Information School
March 28, 2017
Parents who play ‘Pokémon GO’ with kids: ‘It wasn’t really about the Pokémon’
In the first study to survey and interview parents who play Pokémon GO with their children, families report a number of side benefits, including increased exercise, more time spent outdoors and opportunities for family bonding.
February 6, 2017
‘Overwhelming’ response, global press attention for new UW Information School course, ‘Calling BS’
It’s almost unheard-of for a university class to spark global press attention — and offers of book deals — before instruction even begins. But such is the case with the UW Information School’s new course, “Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data.”
December 21, 2016
Documents that Changed the World: Sir Ronald Fisher defines ‘statistical significance,’ 1925
Joe Janes’ latest Documents that Changed the World podcast is about Sir Ronald Fisher, the man who set the mark of “statistical significance” for ages afterward at 5 percent, no more no less.
May 26, 2016
Documents that Changed the World: Noah Webster’s dictionary, 1828
Joe Janes of the Information School turns the attention of his Documents that Changed the World podcst to Noah Webster and his famous, 70,000-word “American Dictionary of the English language” published in 1828.
March 24, 2016
Study: Most tweets following fall Paris attacks defended Islam, Muslims
The fall 2015 Paris terrorist attacks sparked heated social media debates about Islam. A researcher now with the UW Information School, with collaborators, analyzed millions of tweets after those attacks and found most tweets actually expressed support for Islam and Muslims.
March 14, 2016
Documents that Changed the World: ‘Hanging chads’ and butterfly ballots — Florida, 2000
With the Florida presidential primary a day away, Joe Janes is recalling the time of butterfly ballots and “hanging chads” — the presidential election of 2000 — in the latest installment of his podcast series, Documents that Changed the World. In the podcasts, Janes, a professor in the UW Information School, explores the origin and…
March 3, 2016
Record percentage of women students in Informatics Program helps iSchool narrow the gender gap
The UW Information School’s 2015-16 undergraduate cohort in informatics is not only the school’s largest yet with 210 students, it also includes more women students than ever before — about 40 percent.
February 25, 2016
Documents that Changed the World: The Declaration of Independence’s deleted passage on slavery, 1776
The latest installment of Information School professor Joe Janes’ podcast series Documents that Changed the World discusses 168 powerful words condemning slavery that were excised from the Declaration of Independence at the last minute.
February 18, 2016
David Levy addresses digital overload in ‘Mindful Tech’
David Levy of the UW Information School discusses his new book, “Mindful Tech: How to Bring Balance to our Digital Lives,” published in January by Yale University Press.
February 4, 2016
‘Pushback’ against constant connectivity also reflected in images, study follow-up finds
People expressing the wish to resist constant online connectivity — dubbed “pushback” by University of Washington Information School researchers — is manifested as powerfully in images as in text, further study has found.
January 5, 2016
Study: College graduates often challenged with life skills, motivation for ongoing learning
Today’s college graduates tend to be highly trained and employable but often lack a key skill needed for post-college life: how to identify and ask their own questions, according to a new study.
December 23, 2015
Documents that Changed the World: The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, 1896
A glance at a kitchen bookshelf gave UW Information School professor Joe Janes the idea for the latest installment of his Documents that Changed the World podcast — about the famous Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, more popularly known as the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.
November 30, 2015
UW researchers estimate poverty and wealth from cell phone metadata
In developing or war-ravaged countries where government censuses are few and far between, gathering data for public services or policymaking can be difficult, dangerous or near-impossible. Big data is, after all, mainly a First World opportunity. But cell towers are easier to install than telephone land lines, even in such challenged areas, and mobile or…
November 25, 2015
Documents that Changed the World: FDR’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1939
The U.S. Senate voted to set Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November on Dec. 9, 1941, two days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. You’d think they would have had more important things to talk about. Not Nov. 26, as George Washington had it or the last Thursday in the month as Lincoln…
November 9, 2015
Documents that Changed the World: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1982
The Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., is many things to many people. To Joe Janes of the Information School, the son of a World War II veteran and creator of the Documents that Changed the World podcast series, the memorial, the discussions it sparked and the hearts it helps heal — “the totality of the wall” he says – together comprise an important document.
October 6, 2015
Documents that Changed the World: Alfred Nobel’s will, 1895
Alfred Nobel is remembered for the annual prizes given in his name. But were it not for his confused but effective will, we might remember him as the inventor of dynamite, who grew rich inventing and developing lethal explosives.
August 13, 2015
Documents that Changed the World: Charles Richter’s seismic scale, 1935
A scale of simple numbers — the Richter Scale — unnerves us when we think about earthquakes, as Pacific Northwest residents have been prone to do lately. But who was Richter, and how did it all come about? Joe Janes takes a look for an installment of his Documents that Changed the World podcast series.
July 29, 2015
Documents that Changed the World: Annals of the World, 1650
As shadows lengthened and day turned to night on Saturday, Oct. 22, in the year 4004 BCE, God created the universe. Or, perhaps not. Still, that’s the time and date for creation determined, after long and painstaking research, by Irish scholar and church leader James Ussher, author of the 17th century chronology, Annals of the World.
