Spring 2020

BIME 300 A: Transformational Technologies for Biology, Medicine and Health

• Instructor: John Gennari
• 5 credits; standard grading

How are new information technologies affecting health care and medicine? When you visit the doctor, is he/she using modern information management methods? Are medical errors more likely or less likely to occur with new technologies? And how will new knowledge about the human genome affect health care?

In this course, we introduce the field of biomedical & health informatics through three modules that focus on current technologies in the field: (1) Electronic health records (EHRs), (2) Data science and secondary use of EHR data, and (3) Translational bioinformatics & personalized medicine. Each module will include hands-on exercises, and course evaluation will be based primarily on team projects that explore the technologies involved.

IMT 589 A: Problematic Information

• Instructor: Emma Spiro
• 4 credits; standard grading

Addressing the problem of misinformation is among the most pressing challenges of our time — and times to come. Recent decades have seen a profound shift in the ways people, groups and organizations produce and consume information and participate in public discourse. This new paradigm for human interaction and information sharing creates space for diverse voices and enhances collective action in positive ways. Yet these information environments have also opened the door to misinformation, disinformation and other forms of networked manipulation, which function not only to mislead and create divisions, but also to diminish trust in democratic institutions such as science and journalism.

This graduate seminar will introduce students to the lexicon of problematic information, tracing the historical roots and context of this phenomena and exploring the new realm of online information operations employed in today’s socio-technical infrastructure.

IMT 589 C: Cloud Computing

• Instructor: Fawad Khan
• 4 credits; standard grading

This course is going to introduce the concept of Cloud Computing and how it is transforming and evolving the IT industry and the developer ecosystem, as we move away from on-premises to Cloud-based infrastructure and app development scenarios. Discussion of Cloud services models including SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. Review of Cloud services usage and migration scenarios considering business goals and objectives along with developing a Costs/Benefits Analysis model. Understand primary business consideration for migrating to cloud services including cost, security, compliance, fault tolerance, backup, disaster recovery and monitoring. Learn about the most popular and consumed services including deploying, managing and maintaining a VM network infrastructure, developing Cloud-based App solutions, Containers, Serverless and Identity & authentication. Discussion of on the horizon key Cloud services in the new digital transformation age including Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and IoT.

IMT 598 A: Blockchain Technologies and Strategies

• Instructor: Frank Coker
• 3 credits; standard grading

Blockchain technology is a game changer and is becoming integral to information management strategies and architecture options. It is going to impact the global economy and change the way companies and individuals share important data. Blockchain began as the underlying technology that enabled cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and is having an even bigger impact in broader forms of data tracking in areas such as contracts, deeds, intellectual property, music, aircraft assemblies, drugs, agriculture and much more. This course provides an understanding how blockchain works and how it is evolving and how it can be an important part of a personal career development. This course is for information professionals whether pursuing a technical systems development track or a career in design and architecture; the goal is to bring technology and users together with systems and technologies that manage and deliver reliable data with certainty and trust.

INFO 498 A: Designing for Evil

• Instructor: Alexis Hiniker
• 4 credits; standard grading
• Course counts toward the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) option

What does it mean for a technology to be evil? What, if any, responsibility do designers and developers have to create systems that serve the greater good? In "Designing for Evil," we explore frameworks for considering these questions, tease apart moral panics from credible threats, study manipulative, addictive, and exploitative interfaces, critique existing designs, and create the evil — and not so evil — technologies of the future.

INFO 498 E: Activism and Technology

• Instructors: Megan Finn and Anna Lauren Hoffman
• 4 credits; standard grading

“Tech activism” is on the rise. From walkouts to internal protests, workers at companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce have pushed their firms to engage more forcefully with the social impact of the tools and services they provide. These movements remind us that technology, information, and computing professionals have long been a part of social movements — local and global — and advocates for change, as with physicists organizing against nuclear weapons or computer professionals advocating for radical forms of social responsibility.

Despite this rich history, conventional approaches to technology and ethics often overlook activism, social movements, and advocacy as key sources from which to draw inspiration. This seminar seeks to address this disconnect in three ways. First, it will revolve around guest talks from local activists, not-for-profits, and city employees presently engaged in “tech activism” and “public interest technology.” Second, course content will be grounded in up-to-the minute developments in tech activism as well as histories of organizing in the Pacific Northwest; from Seattle’s Black Panther Party to Native and indigenous activism to Riot Grrrl, our local context offers a rich culture of activism within which to situate and animate our activities. Finally, the seminar will contain an “active learning” component, supporting students as they develop proposals to intervene and advocate for change locally. At the end of the quarter, students will have the opportunity to compete for small grants to help bring their proposals to life.

