, as part of his research into Indigenous communication and knowledge systems, Assistant Professor Jason Young has spent two summers studying with an interpreter in Nunavut, Canada, learning the language of the Inuit people. His language skills have deepened and expanded his partnerships, and he’s brought those skills home to teach a series of courses at the UW

MLIS alum brings energy, passion to job of state librarian

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Melody Sky Weaver recalled her reaction the first time someone told her she'd make a great librarian: "I'm not a quiet person. I am a really loud, extroverted person."At the time, Weaver was a sculptor, building large-scale art installations designed as environments that bring people together. When she took a children’s librarian job at the Garden City Public Library outside Boise, Idaho, she quickly understood why the recommendation had been made. "What I was trying to do with my public art was to build community and bring people together around important issues," she said. "When I app

CALMA wins grant to build research roadmap for libraries, museums, archives

Monday, September 28, 2026

Libraries, archives and museums often face many of the same challenges, but they don’t always approach them in the same way. A new project by the Center for Advances in Libraries, Museums, and Archives (CALMA) aims to change that and bring the three fields together by developing a research roadmap. The project will identify research priorities, highlight areas of shared value and propose next steps for collaborative research.CALMA Director Sharon Streams was aware of the separation, but began thinking about how to build bridges among the LAM (Libraries, Archives, Museums) fields after t

2 MLIS students awarded ALA Spectrum Scholarships

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

University of Washington Master of Library and Information Science students Holly Samayoa and Sherry Vazhayil are among those awarded 2026-27 ALA Spectrum Scholarships, announced recently by the American Library Association.​Samayoa and Vazhayil spoke about what drew them to library and information science and what they hope to do with their degrees.​Samayoa said she became interested in library and information science 10 years ago, long before she knew there was a term for her main interest: Information Behavior, which she didn't learn about until her second quarter at the UW Informa

Curiosity, frustration and antipathy: How kids play with AI toys

Friday, September 4, 2026

Claims of “smart” toys go back decades. See Chatty Cathy and Furby. But generative artificial intelligence is increasing the capabilities of interactive toys. The company Curio, for instance, markets itself as a “magical workshop where toys come to life.” Its plush toys like Gabbo or one modeled on the Italian brainrot character Ballerina Cappuccina have onboard AI models that let them talk to kids, remember their conversations and personalize responses. But we know little about how such toys affect kids and even how kids play with them. Last summer, University of Washington resea

In New Zealand, students gain perspective on librarianship

Friday, September 4, 2026

Many Information School and University of Washington students have the opportunity to study away from campus for several weeks at a time. This past winter, students had a special chance to study in New Zealand for an entire academic quarter. For 10 weeks, Professor Michelle H. Martin and Ph.D. candidate Mandi Harris led a group of 19 students (ages 19-76) across the islands known as Aotearoa to the Māori, the people Indigenous to the area. Beginning in Wellington on the North Island, the group learned about one another’s academic and personal interests, bonding over hikes, shared

Alum leads Microsoft's efforts to 'get it right' on AI safety

Thursday, September 3, 2026

As AI models continue to grow more capable, some are beginning to behave unpredictably outside their testing environments. It is a pattern that raises concerns among those responsible for overseeing the rapid pace of AI development.Microsoft is at the forefront of that safety effort and UW Information School graduate Steph Ballard, as director of responsible AI practice at the company, is one of the major players helping to build baseline security requirements for the teams building AI. For Ballard, Ph.D. ’23, MLIS ’17, “responsible AI” means putting trustworthy artifici

New professor seeks to make AI safer for youth

Monday, August 31, 2026

The world of artificial intelligence is growing and evolving every day. AI is so new, and so complex, that it’s hard even for experts to understand the benefits and risks it poses. Yaman Yu, who recently joined the Information School as a tenure-track assistant professor, wants to broaden people’s understanding of AI and how at-risk users, in particular youth, could be protected and empowered in their interactions with it. Yu comes to the University of Washington from the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she earned her Ph.D. Her

AI nearly erases female animal characters in kids' stories

Thursday, August 20, 2026

Last year, Melanie Walsh, a University of Washington assistant professor in the Information School, wrote an article examining how 300 popular children’s books gendered their animal characters. Of the 13 most common animals, most were male — unless they happened to be cats, ducks or birds, which trended slightly more female. But a frog, a wolf? Over a 90% shot it was a “he.” Walsh and journalists from The Pudding also had 1,300 participants complete stories about various talking animals — for example: “And then the bear said, ‘I must go to the river.’ Upon arriving…” I

GovScape lets you easily search millions of government documents

Wednesday, July 15, 2026

At the end of every presidential term, the End of Term Web Archive preserves that administration’s web presence as a vast trove of documents and webpages. The archive began in 2008, with George W. Bush’s second term, and runs up to 2024, collecting images, text, graphs, redacted pages and other media. So while it contains important public information, finding that information in the glut can prove difficult.A University of Washington-led research team created GovScape, an efficient search system for PDFs from the End of Term Web Archive. Users can look up exact keywords, like “FAFSA,”

Information School welcomes new faculty cohort

Monday, July 13, 2026

The University of Washington Information School is honored to welcome four faculty members who are joining or taking on new roles in the school. These scholars will inform undergraduate and graduate education in the Informatics, Library and Information Science, Information Management, Museology and Doctoral programs.The incoming faculty cohort brings expertise and research interests including artificial intelligence, leadership, cataloging, human-computer interaction, knowledge organization and ethics.“The Information School is committed to solving the world’s biggest information challenge

Informatics team delivers video search app for Microsoft

Thursday, July 9, 2026

If you were a travel vlogger who had just gotten back from, say, a trip to Seattle to watch the U.S. men's World Cup soccer team trounce Australia, and you wanted to create a video about the experience, what would your first step be?A new tool called Obby, created by a team of five Informatics students for their Capstone project, enables videomakers to use natural language to search for the specific clips they want to feature. For example, a user could search for “U.S. scores goal” and find that clip amidst all of the footage they had uploaded to Obby, saving valuable time.Rising seniors C

Beach volleyball player digs for her MSIM

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

Katarina Pantovic spent her undergrad years playing indoor volleyball in California and British Columbia, then switched sports in 2024 because she wanted to feel the sand under her feet.“In indoor volleyball, there are six players on the court, but in beach volleyball, there are only two, and you kind of have to do everything yourself,” she said. “I really fell in love with the challenge.”Pantovic, who is working on her Master of Science in Information Management, enjoyed the strategic side of beach volleyball. “The more I played, the more I realized that I loved the freedom that cam