July 16, 2015
New book by UW’s Philip Howard urges democratic values for coming Internet of Things
UW professor Philip Howard discusses his new book, “Pax Technica: How the Internet of Things May Set us Free or Lock Us Up,” published this spring by Yale University Press.
May 5, 2015
Documents that Changed the World: The Exaltation of Inanna, 2300 BCE
In the latest installment of his Documents that Changed the World podcast series, Joe Janes looks back more than 4,000 years at the Exaltation of Inanna, and what might be the first-ever claim of authorship.
February 2, 2015
Documents that Changed the World: ‘Rosie the Riveter’ poster, 1943
The famous World War II-era poster of Rosie the Riveter is less a document that changed the world than the other way around — an image the world adopted and filled with meaning. But such turnabout is fair play in the ongoing Documents that Changed the World podcast series by UW Information School Professor Joe Janes.
October 14, 2014
Documents that Changed the World: Joseph McCarthy’s ‘list,’ 1950
Sometimes a document can be devastating — can ruin lives and change history — even if it doesn’t really exist.
September 9, 2014
Documents that Changed the World: The Star Spangled Banner turns 200
Information School Professor Joe Janes takes a look at “The Star Spangled Banner” for his Documents that Changed the World series.
July 8, 2014
Documents that Changed the World: Rules of Association Football (soccer), 1863
Joe Janes explores the rules of “an ancient and sometimes dangerous game, now generally regarded as the most popular sport in the world.”
June 10, 2014
Students mine history for their own Documents that Changed the World installment
Undergraduates working with University of Washington Information School Professor Joe Janes looked to American and European history for their own installments of Janes’ podcast series, Documents that Changed the World.
May 8, 2014
Documents that Changed the World: Airline ‘black box’ flight data recorder, 1958
Recent headlines sadly explain why Joe Janes chose the latest installment in his Documents that Changed the World podcast series — he’s writing about airline flight data recorders, or “black boxes.”
May 5, 2014
Memorial May 14 for Information School’s Eliza Dresang
Eliza Dresang, a well-loved professor in the University of Washington Information School, died on Monday, April 21. She is remembered as a respected friend, colleague, teacher and community member. She was 72. There will be a campus memorial for Dresang from 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesday, May 14, in the Husky Union Building Lyceum (room…
April 16, 2014
Metoyer to present 10th annual Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture
In her lecture “Are We There Yet? The Four Directions in Native American Higher Education,” Metoyer will talk about the historic development of Native Americans in higher education.
April 2, 2014
Science-themed music videos boost scientific literacy, study shows
As the United States puts ever-greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics education to keep competitive in the global economy, schools are trying to figure out how to improve student learning in science. University of Washington researchers think music may be the answer for some students.
March 28, 2014
Documents that Changed the World: Mental disorder diagnostic manual, 1952
Three little words fittingly kick off the latest installment of Joe Janes’ Documents that Changed the World podcast series: “Are you crazy?”
March 17, 2014
Hold that RT: Much misinformation tweeted after 2013 Boston Marathon bombing
University of Washington researchers have found that misinformation spread widely on Twitter after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing despite efforts by users to correct rumors that were inaccurate.
February 6, 2014
Documents that Changed the World: The Book of Mormon
Joe Janes of the UW Information School discusses the famous book and its origin as part of his ongoing podcast series, “Documents that Changed the World.”
December 3, 2013
New book ‘Going Viral’ explores nature, impact of Internet virality
Will we of the early 21th century be remembered for Internet memes like Grumpy Cat? “Going Viral,” a new book by Karine Nahon and Jeff Hemsley of the UW Information School explores the nature of virality and impacts of virality.
November 18, 2013
Documents that Changed the World: the Zapruder film, Nov. 22, 1963
He only came to get the iconic footage through a series of coincidences and later regretted what he had done. It was the last film Abraham Zapruder would ever shoot.
November 14, 2013
A decline in creativity? It depends on how you look
Recent research suggests that young Americans might be less creative now than in decades past, even while their intelligence — as measured by IQ tests — continues to rise. But new research from the UW Information School and Harvard University hints that the dynamics of creativity may not break down as simply as that.
November 1, 2013
Documents that Changed the World: The Rosetta Stone
The latest installment of Information School Professor Joe Janes’ podcast series takes a look at the 2,200-year-old Rosetta Stone.
October 21, 2013
‘Pushback’: Resisting the life of constant connectivity
Researchers at the University of Washington have studied and named a trend lots of people can identify with: the desire to resist constant connectivity and step back from the online world.
September 25, 2013
Digital applications can enable or limit, say authors of ‘The App Generation’
There’s often “an app for that” these days, but for young people such digital shortcuts can be as limiting as they are convenient, says the University of Washington co-author of a new book titled “The App Generation.”
September 18, 2013
Documents that Changed the World: The Riot Act, 1714
When does a gathering become a riot? According to the United Kingdom’s Riot Act of 1714, it’s when local authorities say so.
August 6, 2013
Documents that Changed the World: Einstein’s letter to FDR, 1939
The latest installment in the popular podcast series by Joe Janes of the UW Information School is about the famous physicist being persuaded to warn FDR of a growing atomic threat from Germany.
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