World struggles to make progress on meaningful access to information

March 16, 2023

By Doug Parry and Maria Garrido Meaningful access to information: “The rights and capacity to use, create and share information in ways that are meaningful to each individual, community or organization.” Information access is a fundamental driver of many of the goals in the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, yet many countries are struggling…

Despite policies, societal barriers hinder young women’s STEM education in Ghana

March 6, 2023

By Kayla Pohl For decades, international agencies such as the U.N. have stressed the urgency and necessity of gender digital equality, yet in low- and middle-income countries like Ghana, progress has been frustratingly slow. Researchers at the UW Information School’s Technology and Social Change Group (TASCHA) want to know why. In partnership with Ghana-based researchers…

Population Health Initiative grant to build research agenda for a gamified approach to health misinformation

October 27, 2022

This project aims to develop a research agenda for a gamified approach to building resilience to health misinformation. Project activities include a literature review, interviews with health experts, and co-design sessions. With conventional information literacy approaches for helping people detect and resist misinformation proving inadequate, escape rooms offer an immersive learning experience to focus on…

IMLS grant to deploy escape room for libraries

Building on a successful pilot study, we received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to move the project forward. The project has four parts:  #1: To finalize the initial escape room — The Euphorigen Investigation — and build the technical infrastructure for public libraries and other educational institutions to access…

Hiring Graduate Research Assistant – “LIS Task Force” – Academic Year 2022-2023

October 25, 2022

DEADLINE TO APPLY IS 9 PM Pacific Standard Time, Tuesday, November 8, 2022. The Information School is seeking a highly motivated graduate level student to serve as a Research Assistant supporting the iSchool LIS task force. The main focus of the LIS Task Force is the LIS Forward initiative, a multi-university conversation aimed at charting…

Localizing the Misinformation Escape Room: How organizations outside the US are adapting the game to serve their communities

A still frame of a video with a man wearing glasses, a tie, shirt and suit jacket with the title Janis Lapsa Zinatnes doktors kimija, NHD Laboratorijas Direktors in the lower third of the screen

July 25, 2022

Even before the official launch of Loki’s Loop in June 2022, the research team at the University of Washington Information School received numerous requests for collaboration from across the world. The first two organizations they agreed to support are in New Zealand and Latvia. In addition to the benefits to the local communities, the partnerships have been…

2021-2022: TASCHA Academic Year in Review

Young person wearing a yellow shirt, jeans, boots, a medical face mask and a backpack sitting on exterior concrete steps typing on a laptop

July 8, 2022

Highlights With the end of the academic year, it’s time to review TASCHA’s work of the past year. The COVID-19 pandemic continued to play a role. On one hand we had to either postpone projects or replace field-based methods with remote methods (e.g. Zoom interviews), directly impacting the course and outcomes of these efforts. On…

Accomplishments and reflections from TASCHA’s first PhD Fellow, Itza Carbajal

A black and white photo of Itza. She has dark hair with bangs and is wearing glasses and a checkered shirt.

March 3, 2022

Itza Carbajal, TASCHA’s first PhD Fellow awarded in 2020-2021, conducted a series of research related activities under the guidance of Jason Young and Marika Cifor. Itza explored various areas of TASCHA’s work including Civic Engagement, Data for Good, and Digital Literacy to design a self-directed research study on a topic of choice. After meeting with…

iConference Interactive Event: Shaping Future Directions for LIS to Thrive and Grow in iSchools

iConference 2022 Banner

February 1, 2022

Join us at iConference 2022 to surface ambitions for tackling critical information challenges of our time and cultivate synergies and collaboration across iSchools. Schools of Library and Information Science (LIS) were foundational in launching the iSchool movement. Over the past 20 years, the movement and many individual schools have grown to become increasingly multidisciplinary, as…

Leading iSchools to hold summit

Suzzallo Globe

January 31, 2022

We are excited to announce the LIS Forward Summit as a culminating activity of the first year of the LIS Forward initiative. This event will allow members of the planning committee and other faculty who have participated in the initiative to synthesize our discussions and prepare for the next phase of activity. The Summit will…