Our Crowdfunding Groups
Hello i3 Friends and Family!
We have less than two weeks left in this year’s crowdfunding campaign and we have reached 85% of our goal! Many thanks to all of you for supporting our campaign and the mission of i3!
Please remember to share our campaign with your friends and family. If you are an i3 alum, share your story about your experience and ask the important people in your life for support. Every contribution helps us reach our goal!
As you know, i3 Scholars work in teams throughout the year researching real world problems at the intersection of people, information, and technology. This week, we’re featuring two teams from the 2019 Cohort and the projects they’re currently working on. Read the descriptions written by both teams below:
Team GameChangers: Our research focuses on video game users’ perceptions of ethnic representation within video game cover art. We extended existing studies of representation in games and game paratext that highlights the immense cultural influence that video games have in our contemporary society. We analyze 298 survey responses from participants of various ethnicities about a compilation of the 20 best-selling games from each year from 2010 to 2015. We discuss how white and non-white participants value racial representation on video game covers.
Team Kathleen: Our research project seeks to examine the expansion of Christian Identity Movement (CIM) subset within the larger white extremist community. We seek to understand how the CIM has infiltrated the greater white extremist digital communities and proliferated across numerous social media platforms. By understanding how this ideology has resurfaced in extremist manifestos among other troubling trends, we hope to mitigate the impact of white extremists online and offline.
Both Teams will be presenting their preliminary work at iConference 2020 in Sweden this upcoming March. Stay tuned to see how their projects evolve!
With less than two weeks left in our campaign, please join us in supporting these teams and empowering the next generation’s leading voices by donating now, or sharing the link:
(please use this link instead of the “Read Update” button below - that will take you to a previous year’s campaign!).
No gift is too small, and every donation is deeply appreciated! Thank you for your support!
With deep appreciation and thanks,
Kayla Booth
i3 Director
Dear i3 Family and Friends,
We are seven weeks into our annual crowdfunding campaign and have reached 60% of our goal with 37 donors. Many thanks to all of you for supporting us and the mission of i3!
Remember to please share our campaign with your friends and family. If you are an i3 alum, share your story about your experience and ask the important people in your life for support. Every contribution helps us reach our goal.
This week’s campaign update will include a profile of one of our i3 Scholars, Rachel Ollivierre (2016 i3 Cohort). After Rachel graduated form the University of Pittsburgh with her bachelor's in Health Services, she attended Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University for a Master's in Health Care Policy and Management. Rachel has focused her graduate studies on marrying analytics and health care and has recently accepted a Marketing Research and Analytics position at Merck. We’re extremely proud of her accomplishments and look forward to following along the next chapter in her journey.
Rachel is a great example of the talent that joins i3 and benefit from your support. Congratulations to her and her well-earned success!
Cheers,
Aderin Falana (2015 i3 Cohort)
Alumni Coordinator
Hello i3 Friends and Family!
Our annual crowdfunding campaign is live! https://engage.pitt.edu/i3program
If you are able, please consider donating to this year’s campaign. 100% of all funds raised go directly towards supporting our i3 Scholars. If you have already contributed to this year’s campaign, thank you very much! To help us keep the momentum going, please share our campaign website with your friends and colleagues. Ask them to help support i3 with a contribution of any amount. Every little bit helps!
2018 was a fantastic year for i3 - in large part because of your support! Here are some highlights from the program’s 8th year:
2018 was a tremendous year, and we’re excited to build on this success to make 2019 our best year yet! Thank you so much for your continued support - i3 continues to thrive because of you, our i3 Family.
With deep appreciation and thanks,
Kayla Booth
i3 Director
Dear friends, family, and fans of the i3 program --
It's been another exciting and amazing year at i3, and it could not have happened without your support. We were blown away by the incredible students who were a part of the 2017 i3 cohort, and were unimaginably pleased when all nine projects from the 2016 cohort year were accepted to be presented at iConference. For myself and all the supporters here at i3, we continue to be so impressed by our students and their innovation, their passion, their dedication, and the incredible work that they are bringing to the information sciences field.
Your gifts during our 2016 fundraiser was a direct support of the above mentioned success. Without you, housing, meals, stipends, transportation, and materials are all more difficult to financially support. These are all components that keep the i3 program moving swiftly forward. For that, we thank you -- again and again.
We hope that you are as proud of our cohorts as we are, and that you will consider visiting our current 2018 Project Page. With less than 2 days to go, we have the same goal as last year -- to raise $5,000 for these deserving students in this groundbreaking program. Please consider giving again this year, and supporting another year of innovation in the information sciences.
Sincerely,
Hannah Hiles, 2013 cohort
Alumni Association President
PS- The photo below shows our 2017 i3 cohort, the group that your donations supported!
Dear i3 Friends & Supporters,
We have officially completed our first-ever crowdfunding campaign by raising $5,040 -- 126% of our original goal! An impressive 95 donors contributed to the campaign, resulting in an average contribution of $53.05. Donors included many of our i3 alumni, teaching fellows, and guest speakers. The campaign was managed by a core team of i3 alumni, including Marcia McIntosh ('11), Twanna Hodge ('11), Mandi Gonzalez ('12), Hannah Hiles ('13 and Alumni Association President), and Brenasia Ward-Caldwell ('14). All of the funds raised by the campaign will go to supporting current and future i3 Scholars. Our goal is to keep i3 free for all students and ensure that the information sciences continue to become a truly diverse and inclusive field.
