Dear all,
The Living with Machines project (on which I'm a co-investigator) is
looking for a 'research software engineer' with experience in the digital
humanities to help deliver web-based outputs for a new project combining
data science and historical research methods to examine digitised
collections at scale. I've pulled some points from the job ad below, and
I'm happy to answer questions about it, as I know that our job profiles can
be a little obscure. And as always, some elements will be more essential
than others, so I might be able to provide more background to help
potential applicants. Please help us spread the word as widely as possible!
To my mind, work in 'digital scholarship' or 'digital humanities' includes
work in museums, libraries and archives as well as academic or other
research environments. I'm looking for a user-focused, problem solver who
enjoys collaboration to help us meet the challenges and ambitions of the
project.
'Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team (including curators,
historians, data scientists, computational linguists and other software
engineers), the successful candidate will help identify requirements, and
design and implement online interfaces that integrate different project
outputs to support the collections, questions and methods of the project.
They'll create outputs including creative, intuitive visualisations and
interfaces for digitised collections and derived datasets, crowdsourcing
tasks and data science outputs for project specialists, academic and public
users.'
You may have experience as a Research Software Engineer, software
developer, creative technologist, data or visualisation specialist or
digital humanities researcher. Excellent oral and written communication
skills are also essential for this post. As with other Research Software
Engineer (https://rse.ac.uk/) posts, you'll have the opportunity to develop
their skills and play an active part in all aspects of research and
outreach, including analysis and publication.
The link is
https://britishlibrary.recruitment.northgatearinso.com/birl/pages/vacancy.jsf?latest=01001799
*Applications
closes January 6th.*
(If that link doesn't work the reference number is COL02505 /
https://britishlibrary.recruitment.northgatearinso.com/birl/pages/main.jsf )
Cheers,
Mia
(Posting as Digital Curator, Western Heritage Collections, British Library,
and Co-Investigator, Living with Machines)
*Digital Humanities Research Systems Engineer, Living with Machines*
Salary: £39,000 per annum
Location: St Pancras
Full Time, Fixed Term to 30 March 2023
Living with Machines (LwM) is an ambitious large-scale project in data
science and the digital humanities. LwM proposes a new research paradigm –
a radical collaboration between historians, data scientists, geographers,
computational linguists, and curators – using computational techniques and
very large textual datasets from a variety of sources in order to ask
questions about the ways in which technology altered the very fabric of
life in Britain. We will create spatial and temporal representations of
complex historical datasets, and interfaces for specific research methods
and technologies.
We are looking for a Digital Humanities Research Software Engineer (DH RSE)
to complement our team and create online interfaces that help deliver our
goals. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the development and
implementation of the digital scholarship and public outreach streams of
the LwM project by assembling, designing, implementing, developing and
integrating a range of tools.
Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team (including curators,
historians, data scientists, computational linguists and other software
engineers), the successful candidate will help identify requirements, and
design and implement online interfaces that integrate different project
outputs to support the collections, questions and methods of the project.
The DH RSE will create outputs including creative, intuitive visualisations
and interfaces for digitised collections and derived datasets,
crowdsourcing tasks and data science outputs for project specialists,
academic and public users.
The DH RSE will have a good understanding of digital scholarship,
preferably gained from working in a research library, academic or other
appropriate environment. This may include work as a Research Software
Engineer, software developer, creative technologist, data or visualisation
specialist or digital humanities researcher. They will have excellent
information technology skills, including experience of the tools and
technologies that support digital scholarship. Excellent oral and written
communication skills are also essential for this post. As with other
Research Software Engineer (https://rse.ac.uk/) posts, the post holder will
have the opportunity to develop their skills and play an active part in all
aspects of research and outreach, including analysis and publication.
This project aims to use computational techniques and very large datasets
in order to ask questions about the ways in which technology altered the
very fabric of human existence on a hitherto unprecedented scale. The
project exploits a corpus of digitised sources, including newspapers, trade
directories, census data, and patents, and other resources yet to be
digitised (the unstamped press, trade press, business archives and
autobiographies). By developing intuitive computational interfaces and a
philosophy of interdisciplinary collaboration we will enable close
interaction between computational methods and historical inquiry.
Living with Machines is carried out in partnership between the Alan Turing
Institute, the British Library, and the Universities of Exeter, London
(QMUL) Cambridge, and East Anglia. The project is led by Ruth Ahnert
(QMUL), and co-led by Mia Ridge (BL), Adam Farquhar (BL), Emma Griffin
(UEA), James Hetherington (Alan Turing Institute), Jon Lawrence (Exeter),
and Barbara McGillivray (Alan Turing Institute and Cambridge).
As one of the world’s great libraries, our duty is to preserve the nation’s
intellectual memory for the future. At present we have well over 150
million items, in most known languages, with three million new items added
every year. We have manuscripts, maps, newspapers, magazines, prints and
drawings, music scores, and patents. We operate the world’s largest
document delivery service providing millions of items a year to customers
all over the world. What matters to us is that we preserve the national
memory and enable knowledge to be created both now and in the future.
In return we offer a competitive salary and a number of excellent
benefits. Our pension scheme is one of the most valuable benefits we
offer, as our staff can become members of the Alpha Pension Scheme where
the Library contributes 20.9%. Another significant benefit the Library
provides is the provision of a flexible working hours scheme which could
allow you to work your hours flexibly over the week and to take up to 5
days flexi leave in a 3 month period. This is on top of 25 days holiday
from entry and public and privilege holidays.
For further information and to apply, please visit www.bl.uk/careers
quoting vacancy ref:02505
*Closing date: 6 January 2019Interview date: 15 & 16 January 2019*
We are a Disability Confident employer, and make a commitment to recruit
and support disabled people. We guarantee an interview for disabled
candidates who meet the minimum (essential) requirements for a vacancy.
In order to apply for this vacancy, you must be able to supply the required
answers to the following questions: Do you currently have the right to work
in the United Kingdom? Are you currently a British Library employee or
agency member of staff?
--------------------------------------------
http://openobjects.org.uk/
http://twitter.com/mia_out
Check out my book! http://bit.ly/CrowdsourcingOurCulturalHeritage
P.S. I mostly use this address for list mail and don't check it daily
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