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Informatics

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Special Topics & New Courses: INFO

View special topics and new courses for other Information School programs:

Autumn 2026

INFO 492 B: Intensive Capstone - Building Nonprofit Systems with AI Development Tools

  • Instructor: Elizabeth Geri
  • 8 Credits: Standard Grading

AI-powered development tools have made it possible to design, build, and iterate on real technology solutions faster than ever before — opening new opportunities for organizations like nonprofits that have historically lacked access to technical resources. This capstone takes advantage of that shift: working with real nonprofit clients on defined problems, students will use current vibe coding tools to build and deliver working systems, transitioning their management to the organizations they serve and freeing them to focus on their missions and impact. Along the way, students will develop and refine a methodology for doing so with rigor, judgment, and craft.

INFO 492 C: Intensive Capstone - Construction Informatics

  • Instructor: Frank Martinez
  • 8 Credits; Standard Grading

Explores how information flows through the construction industry, with emphasis on the data, coordination, and contractual requirements that shape design and execution in large projects. Students examine how construction documents, subcontractor commitments, project communications, and site realities interact across the lifecycle of a project. Topics include access to proprietary and public project data, synthetic data generation, interviews with industry practitioners, and the role of AI agents in supporting collaboration between subcontractors, general contractors, and design teams. Through site visits, field observation, and applied research, students investigate how informatics can improve decision-making, communication, and compliance in construction settings.

INFO 494 A: Research Studio - Justice-Centered Programming Language Design

  • Instructor: Amy J. Ko
  • 1-5 Credits; Credit/No Credit Grading

This recurring, quarterly research studio will engage you as a volunteer open source contributor that helps design, build, and maintain Wordplay, creative coding research platform for creating accessible, interactive typographic media. Our research goals are to create a global platform for creative expression with language that celebrates every individual's culture, identity, and values, while also enabling youth to learn about the power and limits of data and algorithms. Your contributions can include designing and redesigning the language and platform, implementing new user interface features, improving correctness and reliability of current features, localizing to one or more of the world's languages, writing automated tests, creating Wordplay examples, verifying accessibility, and teaching your peers. As a studio course, there will be no lectures, only community-based making, collaboration, coordination, and communication. Can be taken multiple times, and volunteer work can continue beyond the quarter.

INFO 498 A: Community-Driven HCI

  • Instructor: Elias Greendorfer
  • 4 Credits, Standard Grading

Community-Driven HCI gives students the opportunity to explore how technology can be designed with local communities, while at the same time engaging broader questions in Human-Computer Interaction for Development (HCI4D), as well as notions of Autonomous Design. Students will pursue quarter-long design projects situated in Seattle. In addition to introducing participatory design methods, the course will also encourage students to think critically about issues such as equity, sustainability, and other related community-led forms of sociotechnical practice, specifically within the context of underserved or underrepresented communities both locally and abroad.

INFO 498 B: Game Design for Social Good

  • Instructor: Andy Cargile
  • 5 Credits; Standard Grading

The course will start with several weeks of game design basics, including mechanics, dynamics, “fun”, visual and UX design for games, narrative, user research for games, and an overview of game genres. We’ll then cover various aspects of games for social good, including game-based learning, social awareness games, social action games, and social engagement games in a variety of categories. We will also cover topics such as toxicity in multiplayer games, representation, and more. Assignments will focus on team creation more than theory and we will have a final team project where you create a game demo or prototype.

INFO 498 F: Entrepreneurship Fundamentals for Devs, Designers, and PMs

  • Instructor: Jeremy Zaretzky
  • 4 Credits; Standard Grading

Designed for INFO majors who are interested in startups and entrepreneurship, this course will cover how new companies are founded, managed, funded, and grown. Through readings, guest speakers, activities, and case studies, students will learn what life is like as a startup founder and how to navigate the inevitable challenges that arise, as well as the mechanics of raising money for a startup through both equity and non-dilutive funding options. While the course material is applicable to many different types of startups, there will be a particular emphasis on social impact startups, SaaS companies, and online marketplaces. Developers, designers, and product managers who are thinking about launching a startup at some point in their career, as well as those interested in joining an early-stage startup after graduation, are encouraged to enroll in the course.

