Seattle, Washington was one of the first major U.S. cities to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the city implemented a stay-at-home order, shutting down businesses and restricting gatherings. In response, the COVID-19 Seattle Streetview Campaign project was launched in May 2020 to collect longitudinal photographic data to track the impacts of the pandemic on the city, as well as its recovery. Using technology similar to Google Streetview, the campaign collects data every 2-3 weeks along a consistent route in the city of Seattle. Our research objective is to utilize images collected from the Streetview Campaign project to understand COVID-19’s impact on Seattle’s hospitals and parks following non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as stay-at-home orders. We described and compared changes in the content of images collected in the Streetview Campaign at hospitals and parks in Seattle from May to December 2020. Our data analysis first identified parks and hospitals that were fully visible along the route. Then, we selected a purposive sample of five fully visible hospitals and five fully visible parks, with a goal of diverse socioeconomic representation. In pairs, we each independently reviewed the images at a mutually-agreed upon location and wrote open-ended descriptions about the content of the images (e.g., number of people and cars; presence of other objects like construction equipment and bikes). We met weekly to compare results, identify discrepancies, and formulate a mutually-agreed upon description of the images. We then explored changes in the content of the images over time. Our findings include information about changes observed in images at hospitals and parks throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. They also provide insights about unique contributions of Streetview data can make in understanding the impacts of the pandemic and associated NPIs, as well as inform future analyses using machine learning and corresponding qualitative inquiry.

The historical record of the Community, Environment, and Planning (CEP) major, a student-governed program, exists in various formats and locations. The fragmented storage and lack of cohesive narrative prevents prospective students from learning about the major, current students from documenting their experience, and past students from staying connected. This project answers the question "What are the best practices of documenting and sharing the history of an organization, using the Community, Environment, and Planning (CEP) major at the University of Washington as a case study?" The creation of an archive allows for cohesion between cohorts, continuity in storytelling and program improvements, and increased program awareness. The methods used include background research about archives as both a source of information and a subject in their own right, physical and digital archival work, and the creation of a webpage. Analyzing these methods and documenting their application to CEP also informed a framework that guides future archival efforts. Building the archive on the CEP website utilizes existing infrastructure and current visitors to the site. Through digital media and technologies, students can add their stories, access those of past students, and establish connections between them. This archive demonstrates the impact the major has had on students and the greater Seattle area and will provide a platform to help secure programmatic resources, generate prospective student interest, and strengthen alumni connections.

In our healthcare system, resources are not adequately distributed to Black, Brown and otherwise marginalized communities. This is the result of capitalist and racially motivated social structures that uphold white supremacy and heteropatriarchy. These systems maximize profits by maintaining power hierarchies between leadership boards and communities, subordinating those that are not represented in positions of power. Therefore, it is necessary to increase funding for Black, Brown and otherwise marginalized communities’ health services and systems accountability. The Tubman Center for Health and Freedom aims to establish a new funding system for healthcare organizations that restores power to historically marginalized communities. Our study investigates how power hierarchies are represented in funding distribution to ultimately identify which funding practices must be disrupted to build a healthcare model that promotes the wellbeing and health of its constituency groups. To conduct our research, we gathered information from government and community websites, and carried out interviews with Seattle Council members and a Washington State Representative to gain further insight on power hierarchies in our health system. We summarized our research using a Power Analysis grid, in which we placed researched entities, organizations, and influential people in relation to each other. In this grid, the x-axis corresponds to entities’ inclination towards our agenda or the opposing agenda, while the y-axis corresponds to how influential an entity is and their power to influence healthcare policies. Our findings reveal a complex system where money is distributed based on the agendas of larger businesses and corporations. We also found several gaps in information for where funding originates and the process by which money is allocated. One recommendation for future research would be to incorporate more community voices such as activists/organizers, and create a Power Analysis Grid for other public health related systems such as the pharmaceutical industry.

I invite you to close your eyes and take a deep breath—5 seconds in, 5 seconds out if you can. Deep breathing relaxes us as humans. Through technology I was able to help instigate relaxation, or at least get you thinking about it. I think that’s a beautiful thing technology can do; it can remind us to take a breath, drink water, educate us on perspectives we may never have known, make us observers of art and music. However, it’s no secret that many parts of the online universe have been created to be addicting; the AI algorithms programmed to show each user exactly what will make users scroll another ten minutes. We also know that technology has been a hotbed for hate speech in recent years as well as a place where unrealistic beauty standards (monetized by diet companies) have thrived. In my project I refer to “enchantment" as a bodily connection to the mind, the senses, and to a community. I use this idea of enchantment to explore how various technologies, both modern and traditional, can instigate enchantment, instead of the opposing dis-enchantment. What is technology's connection to catalyzing (re)enchantment in our modern lives and communities? Depression rates are increasing at an alarming rate, especially among teens; I have to wonder if teenagers’ access to social media could be a partial cause of depression, or if for some teens, social media can act as a place of salvation from other possible causes of depression (e.g., school bullying, family issues, etc.). How we interact with the world and how we view ourselves is increasingly dependent on the internet and our global interconnectedness. Technology is becoming more prominent in our daily lives than ever before, how can we make these technological experiences ones that better our lives?

Unhoused individuals have unique barriers to accessing primary care resources. This impacts the health of the population and may have unnecessarily high associated emergency healthcare costs. Aurora Commons, a community space in North Seattle is committed to responding to the needs of this unhoused population. Our team aimed to describe patterns and barriers to primary healthcare resources for unhoused men in this community. Semi-structured and survey interviews were completed from June to July 2020 in North Seattle in self-identified adult men accessing services at Aurora Commons. Surveys were completed in English and included data on demographics, housing, health concerns, health access and barriers, risk factors, trauma history, adverse childhood events, social isolation, infection precautions, and access to telemedicine resources. Participants provided oral consent for surveys. 59 men (median age 43, range 25-69 years) were interviewed. 76% reported not seeing a PCP in the last six months. 61% utilized an emergency department and 28.8% of men reported multiple visits. 0/59 participants reported STI treatment in the previous 3 months despite over 25% reporting men in this community exchanging sex for money, food, drugs, or shelter. Common barriers to receiving healthcare were a lack of trust, prior poor treatment by healthcare staff, and transportation. 88% of men reported willingness to use telemedicine with 55.2% of men reporting having the access and knowledge to do so. Over 75% of men interviewed reported ability to maintain physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unhoused men were found to be at high risk for emergency department visits, lack of coordinated primary care, and undertreatment of STIs and substance use. Future work should explore expansion of low-barrier primary care services with coordinated expansion of STI testing and treatment, and the creative use of telemedicine services to improve direct access to healthcare for this community.