Information Tools

W.E. King

CV Assistant Teaching Professor
Mary Gates Hall 330B

Specializations

  • AI & Religion
  • Critical Digital Pedagogies
  • Queer-Feminist Science & Technology Studies (Queer-Feminist STS)

Research Areas

Courses

  • INFO 102 - Gender And Information Technology
  • INFO 200 - Intellectual Foundations Of Informatics

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

  • Distinguished Teaching Award - University of Washington, 2026
  • 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

  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    A match made in heaven: being queer and Christian while using dating apps (2025)
    Journal of Gender Studies Author: W.E. King
  • Conference Paper
    Faith in and through AI (2025)
    Society for the Social Studies of Science Author: W.E. King
  • Conference Paper
    Search Me, O [Algorithm] and Know my Heart: Queer Faith in Dating Apps (2024)
    Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp. 2370-2379, ISBN/ISSN: 2572-6862 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: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 41(5), pp. 673–690, ISBN/ISSN: 0159-6306 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

  • Robots, Romance, and Religion: Relationships with and through Technology (2025)
    MSIM Online Student Submit (MOSS ‘25) - Online
  • Faith in AI (2024)
    Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) - Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • From Cyborg Despair to AI Romance: Evolving Relationships and Personhood in Blade Runner 2049 (2024)
    Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) - Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Informatics Mock Lecture (2024)
    UW Admitted Student Day, University of Washington - Seattle, WA
  • 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)
  • Digital Literacy, Information, and Technology in Social Sciences (2022)
    Exploring Majors in the Social Sciences, University of Washington - Seattle, WA
  • 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