Paid Fellowship: 2014-2015 Harvard Fellowship in Japanese Digital Humanities and Social Science

2014-15 HARVARD FELLOWSHIP IN JAPANESE DIGITAL HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

The Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University announces a special fellowship for the 2014-2015 academic year (with the potential to be renewed for one additional year), for a person in any field of East Asian studies, with extensive expertise in the digital humanities or qualitative digital data management in the social sciences. The fellow will be expected to assist faculty, students, and research affiliates, as described below, and assist specific digital projects such as the Constitutional Revision in Japan Research Project and especially the Digital Archive of Japan’s 2011 Disasters (www.jdarchive.org). 

Eligibility: 

Applicants must have at least a bachelor’s degree, in East Asian (preferably Japanese) studies, in any area of the humanities or social sciences. This will be a 12-month fellowship, commencing on August 1, 2014, and the annual fellowship stipend will be $50,000. The application deadline is June 15, 2014. 

Responsibilities specific to the Digital Archive of the 2011 disasters will include working with programmers to refine and maintain the archive’s user interface, working with existing and potential new content partners to connect their resources to the archive, and helping to build a global user community. In addition, the fellow will provide assistance to affiliates of the Reischauer Institute in the following sorts of activities: 

• Defining appropriate research questions and terminology, where relevant 

• Selecting appropriate print and electronic information sources and tools 

• Designing search strategies to ensure retrieval of potentially relevant information 

• Developing rigorous methods of information extraction and analysis 

• Identifying background information to place the findings in context 

A strong working knowledge of Japanese and English languages is required. While the position will not require any direct coding, candidates for the position must be able to work closely with programmers and designers employing a variety of web technologies and programming languages, be able to understand and evaluate their work, and have the ability to effectively communicate between technical and non-technical project collaborators. An ideal candidate will have had experience designing and hosting websites (including a familiarity with HTML, CSS, and Javascript), maintaining online databases (MySQL or PostgreSQL), coding for the web (PHP or other web coding language), writing simple scripts for data scraping and management (Python or other scripting language), and working with Git code repositories or other version control systems, as well as an understanding of the principles behind the functioning of web APIs. 

 Application Process: 

Applicants should send their applications (via email as a PDF document) to tgilman at fas dot harvard dot edu. Each application should consist of the following items in the order listed below: 

• Cover sheet: Please provide the following information, in numbered order, starting each item on a new line. 

1. Name (first, LAST & email address) 

2. University & dept. (of highest degree) 

3. Field of Study 

4. Date degree received (or, if pending, give specific timeline) 

5. Summary of experience relevant to working with digital media, up to 500 words. 

• Curriculum vitae: please include citizenship, Social Security number, current and permanent addresses, telephone number(s), email address; academic degrees with dates of conferral, discipline and institution. 

• Official transcript of grades 

• Two letters of recommendation (One letter must be from someone who can comment on your experience relevant to working with digital media. These letters may be submitted separately (via email) by the recommender 

Please direct all inquiries to: 

Dr. Theodore J. Gilman 

Executive Director 

Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies 

1730 Cambridge Street, Room S234 

Cambridge, MA 02138 

Email: tgilman at fas dot harvard dot edu 

Telephone: (617) 495-3220 

May 2014 Election is now open! (until ~5/22)

NEJETAA Executive Officer Elections (5/15-5/22):

Online Voting is now open for the May 2014 NEJETAA Executive Officer Elections.

Please read the candidate platforms and instructions below. You can cast your vote on the Google Form HERE.

