Calling BS, Far and Wide
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Fall 2017 we make information work ischool.uw.edu Meet the Dean — Page 2 Donor Honor Roll — Pages 8 & 9 Alumni Updates — Page 10 Distinguished Alumna has earned many accolades Patricia Cutright, the iSchool 2017 Distinguished Alumna, has had a long and distinguished career in libraries. She is currently dean of libraries at Central Washington University and served as director of libraries at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and Eastern Oregon University. Cutright has earned more than 25 honors, Assistant Professor Jevin West teaches “Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data.” (Photo courtesy of Columns magazine) including the 2002 Oregon Librarian Calling BS, far and wide of the Year; 2003 LITA/ Gaylord iSchool class makes an impact across the country Award for Achieve- hen Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom “They’re fed with so much BS in all aspects of ment in Patricia Cutright quietly rolled out CallingBullshit.org their lives,” West said. “Every time in history, Library and Win January, they hoped a few of their everyone says there’s more bullshit than in prior Information Technology presented by ideas would find their way into classrooms. times, but I think now you could make an argu- the American Library Association and At best, maybe the University of Washington ment there really is, and I think people are sick the Library Information and Technol- would let them teach a class. and tired of it.” ogy Association; 2002 Jean McKenzie / Woman of the Year Award; “We would have been happy if a couple of our West and Bergstrom, a professor in the UW Soroptimist International of La colleagues and friends would have said, ‘Cool Biology department, wanted to teach students Grande; and the 2002 Excellence in idea, we should pass that along,’ said West, an how to think critically about the data that’s Telecommunications – Applications, assistant professor at the Information School. presented as evidence in the social and natural awarded to the Pioneer Library “We would have never guessed that it would get sciences. They designed their curriculum to System by Oregon Connections, a this kind of a response.” show students not only how to identify false- statewide telecommunications They certainly got a reaction. The website went hoods, but how to effectively and constructively consortium. call attention to them. viral; their spring class filled up in one minute; Recently, her efforts have earned dozens of local and national media outlets An evolutionary biologist, Bergstrom said his Brooks Library at CWU the nomi- covered the story; the duo signed a book deal; interest stems from problems he sees in how nation for the 2016 National Medal and their curriculum spread to colleges and scientists convey their findings to one another for Museum and Library Service, and high schools across the country. Calling Bullshit and to the public. commendations from Senator Patty became a force of nature, and West and Berg- “I think it’s important for scientists to commu- Murray, Senator Maria Cantwell, and strom were at the center of the storm. nicate with each other through rigorous and Congressman Dave Reichert. “It’s exciting to see this movement around data generally accessible work rather than through Cutright received her Master of reasoning building on the class,” West said. “It, kind of overhyped press releases,” he said. Librarianship at the University of for me, encapsulates what we do at an iSchool. “I also think it’s ethically imperative that we Washington in 1983 and her B.A. in It involves data processes, analytics, visualiza- communicate with the public about what we’re Sociology at Idaho State University in tion, and design.” doing accurately and honestly so people can 1980. understand what science is about, rather than The provocative title undoubtedly helped raise The Distinguished Alumni award, Calling Bullshit’s profile. It conveys people’s presenting science in a misleading light that casts us as ‘discovering heroes.’ ” established in 1961, recognizes frustration with a growing set of problems in outstanding graduates of the Infor- the age of social media: the spread of misin- Instant reaction mation School. Alumni are chosen for formation and disinformation, the rise of their distinguished service in commu- “fake news,” the manipulation of data to create The morning after they put up their website, nity affairs, and/or specific meritorious misleading graphics, the misuse of science to service on behalf of the Information draw conclusions that aren’t supported by facts. Continued on page 7 School and the UW. MEET THE NEW DEAN Q&A with the iSchool’s next dean, Anind Dey Anind Dey will join the Information School in January as its next dean, succeeding Harry Bruce. Dey comes to the iSchool from Carnegie Mellon University, where he has been a professor since 2005 and has led CMU’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute since 2014. We asked Dey a few questions to introduce him to the iSchool community. of it was military-ori- Q: What about the UW iSchool sparked your interest in the job? ented, which I was not particularly excited about. There were a number of things that excited me. I know several I decided to pursue A: of the faculty in the iSchool (a couple who are graduates from computer science and got accepted into Georgia Tech’s Computer my program at CMU), and have always been impressed with the quality Science Ph.D. program to work in virtual reality. That was great, but of the faculty and students, and their research. As I did research for my the technology really wasn’t good enough to support the experiences job application and interviews, I became really excited about the breadth I was excited about, so I started looking around again near the end of of backgrounds and research that exist in the iSchool, with its strong my first year. I had worked with a new professor, Gregory Abowd, on core in library science, information management, and informatics, but a short project, and he encouraged me to work on a few more short also its work in digital curation, data science, health and wellness, ontol- projects with him. He worked in the areas of software engineering, ogy construction, and indigenous studies. I was excited by the incredible human-computer interaction, and ubiquitous computing, all of which amount of interdisciplinary work that happens in the iSchool, and the were fascinating to me. Gregory quickly became my mentor, my friend, culture that focuses on doing work that has real-world impact. The and has been the person with the most significant impact on my profes- opportunity to be a part of that was too good to let pass by. sional life. I was very fortunate to get my Ph.D. with him. For me, the third time (attempting a Ph.D.) really was the charm. I met You’re a Simon Fraser grad. Can you tell us a little about your my wife in that research group, and she has also played a huge role in Q: background? Did you grow up in the Northwest? my professional life and is my closest research collaborator. We went to Berkeley, where I worked for Intel Research and was an adjunct I did! I grew up in a small town in British Columbia called professor. I quickly learned that my heart was in academia, not indus- A: Salmon Arm with my parents (public school teachers), an older try research, and after three years, we moved to the Human-Computer brother and a younger sister. I left the small town for the big city for Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. I’ve been there for college and got my undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering at 13 years, the last three as department head. Simon Fraser. My wife gives me a hard time when I say I grew up near Vancouver, even though it was five hours away. We would often go Q: What gives you the biggest thrill as a scholar and educator? Do I have to pick one? :-) I absolutely love mentoring students, I absolutely love mentoring A: staff and faculty. I love helping individuals find the best in “ themselves, and identifying opportunities for growth and success. I love students, staff and faculty. I love teaching — being in a classroom with bright students, and engaging with them on a wide range of topics. I also identify very strongly as a helping individuals find the best in researcher. I have a passion for tackling problems where I work with a great team to develop new technologies and create solutions that will themselves, and identifying positively impact the world. opportunities for growth and As a society, we’re swimming in data and “fake news.” What role Q: do you see for the iSchool in facing such challenges? success. I think the iSchool has an incredible mandate to help the ” world make sense of the growing amount of conflicting data A: to Vancouver for the weekend — my dad taught at the University of and information that is out there. That has already taken many forms British Columbia for a while — so it was a home away from home. I’m inside the iSchool, in approaches for categorizing and managing mass so excited to be returning to the Pacific Northwest — mountains, lakes, amounts of data, visualizing, analyzing and understanding complex oceans! data, using data to tell a compelling and honest narrative, and processes and approaches for determining when data is being used to spread fake You once were a rocket scientist and are now an expert in news. The iSchool is already a place where these challenges are being addressed.