INFO 498 F: Internet Dating

• Instructor: MxWE King
• 4 credits; standard grading

This course will explore the role of internet dating in structuring romantic and sexual relationships in a global context. Lines of inquiry in this course will focus on how particular forms of internet dating, ranging from those based on self-reports, psychological profiling, niche markets, location, or DNA testing, may inform, mobilize and challenge social and political norms, expectations and practices. Using the walkthrough method, students will “walk through” a selected internet dating platform and offer a critical analysis of the interface, business model, and environment of expected use including design recommendations for creating new or revising existing internet dating sites.

INSC 598 A: Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

• Instructor: Jason C. Yip
• 3 credits; standard grading

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) focuses on how information and communications technologies (ICT) support 1) learning through peer interaction in group work; 2) sharing and distributing knowledge within a community; and 3) enhancing coordinated efforts to solve a problem. Social media, massively open online courses (MOOCs), learning analytics and big data, and online gaming are all examples of new ICT that have the potential to transform how we think about social learning. Today, as modern ICT offer increasing possibilities for sharing, collaboration, and distribution of information and knowledge, the design and study of CSCL systems is a burgeoning area for research. In this course, students will explore the role of collaboration within technology-enhanced learning environments. We will survey the prevailing learning theories and research related to CSCL.

Throughout the course, we will explore: An overview of the history and background of CSCL; The theories behind CSCL systems and how researchers conceptualize learning; Examples of different CSCL systems and environment; and How new ICT are changing the way we think about collaborative learning. Ethics and issues surrounding CSCL research.

INSC 598 B: Indigenous Research Methods

• Instructor: Clarita Lefthand-Begay
• 3 credits; credit/no credit grading

INSC 598 C: The Internet and the Future - Challenges and Opportunities

• Instructor: Ron Johnson
• 4 credits; credit/no credit grading

Explore current issues such as network neutrality, digital divide/broadband access, "end of the public internet," network based censorship, privacy issues, the internet of things, smart cities, libraries and the internet, internet (in)security, regulatory environment, metro networks, content/media consolidation etc.; while, if you don’t already know, learning a bit at a high level about how ‘the internet’ really works and is operated, what it can do, and what some of its limitations are. Each student may choose a topic of personal interest as their project for the quarter in any of a very wide range of policy, practical, or technical areas. Grades will be based on that project plus constructive class participation.

LIS 598 A: Grant-Writing Workshop

• Instructor: Allyson Carlyle
• 1 credit; credit/no credit grading

LIS 598 C: Advanced Data Curation

• Instructor: Nicholas Weber
• 4 credits; standard grading
• Online course

This course examines a broad range of practical and conceptual issues in the emerging field of data curation. It focuses on recent advances and challenging problems in the curation of research data across disciplines and new trends in open data resources and services for the general public. The course will draw on research, case studies, and current initiatives to examine key challenges in the field and and practical solutions applied by data professionals. In-depth study of topics will be driven by student interests and their contributions to the course through presentations, discussion facilitation, and a final project.

LIS 598 D: Indigenous Art is Indigenous Knowledge

• Instructor: Miranda Belarde-Lewis
• 4 credits; standard grading

This course examines the relationship between Indigenous art and Indigenous Knowledge (IK) with an emphasis on tribal groups in North America. How have Native artists documented oral history, cosmologies, maps and plant knowledge through art? How are the customary forms of art evolving to keep up with the needs of contemporary Native peoples? This course draws on theory from Indigenous Studies, Information Science, Art History and, visual and museum studies to unpack the intention, purpose and interpretation of Indigenous art and artifacts. 

In this course, students will be asked to explore: the concept of Indigenous Knowledge; the role of the arts in Native communities in ancient times and in the present-day; the complicated colonial legacy between museums and Indigenous peoples; and, the push by Native peoples to be consulted with and their views respected about objects from their home communities that reside in museum collections. In addition to engaging with research, theory and the practices related to the study of Native art, Native history and IK, students will be asked to complete an in-depth research project about a particular group of art works, a community-based effort to maintain the transfer of IK through Indigenous art, or, the presentation and incorporation of IK through a museum exhibit.

