Posters

Unfortunately, the world continues to see indescribable horrors like the events in East Pakistan in 1971. Since then, we have been witnesses to efforts to destroy entire peoples in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and currently Darfur, to name only a few. Only with access to accurate and timely information can we try to prevent and stop such crimes.

This on-going project aims to explores strategies that would maximize the positive potential Internet has to offer and minimize the negative effects. Neither a controlled Internet nor a poorly-managed Internet leads to constructiveness. By active public campaign and civic engagement, we could turn the wheel to a highly hopeful direction.

Our design proposal draws on previous research in education, gaming, and gendered interactions with computers, to address impediments in female participation in the virtual environment. By adding a larger field of vision we will demonstrate improvement in the user’s interface and perceptions in the virtual gaming environment. Our goggle design will use peripheral vision to increasing visual scope and reduce blind spots. By increasing success in gaming interactions, our goggle design improves the usability of virtual environments. The expected users of our goggles would be gamers, trainers and trainees, simulation users, the military, educational software designers and game designers. The purpose of this initial proposal is to show how gaming can be a more rewarding experience for all gamers, but especially females by adding peripherals. Research and field testing have tentatively confirmed our hypothesis and should bear out the desirability of using this technology for future virtual applications.

This poster focuses on the public libraries in southern India and the true meaning of the word 'public'” in this context

The goal of this study is to build an application that can potentially solve the problem of re-finding and keeping information found on the web.  The proposed technique focuses on recording the memory path of a web search and permits subsequent manipulation of the web sites visited.  Traditionally, users can save the address of a web page using the concept of a bookmark (or favorite), or they can copy the address into a personal document or email for later use.  These methods require the user to make an active choice to save the relevant link.  If no link is saved, the browser history may be used to return to a page, or a web search may be performed.  Neither of these options is ideal, and the reliance on these methods causes the user to lose valuable information about the context in which the page was originally encountered.  I suggest a different approach. 

The Data Census is a research project being conducted by the Information Technology Services group to determine the breadth of digital research data extant at UW and the formats in which the data exists. The goal is to use the information we gather from the research project to build a framework for investigating appropriate policies, tools and mechanisms for further development into library collections.

As scientific research collaborations become increasingly complex, properly designed and implemented online tools can help manage the information needs of the teams.

This green building thesaurus is an example of a thesaurus that can be used both for conceptual browsing and as the back end of a search engine. The domain is residential, small-scale green building for people who wish to explore the area. Our poster will include both a brief description of the components of a thesaurus, along with examples from ours, and some discussion of how a thesaurus could be useful to different kinds of users and organizations.

The former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan presents a unique opportunity to evaluate the requirements of culturally appropriate information and communication technology (ICT) development. In Kyrgyzstan traditional institutions like government or media are often viewed as untrustworthy. Social networks that include family, neighbors, and friends are the primary source for information and support in time of need. The most pervasive ICT in Kyrgyzstan, similar to much of the developing world, is mobile phones. This exploratory research in the form of design ethnography intends to generate design possibilities for Mobile Social Software that can be deployed in Kyrgyzstan and other emerging markets. As a design space, Mobile Social Software seems uniquely suited for the developing world both in terms of deployable technology and the prevalence and importance of informal social networks. This poster presents preliminary findings, which include the pervasiveness of unofficial information markets and everyday challenges regarding transportation.

WebJunction's Spanish Language Outreach Program helps equip local library staff with knowledge and resources to reach out to Spanish speakers in their communities and increase their access to technology. We use focus groups and surveys to develop and improve our resources, curriculum, and community of interest.

ActiveOptions is a web site which gathers and provides access to information about exercise and activity programs for older adults across the country. It is a multi-agency effort (UW, National Council on Aging and Comprehensive Health Education Foundation). I was hired to conduct a usability study and have made some modifications to the site based upon the results. I also did a literature review and just submitted a paper describing this.

In this practitioner-oriented overview of a pilot project at a medium-sized software
company, we outline the early phases of an effort to implement a Social Bookmarking System (SBS) within an enterprise. In particular, we discuss some of the unexpected challenges encountered with regards to potential user adoption, and the design strategy we used to address those challenges.

The information behavior of grocery shoppers is a subject that is ripe for examination. There are clear parallels between grocery shoppers and information seekers because grocery shoppers seek information for various purposes, including product selection and pricing. However, because grocery shoppers operate in an information-rich environment, they also engage in other behaviors that are recognizable to information scientists, including browsing, ignoring, and encountering. By examining grocery shoppers at Pike Place Market, this study reveals how social environments can affect information encountering and what this implies for the design of Information Systems.