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
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