2000-2001 Team

C. Olivia Frost C. Olivia Frost is Associate Dean for Professional Programs and Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information. She has been a faculty member at the University of Michigan since 1977. She has a B.A. in German Literature from Howard University, an M.L.S. from the University of Oregon, an M.A. in German Languages and Literatures, and a Ph.D. in Library Science from the University of Chicago. Frost was Principal Investigator of the Art Image Browser project, which developed, deployed, and evaluated a digital database of images in art and architecture. As Principal Investigator of the Digital Image Library Project at UM, Frost has assembled a team of researchers in computer vision, human-computer interaction, and information retrieval to design systems which provide general users with multimode retrieval combining content-based image retrieval with text-based classification strategies. Her most recent service initiatives focus on cultural heritage outreach and are related to her teaching and research areas of multimedia access. She is Principal Investigator of the Cultural Heritage Initiative for Community Outreach (CHICO), which works with museums, archives, libraries, and K-12 schools to develop pilot projects to demonstrate the potential of information and collaboration technology in broadening the reach of cultural heritage materials.

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Zilia C. Estrada Zilia has taught outdoor education to children, written a children's play, taught New England literature, and done organizational work. During 1999, she was part of a team at the University of Michigan's Museum of Natural History funded under an Ameritech grant to create a web-based game designed to teach analytical problem-solving skills, as well as Michigan history, archaeology, and aspects of earth science. The entire team worked together to design the project; Zilia wrote the storyline. During spring 2000, Zilia worked with the Matfield Green Consortium for Place-Based Education in eastern Kansas, under the auspices of The Land Institute (Salina, Kansas) and The School of Information at the University of Michigan. Her work included documenting the K-12 projects funded by a three-year Rural School and Community Trust grant, participating in various projects with K-12 teachers and students, and evaluating the program. From the thousand or so photographs she took while in Kansas, Zilia created a series of audiovisual presentations and photo essays. Zilia's goal is to incorporate her love of nature, writing, education and communication technology, and focus on the ways communities and individuals construct the stories of who they are, to help foster communities, and help solve world problems one person at a time by reaching people through ideas that open doors for them.

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Yifan Ji Yifan Ji graduated from the School of Information in April, 2001, specializing in human computer Interaction. Yifan earned her Bachelor's degree in Education at Beijing Normal University, China, and worked as a teacher teaching Psychology and Counseling. Before she came to UM, she attended Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated with a Master's in Education. During her time at SI, she worked on several web sites as an Information Architect, Graphic Designer, programmer, and Usability Specialist. She has gained lots of experience in web site designing, which she contributed to CHICO.

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Megan Kinney Megan entered the School of Information in January, 2001. She has worked on the CHICO project since arriving at SI. She moved to Ann Arbor from Columbus, OH, where she had earned a B.A. in French from The Ohio State University. She worked for the Columbus Metropolitan Library for 5 years, and took 21 graduate credit hours at the Columbus program of Kent State University's School of Library and Information Science. She has a tailored specialization at SI and is interested in issues surrounding access to and usability of online resources. She plans to graduate in December, 2002.

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Katrice Lewis Katrice is a second year Master's student at the School of Information with a concentration in Human-Computer Interaction. After receiving her undergraduate degree in Applied Mathematical Science, she gained industry experience as an Engineer/Scientist for Lockheed Martin. When time allows, she enjoys reading and the arts. She is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable member of the CHICO team.

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Adina Lipsitz Adina Lipsitz graduated from the School of Information in April, 2001, with an information architecture focus. She participated in CHICO for two years. Culture and learning have always been of interest to Adina, and she combines these interests with her passion for web design. Adina earned her first master's degree in Educational Technology. She has been primarily interested in how issues of culture and gender inform design. Previously, she taught computer skills to children and adults, and has been involved with the design and production of a number of educational materials, including websites, as well as her first piece of educational software.

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John Northup In August 2001, John completed his first year at the School of Information specializing in human-computer interaction. He holds a BA in communications from Goddard College, a Vermont institution that emphasizes the value of grassroots community service. John is a mostly-freelance website designer, having previously worked in community radio and public-access television. He brings to the CHICO group experience in website design, Perl/CGI programming, and a passion for preserving and enhancing social capital.

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Janet Sczcesny Janet graduated from the School of Information in April, 2001. Her personal interests include: Cultural heritage preservation, education and information architecture. She integrated these interests and skills into her work with CHICO. Janet earned a BS in Human Physiology. She has been involved in a number of cultural heritage and community involvement initiatives, most recently at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa.

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Samuel Wan Samuel Wan entered the School of Information with a background in health information management. He freelances as a web developer, and conducts training workshops on Flash design for Aquent, Lynda Weinman, Thunderlizard, and other organizations. Some of his publications on web design include Flash 5 Magic (New Riders Press), New Masters 2002 (Wrox), Instant Flash 5 (Osborne/McGraw-Hill), and an upcoming book on object-oriented interface design from New Riders Press. Samuel joins CHICO to learn more about the relationships between internet technology and cultural heritage.

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Zhiping Zheng Zhiping Zheng is a Master's student in the School of Information, University of Michigan. He got his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Eastern Michigan University. He worked as an Applications Programmer at the University of Michigan Hospital, and as a Systems Research Programmer for the University of Michigan Digital Library. He was a research fellow for Linguist Network. In China, he was an Advanced Programmer at Computing Center, Chinese Academy of Science.

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Made possible in part by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
Last updated on January 20, 2002 .