Voting Rules:

1. Each NEJETAA member is entitled to cast one ballot only.

2. You have to option to vote for a single candidate or abstain for each position

3. This poll will be open from its posting, until 11:59PM EDT on May 22nd.

To be an eligible NEJETAA member (required to vote), you must:

1. Be an alumnus/alumna of the JET Program

2. Currently reside in the New England region (CT, RI, VT, NH, ME, or MA) 

If you are interested, detailed succession and voting scheduling procedure can be found in our bylaws here: http://nejetaa.com/index.php?option=com_rokdownloads&view=file&id=539%3Anejetaa-bylaws-2013&Itemid=61 

Read the Candidate Platforms Below:

Leslie Risak for President

Hi my name is Leslie Risak and I would like to submit my name for the position of President in NEJETAA. I was a JET for 2 years in Utsunomiya city in Tochigi prefecture where I spent many hours helping in the community through things such as weekly trips to orphanages as well as community discussion panels to raise awareness in international relations. In high school I also founded and was president of the Japanese culture club for two years where our end project was a funded trip to Japan.

I have been involved in the NEJETAA for the past two years but I want to take a more active position and help the alumni community grow and blossom with its promising potential.  

I would love to see our group do more social things and possibly expand our reach into some of the other  communities already active around New England (such as Showa University or Japanese Language Groups). I would really love to also help plan and coordinate some activities with our JET community and I believe as President I could have a significant influence.

I really look forward to helping NEJETAA grow!

Please consider me for the President position!

Matt Castle for Vice President

Hello, I’m Matt Castle and I’m running for Vice President. Since November of last year, I’ve been working with the NEJETAA Executive Board as Special Assistant for Project Management. In this capacity, I’ve assisted in the planning of our inter-chapter Ski Trip to Killington, VT, helped run our Regional Conference last January, and learned the nuances of running a JETAA chapter.

As Vice President, I want to improve NEJETAA’s connections with other Chapters as to provide opportunities for our membership to connect with the larger JET community. One example of this will be to build on the success of past Ski Trips and moving to making the 2015 Ski Trip the premier inter-chapter JETAA event. I also want to investigate ways to enlarge our Chapter’s membership and participation, particularly by improving our communication with the membership. In particular, I want to create a monthly newsletter, containing lists of upcoming NEJETAA and local Japanese related events, plus other items of interest to our community. Also, to improve membership and participation, I want to work with our webmaster and membership coordinator to find ways we can improve our general online presence as a chapter.

Thank you for your consideration.

Jenny Cheng for (Interim) Treasurer

Hello! My name is Jenny Cheng and I would like to run as (interim) Treasurer. I was an ALT in Shizuoka-ken for 3 years and I have been active with NEJETAA after returning, serving as Treasurer in 2010 and Social Chair prior to that. I was also active with the JETAADC chapter from 2007 to 2009, or just being actively involved with the closest JETAA chapter that is closest to where I am living at the time. I would like to serve as Treasurer again, fulfilling its duties and responsibilities until the next newcomer Treasurer becomes available, as well as help guide them to take over the role fully.  

Mainly, I hope to continue to be a good resource and connection to past and future JETs, as well as Friends of Japan/JET (FOJ) in strengthening our network. I would like to continue to make great events available to our alums and further support NEJETAA’s functions and new endeavors.  

Thank you. 

Cast your vote now!

Hanami (5/4) and Happy Hour (5/8)

We have two big events coming up! Hope to see you there: 

 Hanami (POSTPONED) Happy Hour at Ittoku (5/8)

HANAMI 2014 (POSTPONED)

Place: On the Charles River Esplanade, down by the river close to the Half Shell, about a 10-15 walk from Charles MGH station on the Red Line (same place as the past few years). Link to Google Maps HERE.

Who: Everyone is invited, so bring your SO’s, your roommates, your friends, your family/kids, and pets!

Please also bring:

– blanket or a chair to sit on

– food/snacks to share

– your own beverages

– any games (cards, frisbee, etc.) you’d like to play

Happy Hour at Izakaya Ittoku:

Thursday, May 8th. Authentic Izakaya style appetizers and drinks available! RSVP to Katie (social at nejetaa dot com) or at the Facebook event.

Time: 6:00pm ~  Location: Izakaya Ittoku (Allston/Brighton) Google Maps1414 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02135

      T-Access: Green Line Accessible (B)       Parking: Street parking only