Information Tools

W.E. King

CV Assistant Teaching Professor
Mary Gates Hall 330B

Specializations

  • Gender and Technology
  • Artificial Intelligence and Religion
  • Digital Media and Society

Research Areas

Courses

  • INFO 200 - Intellectual Foundations Of Informatics
  • INFO 300 - Research Methods

Biography

Dr. Wes Eli King teaches core informatics courses to undergraduates in the University of Washington Information School. They have been at the UW since 2013, starting as a graduate student and now as faculty. Dr. Wes brings over 20 years of technical writing and technical training experience to the classroom and offers a critical informatics lens for students to adopt as they develop their career goals and imagine the future of information. They are passionate about teaching and enjoy designing collaborative, peer-based learning environments.

As an activist-researcher, Dr. Wes locates their research at the intersection of technology, religion, and gender. They completed their dissertation entitled, A Match Made in Heaven: Queer Christians and Dating Apps, at the UW iSchool in 2021 and teach a Special Topics in Informatics course on internet dating and the future of relationships. Dr. Wes has also developed a Special Topics in Informatics course on AI, robots, and transcending religion that brings together their research and teaching with their interest in science fiction and imagining futures.

Education

  • Ph D, Information Science, University of Washington, 2021
  • MS, Information Science , University of Washington, 2019
  • MA, International Studies: Comparative Religion, University of Washington, 2015
  • MA, Ministry Leadership, Portland Seminary, 2011
  • BA, Organizational and Interpersonal Communication Concentration in Psychology and Computer Science, Ohio State University, 1986

Awards

  • Dissertation Fellowship - Louisville Institute, 2020-2021
  • Joan W. Welk Endowed Graduate Fellowship in Comparative Religion, 2014-2015
  • Best Paper in Ethical Challenges Accompanying Digital and Social Media Mini-Track (Nominated) - Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2015

Memberships

  • Society for the Social Studies of Science
  • Association of Internet Researchers
  • Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

Publications and Contributions

  • Conference Paper
    Search Me, O [Algorithm] and Know my Heart: Queer Faith in Dating Apps (2024)
    Proceedings of the 57th Hawaii International Conference on System Science, pp. 2370-2379 Author: W.E. King
  • Instructor's Manual
    Research Methods for Informatics Undergraduate Students: A Lab Workbook (2023)
    Authors: Clarita Lefthand-Begay, Jesse Brisbois, Julie Emory, W.E. King, Kunsang Choden Lama, Claire Indermaur McDonald, Nataliya Muzyka, Punya Prakash Shetty, Turam Purty, Aditya Singh, Zening Qu
  • Conference Paper
    AI and the Unsullied Self (2021)
    Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Authors: W.E. King, Os Keyes
  • Conference Paper
    Librarian perspectives on the role of virtual reality in public libraries (2020)
    83rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T '20) Authors: Jin Ha Lee, Kung Jin Lee, W.E. King, Negin Dahya
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Perceptions and experiences of Virtual Reality in public libraries (2020)
    Journal of Documentation Authors: Jin Ha Lee, Negin Dahya, W.E. King, Kung Jin Lee
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Politics of Race, Gender, and Visual Representation in Feminist Media Education (2020)
    Discourse, Special issue on Child and Youth Engagement: Civic Literacies and Digital Ecologies, 41(5), pp. 673–690 Authors: W.E. King, Negin Dahya
  • Conference Poster
    Virtual Reality in Washington State Libraries (2018)
    Connected Learning Summit 2018 Authors: Negin Dahya, Kung Jin Lee, W.E. King, Jin Ha Lee
  • Conference Paper
    'Almost,' 'more than,' or 'truly' human?: Examining Sci-Fi TV through the lenses of digital and theological anthropologies (2015)
    Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Science, pp. 1734-1741 Author: W.E. King
  • Book, Non-Scholarly-New
    Facing “The Talk”: Conversations with my four daughters about sex (2015)
    Author: W.E. King
  • Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-New
    Feminist perspectives and mobile culture(s): power and participation in girls' digital video making communities
    Feminist Interventions in Participatory Media: Pedagogy, Publics, Practice Authors: Negin Dahya, W.E. King

Presentations

  • A Match Made in Heaven: Queer Christians & Dating Apps (2022)
    Annual meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) - Dublin, Ireland
  • AI, Cyborgs, Robots and Religion I & II (2022)
    Annual meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) - Cholula, Mexico (Virtual)
  • Information Ecologies that Promote Radical Belonging for Christians with Diverse Gender, Sexual, and Relationship Identities and Practices (2022)
    Annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) - Baltimore, MD
  • Librarian Perspectives on the Role of Virtual Reality in Public Libraries (2020)
    2020 ASIS&T Virtual Annual Meeting - Virtual