Watermark is an online database from vendor Watermark Insights. At the Information School, we use Watermark for a variety of purposes:
- Data entered in Watermark populates our iSchool directory pages for faculty, staff, and Ph.D. students.
- Annual Faculty Activity Reports are generated from data entered by faculty and others into Watermark.
- Faculty can generate a basic CV and easily modify the format for various purposes.
- Faculty accomplishments can be aggregated for a variety of reports to support strategic planning, communications, accreditation, and other administrative purposes.
iSchool faculty and PhD students access their Watermark records from the iSchool website. The Watermark link is one of the items on the Tools list which opens from the upper right corner of the website. Enter your UW NetID and password to access the Main Menu of your Watermark records. iSchool staff and graduate assistants who work on Watermark records access the database in the same way.
PhD students handle their own activities in Watermark. Faculty can handle activity and information updates themselves, or by the GA Crew upon request. For more information about using Watermark, please consult the Watermark User’s Guide. While Watermark was traditionally only updated for faculty with an upcoming merit review, Watermark data is now used for reporting as well as the directory, necessitating more frequent updates from our faculty.
Use of Watermark at the iSchool began in late 2010 when the School was asked by Administration to produce information that included aggregated faculty accomplishments. Needing something more efficient than individual CVs, the Watermark online database was explored and purchased. Graduate assistants entered information from faculty CVs into spreadsheets that were uploaded into Watermark. Extensive data cleaning and database customization followed. The faculty merit review in March 2012 was the first to use data exported from Watermark as Faculty Activity Reports. Watermark was formerly known as Activity Insights, and may be referred to as such in older documentation.