LIS 598 E: Native American Knowledge Systems: Sovereign Rights, Protections and Protocols

• Instructor: Clarita Lefthand-Begay
• 3 credits; standard grading

Who owns, protects and disseminates the knowledge systems and data among tribal communities? For several years, tribal nations in the United States have established internal mechanisms and protocols to protect their traditional knowledge from appropriation, exploitation and misuse. In this course, students will engage multidisciplinary literature to examine the complexities tribes face when protecting their communities, become familiar with efforts of tribal citizens to revitalize their knowledge and demonstrate understanding by synthesizing topics discussed in class. To illustrate these concepts, the course will include case studies, interactive lectures, guest speakers, and in-class discussions.

LIS 598 F: Problematic Information

• Instructor: Emma Spiro
• 4 credits; standard grading

Addressing the problem of misinformation is among the most pressing challenges of our time — and times to come. Recent decades have seen a profound shift in the ways people, groups and organizations produce and consume information and participate in public discourse. This new paradigm for human interaction and information sharing creates space for diverse voices and enhances collective action in positive ways. Yet these information environments have also opened the door to misinformation, disinformation and other forms of networked manipulation, which function not only to mislead and create divisions, but also to diminish trust in democratic institutions such as science and journalism.

This graduate seminar will introduce students to the lexicon of problematic information, tracing the historical roots and context of this phenomena and exploring the new realm of online information operations employed in today’s socio-technical infrastructure.

Winter 2020

BIME 498 B: Informatics in Healthcare

• Instructor: Andrea Hartzler
• 5 credits; standard grading

How can you improve  healthcare with informatics? There are growing career opportunities to transform healthcare using information science and technology! This course introduces information technology applied in healthcare across three modules that 1) overview the U.S. healthcare system, 2) establish an understanding of clinical information systems used in healthcare, including electronic health records, and  3) survey applications in clinical informatics, such as virtual health care and the learning health system. 

The course meets MW 8:30-10:20, with a lab on T 8:30-9:20. There are no prerequisites. 

NOTE: This course is listed under SLN 21735 BIME 498 “Special Topics in Biomedical and Health Informatics” Instructor: Andrea Hartzler.

IMT 589 C: Technologies of Cities

• Instructors: Ryan Biava and Jan Whittington
• 3 credits; standard grading

Offered in partnership with the Department of Urban Planning, this course examines how the technologies that cities depend on have been increasingly digitized, interconnected, and viewed as more than the sum of their parts, as well as the social and political issues and controversies this implies.

The emergence and economic endurance of cities depends on their ability to establish and maintain efficient, networked technologies for transport, communication, energy, water, public health, and waste. Since the advent of digital and networking technologies, these infrastructures have been more easily monitored, interconnected, and present in our everyday lives, forming what many call “smart cities.” This course examines the evolving uses of technology in cities, the policies that are meant to ensure the public benefits of their application, and the unintended social, political, and economic consequences of this movement.

INFO 498 C: Designing Voice-First Information Systems

• Instructor: Mike Doane
• 4 credits; standard grading
• Course counts toward the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) option

This UX course provides an overview of voice-first systems, a background in using voice to drive interface design, and practical experience in designing VUIs using a set of industry software tools. Students learn how to create user requirements, user personas, user flows, content strategies, and taxonomies for voice-first systems. 

INFO 498 D: Indigenous Ways of Knowing in the Digital World

• Instructor: Sandy Littletree
• 4 credits; standard grading

Indigenous people are using a variety of digital tools such as video games, virtual reality, language apps, and digital heritage sites to maintain their relationships to place, language, history, and culture. In this course, we will explore the respectful use and development of these tools with an emphasis on Native North American Indigenous approaches to knowledge. By the end of this course, students will understand how relationality can inform thoughtful, respectful and appropriate uses of information technology that is designed by and for Indigenous people.

INFO 498 F: Religion and Information Technology

• Instructor: Mx WE King
• 4 credits; standard grading

This course will explore the ways major religious organizations, communities and individuals use the internet and information technologies. From following Pope Francis (@Pontifex) on Twitter or the Dalai Lama (@dalailama) on Instagram, to engaging with an online community of Queer Muslims or experiencing a live-streamed mega-church service, students will learn a critical technocultural approach to studying the ways religious organizations, communities, and individuals use information technologies. Using participant-observation, students will choose a site to explore and offer a critical analysis of their experience.