Now that our campaign is closed, we will be sure to keep you updated as we move forward to i3 2017, which will be held at the University of Pittsburgh from June 11 to July 7.
Thank you for your generous support!
Best regards,
Mike Depew
Dear i3 friends and supporters,
I am pleased to report that our EngagePitt campaign has surpassed it's goal of $4,000! Over 90 people have contributed to this campaign so far, which is indicative of our i3 Scholars' success and impact. Thank you so much for your generous support!
But we're not done yet! We still have 3 days left in our campaign. Please continue to share our message with your friends and colleagues. Every dollar raised goes to supporting the academic and professional development of students that are underrepresented in the information sciences -- just like our 2014 i3 Scholars, pictured below, in their preparation for mock interviews.
Thank you again for your support!
Mike Depew
Dear i3 friends and colleagues,
We have 10 days left in our campaign and I am pleased to report that we are 88% of the way to our goal. Thank you so much for your help! To help us make a strong push and cross the finish line, please consider sharing our campaign (https://engage.pitt.edu/i3program) with your personal and professional networks. Every dollar helps support our i3 mission of creating a diverse and well-represented profession of information scientists.
Also, I would like to introduce you to Kristen Bowen, a member of our 2012 cohort and a great example of the success of the program. Kristen is a hard-working and ambitious information professional North Carolina. She completed her bachelor's degree and MLIS at UNC Chapel Hill. After graduating, Kristen worked in public libraries in North Carolina, providing service to people of all ages and backgrounds. Most recently, Kristen decided to start the next phase of her professional career: becoming a PhD student at a top-ranked iSchool. Kristen intends to study social informatics and utilize her experience in public libraries to inform her research. With the support of i3 staff and alumni, Kristen submitted her applications to a handful of carefully selected programs across the country. I have no doubt that she will be receiving good news this spring when admissions decisions are made. On behalf of Kristen and all of our i3 Scholars, thank you for your support!
Mike Depew
Greetings i3 family and friends,
I am thrilled to report that we are 55% of the way to our campaign goal! Again, many thanks to you for contributing and sharing our campaign with your networks. Below is a message from Marcia McIntosh, 2011 i3 Scholar and i3 Alumni Association President, explaining what i3 has meant to her over the years.
All the best,
Mike Depew
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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Five years ago a librarian-mentor e-mailed me a link to this new summer program for students interested in library and information science -- the iSchool Inclusion Institute (i3) at the University of Pittsburgh. I remember thinking at the time that the institute might help me make a decision as to whether or not graduate school would be the right decision for me. Little did I know, as I joined the first i3 cohort of 2011, how much I had underestimated the impact this new program would have on my life.
Today I work as a Digital Production Librarian at the University of North Texas. I can easily trace back how i3 has helped propel me to my current position. i3 not only provided me with guidance on making the decision to attend graduate school, but also led me to find the program I ended up attending—The School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin. i3 has facilitated opportunities for me to develop professional skills like conference attendance, leadership training, teaching, and presenting long before I thought I needed them. Since completing the program, I have presented at conferences, have been invited back to i3 to serve as a guest lecturer and mentor, and recently completed a two year term as the inaugural i3 Alumni Association President, where I worked with a committee of i3 Scholars to organize and host the 2016 alumni reunion and multi-day professional development training.
Most importantly, i3 has provided me with a network of personal and professional friendships all over the country. My i3 network is diverse, it is ambitious, and it is supportive. I know my i3 experience is not unique. Many other scholars can and do add their praises. We are part of a larger community and I am excited to have the opportunity to give back to this wonderful program that helped me to launch my academic career. Let's keep i3 free for future students and continue expanding our network of scholars!
Cheers,
Marcia McIntosh (i3 2011)
Hi i3 Friends and Family,
We are officially beginning week 2 of our campaign and we have raised 40% of our goal! Thank you so much for your contributions and support!
To help us keep the momentum going, please share our campaign website with your friends and colleagues. Ask them to help support i3 with a contribution of any amount. Every little bit helps!
Lastly, in case you haven't already heard, 7 of our research teams had work accepted to iConference 2017, including 6 posters and i3's first-ever published paper. iConference 2017 will take place March 22-25, 2017, in Wuhan, China. It is the second iConference to be held outside North America, and the first to be held in Asia. It will be a great experience for our i3 Scholars and we look forward to sharing pictures. Attached is a picture from last year's conference with all of our i3 Scholars in attendance.
Thanks again!
Mike Depew
Your contribution will provide an i3 Scholar with two meals during our summer institutes!
Your contribution will provide an i3 Scholar with her daily stipend!
Your contribution will provide an i3 research team with a professionally printed research poster!
Your contribution will provide an i3 Scholar with all our required textbooks and supplies for the year!
Your contribution will bring a student to i3! Your gift will provide transportation for an i3 Scholar from across the country to come to the University of Pittsburgh.
Your contribution will provide i3 Scholars with 1 week of academic and professional development workshops!
Your contribution will provide all of our new and returning i3 Scholars with a graduation ceremony and banquet!