Winter 2027

INFO 492 A: Intensive Capstone - Developing No Code and AI Strategies and Solutions for Non-profits

  • Instructor: Nam-ho Park
  • 8 Credits; Standard Grading

Nonprofits frequently face constraints in budget and technical expertise, limiting their ability to implement and manage sophisticated technology solutions. These solutions could significantly enhance engagement with their beneficiaries, efficiently handle constituent management, and automate repetitive tasks. The class aims to work with a nonprofit sponsor to identify high-value workflows that can be automated and utilize no code and AI solutions for designing, developing, and testing these workflows. Our goal is to deploy these solutions and transition their management to nonprofits, unburdening them from menial tasks and freeing up resources to focus on their missions and impact.

INFO 494 A: Research Studio - Justice-Centered Programming Language Design

  • Instructor: Amy J. Ko
  • 1-5 Credits; Credit/No Credit Grading

This recurring, quarterly research studio will engage you as a volunteer open source contributor that helps design, build, and maintain Wordplay, creative coding research platform for creating accessible, interactive typographic media. Our research goals are to create a global platform for creative expression with language that celebrates every individual's culture, identity, and values, while also enabling youth to learn about the power and limits of data and algorithms. Your contributions can include designing and redesigning the language and platform, implementing new user interface features, improving correctness and reliability of current features, localizing to one or more of the world's languages, writing automated tests, creating Wordplay examples, verifying accessibility, and teaching your peers. As a studio course, there will be no lectures, only community-based making, collaboration, coordination, and communication. Can be taken multiple times, and volunteer work can continue beyond the quarter.

INFO 498 A: Game Development for Social Good

  • Instructor: TBD
  • 5 Credits; Standard Grading

In this course you will design and create a video game for social good. “Social good” games include game-based learning, social awareness games, social action games, and social engagement games in a variety of categories. Over the course of 10 weeks, you will work in teams to come up with a strong idea for a game with your team and then design the game, the aesthetics, the story, the game mechanics and create a working one-level working version of the game. You will research your audience and subject area, ideate and test ideas, create prototypes, playtest your game and get feedback.

INFO 498 B: AI, Text Reuse, and the Art of Stealing

  • Instructor: Melanie Walsh
  • 4 Credits; Standard Grading

Examines artificial intelligence technologies in the context of literary and cultural histories of text reuse. Explores concepts including intellectual property, authorship, parody, and adaptation, drawing on approaches from literary studies and data science. Considers impacts of data and computation on textual production and analysis.

INFO 498 E: Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines

  • Instructor: Jevin West
  • 3 Credits; Standard Grading

INFO 498F: Entrepreneurship Fundamentals for Developers, Designers, and Program Managers

  • Instructor: TBD
  • 4 Credits; Standard Grading

Designed for Informatics majors who are interested in startups and entrepreneurship, this course will cover how new companies are founded, managed, funded, and grown. Through readings, guest speakers, activities, and case studies, students will learn what life is like as a startup founder and how to navigate the inevitable challenges that arise, as well as the mechanics of raising money for a startup through both equity and non-dilutive funding options. While the course material is applicable to many different types of startups, there will be a particular emphasis on social impact startups, SaaS companies, and online marketplaces. Developers, designers, and product managers who are thinking about launching a startup at some point in their career, as well as those interested in joining an early-stage startup after graduation, are encouraged to enroll in the course.

INFO 498G: AI Governance and Policy 

  • Instructor: William Li
  • 4 Credits; Standard Grading

Check back for updates to INFO 498 offerings.

Spring 2027

INFO 492 A: Intensive Capstone - Critical Information Research

  • Instructor: Mara Kirdani-Ryan
  • 8 Credits; Standard Grading

Only for students participating in the Critical Information Research Cohort.