INSC 578 C Seminar: Data Then and Now

• Instructor: Megan Finn
• 1-2 credits; credit/no credit grading

Join us for a 10-week winter seminar about histories, presents and futures of data. The seminar will revolve around a bi-weekly speaker series called “Data then and Now” that is co-sponsored by eScience, Information School, and HCDE. Speakers from a number of different disciplines will talk about histories of data technologies or practices and draw out the antecedents and continuities of our current data-centric moment. The seminar will read papers by our visiting scholars, situate the contributions of our speakers in academic literature, and prepare and publish public “digests” describing the speaker’s work and their talk. We will meet Wednesdays from 4-5, and the DRG can be taken by PhD students for 1 or 2 credits. If you wish to participate in the seminar, please send an email to megfinn@uw.edu, tanweer@uw.edu, and dribes@uw.edu with a few sentences explaining what you hope to get out of the seminar.

LIS 598 A: Grant-Writing Workshop

• Instructor:Stephanie Gerding
• 1 credit; credit/no credit grading
• Course meets two Saturdays in Winter quarter: January 11 and February 8 from 12:00pm-4:20pm

In this course you will discover the confidence, knowledge, and skills you need to win library grants with instructor Stephanie Gerding, grants expert and an author of Winning Grants. This course will cover all aspects of grant work, including understanding the process, planning, developing grant project ideas, finding the best funding sources and grant opportunities, and writing winning grant proposals. Learn an easy-to-follow grant process cycle and receive practical advice, including valuable time-saving strategies. Learn exactly what grant reviewers are looking for and how to bring clarity and professionalism to grant proposals. You will apply the concepts learned to discover grant opportunities, create a grant project, and get personalized feedback from an expert grant reviewer. When you complete the course, you'll be excited, motivated, and ready with the knowledge you need to win library grants!

LIS 598 B: Digital Preservation

• Instructor: Nicholas Weber
• 4 credits; standard grading

Libraries, archives, and museums are increasingly charged with the curation and long-term preservation of digital objects – including collections of cultural heritage objects, born-digital scientific data, new digital media (such as video games), and software. This course focuses on tools, techniques, and policies for delivering trustworthy preservation in these settings. Practical activities will include the design and implementation of a digital preservation plan, using established frameworks to audit preservation services, and learning digital preservation standards such as reference models, file formats, metadata schemas, and certifications for trustworthy digital repositories.

LIS 598 D: Future of Libraries

• Instructor: Chance Hunt
• 3 credits; standard grading

Students completing this course will realize a heightened sense of optimism and passion for the future of libraries. They will have developed a deeper understanding of themselves as leaders and change agents, equipped with the confidence that they can "make" a desired future for libraries.

Autumn 2019

IMT 598 A: Digital Transformations

• Instructor: Fawad Khan
• 3 credits; standard grading

This course is going to introduce the concept of Digital Transformation and Cloud's key emerging technologies and how they are forcing companies to review and formulate a digital strategy which affects the bottom line of any company. We will review the key digital transformation strategy pillars and use Cloud's key emerging technologies, including Cognitive Computing, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and IoT to build solutions and applications to help the organizations along this digital journey.

INFO 498 C: Games and Information

• Instructor: Travis Windleharth
• 4 credits, standard grading

This course explores games from the perspective of information. As media artefacts, both digital and non-digital games are increasingly utilized not just for entertainment and expression, but also for learning, training, persuasion, data collection, therapy, and community building. This course examines games and information from four perspectives including i) the form and elements of games as designed interactive media artefacts, ii) existing and emerging game functions across multiple domains of human activity, iii) learning and rhetoric in games, and iv) games as information objects. Students will build a solid understanding of the informational aspects of games, the breadth of their use, their potential and limitations, and their place in modern society as an increasingly important media format. In addition to course readings, interactive lectures, and guest speakers, students will engage in a range of in-class gameplay to actively experience concepts.

INFO 498 D: Designing for Human Flourishing

• Instructor: Ishita Chordia
• 2 credits, standard grading

What does it mean for us to live lives that are full of joy, compassion, and purpose? What skills and practices help us cope with stress, failure, and self-doubt? How can we use design to support us in this endeavor?