INFO 494 A: Research Studio - Justice-Centered Programming Language Design

  • Instructor: Amy J. Ko
  • 1-5 Credits; Credit/No Credit Grading

This recurring, quarterly research studio will engage you as a volunteer open source contributor that helps design, build, and maintain Wordplay, creative coding research platform for creating accessible, interactive typographic media. Our research goals are to create a global platform for creative expression with language that celebrates every individual's culture, identity, and values, while also enabling youth to learn about the power and limits of data and algorithms. Your contributions can include designing and redesigning the language and platform, implementing new user interface features, improving correctness and reliability of current features, localizing to one or more of the world's languages, writing automated tests, creating Wordplay examples, verifying accessibility, and teaching your peers. As a studio course, there will be no lectures, only community-based making, collaboration, coordination, and communication. Can be taken multiple times, and volunteer work can continue beyond the quarter.

INFO 498 A: UX for Gaming

  • Instructor: Andy Cargile
  • 5 Credits; Standard Grading

This course focuses on UX for games in depth. The first part of the course contains deep dives into various aspects of UX design in general: UX design, UI design, Visual design, and Game design. Then, the course will focus on the practice of creating components of the game user experience including maps, inventory, onboarding, sound design, and more. We will end will topics on accessibility, mobile, and console UX design.  
 
Students will work individually and in small teams of two on assignments. Assignments will include mood boards, wireframes, prototypes and several UX makeovers of existing games. Unlike Game Design for Social Good, there will be no large team project and no focus on social good specifically.

INFO 498 C: Agentic AI Products

  • Instructor: Marx Wang
  • 4 Credits; Standard Grading

INFO 498 D: TBD

  • Proposed Instructor: TBD
  • 4 Credits; Standard Grading

INFO 498 E: AI, Robots, and Transcending Religion

  • Instructor: Wes Eli King
  • 4 Credits; Standard Grading

Can a Robot Be Divine? Will humans merge with technologies that enable them to transcend current reality? This course will engage with these questions and others as we survey philosophical concepts, ethical principles, and popular culture connecting AI and religion.

This course aims to:

  • Introduce students to theories about the influence of religion on technological innovation.
  • Explore development of religious robots.
  • Develop students’ critical and analytical skills for examining ethical debates about AI.

By the end of the course, successful students will be able to:

  • Recognize key religious concepts and theories of technology.
  • Describe ways religions use robots and imagine technological futures.
  • Engage with religious worldviews and ethical principles that influence the development, content, form, and use of AI.

INFO 498 G: Web Application Security

  • Instructor: TBD
  • 5 Credits; Standard Grading

This course is an advanced topic course that would be available to Information School students with the Information Assurance and Cybersecurity focus. The course provides the foundational knowledge of practices and skills required for Web Application and Cloud Penetration Testers with a focus on the skills necessary to perform security assessments. This course has an emphasis on manual testing and giving students a deep understanding of fundamental vulnerability types, how they can be exploited, and how they can be remediated. This fills a gap in Cybersecurity curriculum regarding practical application security, addressing the need to develop a perspective for the security of web applications in addition to the development. 

Recommended preparation: INFO 310

INFO 498 H: AI, Empathy, and Human Connection

  • Instructor: 
  • 4 Credits; Standard Grading

Have you ever found yourself talking to your devices? Whether it's an AI model with conversational capabilities like ChatGPT, or an AI assistant like Apple's Siri, we often find ourselves forming unexpected connections with machines. This course delves into the AI personification, exploring how we attribute human-like qualities to technology. We'll examine the psychological underpinnings of this phenomenon, its potential benefits, and the societal impact, while critically analyzing the ethical risks associated with the humanization of AI. Through discussions, readings, and assignments, you'll gain a deeper understanding of AI personification and learn the importance of design practices that prioritize human connection and well-being in an increasingly AI-powered world.

Check back for updates to INFO 498 offerings.

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