These are the central questions of “Designing for Human Flourishing.” Over the course of ten weeks, we will use contemplative practices and design concepts to better understand ourselves and how we can flourish. The ultimate goal is to introduce skills and practices that empower us to become more thoughtful designers and to live our life intentionally, guided by our own truths.

Please note: As a student in this class, your work will contribute to a research study looking at designing for mindfulness.

INSC 598 A: Critical and Ethical Perspectives on Data and Algorithms

• Instructor: Anna Lauren Hoffman
• 4 credits, standard grading

This graduate seminar will ground students in critical social and theoretical concepts for evaluating—and normatively assessing—the data scientific practices and algorithmic processes that pervade our lives. The seminar’s frame is three-fold: biopolitics, power, and forms of administrative violence; historical perspectives on the rise and role of data-based and statistical knowledge in shaping lives and life chances; current perspectives on the role of big data and algorithms in the normative construction of bodies and identities.

LIS 598 A: Cultural History of Children’s and Young Adult Literature

• Instructor: Michelle Martin
• 3 credits; standard grading

This historical overview of children's and young adult literature studies the evolution of the genre written in English. It examines the influence of movements such as Romanticism, Rationalism, and postmodernism, and considers texts about minoritized children from a wide variety of cultures.

LIS 598 B: Participatory Design in Libraries

• Instructor: Jason Yip
• 4 credits, standard grading

Design is a traditional part of librarianship, and yet only has been explored more recently. Given the importance of “design thinking” in libraries, this course explores the notion of participatory design, a method focusing on engaging users in the design process, and emphasizing a democratic and collaborative relationship between users and designers to create new technologies and learning activities. There is rich work around how to interact with stakeholders together in the co-design space, the role of design techniques in co-design, and the different stages and phases of co-design. 

In this particular course, we will work with children and librarians in public libraries as an example of participatory design in context. Specifically, participants of this course will have a chance to engage in KidsTeam SPL (Seattle Public Library), an intergenerational co-design team of children (ages 7 – 12) and design researchers in public library settings.

On Monday afternoons, we will hold discussion groups on readings and concepts in participatory design. On Wednesday afternoons, students will travel to The Seattle Public Library together with Dr. Yip to run participatory design sessions with children and stakeholders in the library. Activities of this class will include interacting as an adult design partner with children in co-design, working with researchers on a single project involving children and design, and running overall logistics to support the intergenerational design team. 

This course is well suited for librarians, educators, HCI researchers, and designers interested in understanding in design processes.

LIS 598 C: Grant-Writing Workshop

• Instructor: Stephanie Gerding
• 1 credit, credit/no credit grading

Would you like to know how to plan and write grant proposals?
Are you new to library grant work or do you want to update your skills?
Would you like personalized advice and best practices for grant writing from an expert?

In this course, you will discover the confidence, knowledge, and skills you need to win library grants with instructor Stephanie Gerding, grants expert and an author of Winning Grants. This course will cover all aspects of grant work, including understanding the process, planning, developing grant project ideas, finding the best funding sources and grant opportunities, and writing winning grant proposals. Learn an easy-to-follow grant process cycle and receive practical advice, including valuable time-saving strategies. Learn exactly what grant reviewers are looking for and how to bring clarity and professionalism to grant proposals. You will apply the concepts learned to discover grant opportunities, create a grant project, and get personalized feedback from an expert grant reviewer. When you complete the course, you'll be excited, motivated, and ready with the knowledge you need to win library grants!

LIS 598 D: Capstone Prep

• Instructor: Hans Jochen Scholl
• 1 credit; credit/no credit grading

Summer 2019

INFO 498 A: Digital Humanities

• Instructor: Sarah Ketchley
• 3 credits, standard grading

This course will explore current Digital Humanities methods, tools, topics and debates. Students will have a unique and exciting opportunity to investigate the hands-on application of digital tools to primary source material, using computational methodologies to answer a range of humanities research questions.

INFO 498 C - Administration of Relational Database Systems

• Instructor: Randal J. Root
• 5 credits, standard grading

Deeper investigation into construction and administration of high-volume, robust database systems from conception through deployment. Topics include Enhanced ERDs, explicit transaction-management (control-of-flow, error-handling and concurrency control), definition and coding business rules, troubleshooting/optimization of database processes. Investigation of disaster recovery, security, high-availability and scalability solutions as well as data warehousing topics.