The AAI/Open Context invites applications for two Postdoctoral Researcher positions in our new Data Literacy Program

We’re hiring! The AAI/Open Context invites applications for two Postdoctoral Researcher positions in our new Data Literacy Program:

Position 1:

Postdoctoral Researcher (Data Interpretation and Public Engagement)

This is a remote position. Full time (40 hours/week). 

Application review will begin July 15, 2020 and will continue until filled.
The Alexandria Archive Institute (AAI/Open Context) is a non-profit technology company working to improve research and teaching through innovative uses of the Web. Our work promotes greater transparency in the research process and broader collaboration through the curation and reuse of research data. The primary focus of our work is Open Context, an open access Web-based publication system for archaeology and other field sciences.

With funding from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the AAI/Open Context is launching a 3-year Data Literacy Program. The program will widen and diversify community engagement with cultural heritage data, providing much-needed scaffolding to guide professionals, students, and lifelong learners in thoughtful engagement with research data, especially in archaeology.
We are seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher to develop aspects of the Data Literacy Program related to data interpretation and public engagement. This person will work closely with another postdoctoral researcher who will focus on the more technical aspects of data visualization and reproducibility as part of the same Data Literacy Program.

The Postdoctoral Researcher will help shape the Data Literacy Program by identifying and developing themes for “data stories”— publicly-engaging narratives that are based on analysis of archaeological (and other) open access research data sets. The Postdoctoral Researcher will primarily contribute engaging, publicly-oriented written interpretations supported by open access research data. In addition, they will help learners understand the “behind-the-scenes” analytic steps, problems, and judgement calls involved in gathering and interpreting data. While this is not primarily a technical data analysis or software development role, we seek candidates willing to develop some technical competencies and can collaborate with technically oriented colleagues to guide learners in the use of data and code.

This individual will work closely with Data Literacy Program staff to produce at least 4-6 data stories annually (approx. 70% of the role). As this is a newly launched program, we will seek candidates with ideas to understand and evaluate outcomes, shape program strategy, and provide quarterly reports on impacts to the AAI/Open Context’s Executive Director and Board of Directors (approx. 5% of the role). In addition to this internal role, the Postdoctoral Researcher will have a public voice in promoting data literacy and public engagement in archaeology. This individual will make contributions to the wider professional community through a combination of journal publication, service, conference presentations, and contributions to a “best practices” edited volume (approx. 25% of the role). 

Due to the pandemic, this will be a remote position; thus, the successful candidate must be able to work both independently and collaboratively with a remote team.
The following qualifications and skills are highly desired for this position, but we would like for each applicant to highlight how their own set of skills and experiences will help launch and shape this new program.

• Ph.D. or doctoral student who will soon complete their degree
• Doctoral studies in archaeology, anthropology, or a related field
• Primary research interests in education, data analysis, communication, public engagement, and ethics
• Secondary research interests and familiarity with digital data, digital publishing, and scholarly communications issues
• A willingness to engage with geographically and chronologically diverse archaeological research topics
• A demonstrated commitment to community archaeology and other aspects of interpreting, communicating, and collaborating with broader communities
• Ability to find and evaluate the quality and suitability of datasets for interpretive goals
• Developing and teaching instructional courses in archaeology
• Enthusiasm to develop skills with Web (HTML, CSS, Javascript) technologies
• Enthusiasm to develop skills with R or Python, and geospatial analysis

Position and Salary:
This is a 3-year, full-time position (40 hours/week). The salary range is $50,000-$60,000 with benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401K). Depending on pandemic-related health and safety concerns, some travel, especially for conference presentation, may be encouraged and supported with additional funds. AAI/Open Context is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, but this can be a remote position. 

To apply:
Please submit a letter of interest describing your vision for this position and data literacy in archaeology, as well as a CV describing your contributions, qualifications, technical skills, and experience. Include a short writing sample tailored for a non-academic audience, especially if that sample illustrates uses of research data. Please also provide the names of three references, including one who can speak to your technical qualifications. We especially encourage applicants with backgrounds and experiences underrepresented in archaeology.

Please submit your application by email to: jobs@opencontext.org
The Alexandria Archive Institute (Open Context) is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.

Position 2:

Postdoctoral Researcher (Data Visualization and Reproducibility)

This is a remote position. Full time (40 hours/week). 

Application review will begin July 15, 2020 and will continue until filled.
The Alexandria Archive Institute (AAI/Open Context) is a non-profit technology company working to improve research and teaching through innovative uses of the Web. Our work promotes greater transparency in the research process and broader collaboration through the curation and reuse of research data. The primary focus of our work is Open Context, an open access Web-based publication system for archaeology and other field sciences.

With funding from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the AAI/Open Context is launching a 3-year Data Literacy Program. The program will widen and diversify community engagement with cultural heritage data, providing much-needed scaffolding to guide professionals, students, and lifelong learners in thoughtful engagement with research data, especially in archaeology.
We are seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher to develop aspects of the Data Literacy Program related to data visualization and reproducibility. This person will work closely with another postdoctoral researcher who will focus on data interpretation and public engagement aspects of the same Data Literacy Program. 

The Postdoctoral Researcher will help shape technical aspects of the Data Literacy Program’s “data stories”— publicly-engaging narratives that are based on analysis of archaeological (and other) open access research data sets. Working with Data Literacy Program staff, the Postdoctoral Researcher will develop reproducible code and visualization for data stories produced by the program. In addition, this individual will help learners understand code and visualization steps for presenting the data. Thus, this role emphasizes technical data analysis, open source software development, and technical documentation.

This individual will work closely with Data Literacy Program staff to produce at least 4-6 data stories annually (approx. 70% of the role). As this is a newly launched program, we will seek candidates with ideas to understand and evaluate outcomes, shape program strategy, and provide quarterly reports on impacts to the AAI/Open Context’s Executive Director and Board of Directors (approx. 5% of the role). In addition to this internal role, the Postdoctoral Researcher will have a public voice in promoting data literacy and public engagement in archaeology. This individual will make contributions to the wider professional community through a combination of journal publication, service, conference presentations, and contributions to a “best practices” edited volume (approx. 25% of the role).

Due to the pandemic, this will be a remote position; thus, the successful candidate must be able to work both independently and collaboratively with a remote team.
The following qualifications are highly desired for this position, but we would like for each applicant to highlight how their own set of skills and experiences will help launch and shape this new program.

• Ph.D. or doctoral student who will soon complete their degree
• Doctoral studies in archaeology, anthropology, library and information science, or relevant computationally-oriented humanities and social sciences
• Primary research interests in reproducible research, data analysis and visualization, research data management
• Secondary research interests and familiarity with ethics, digital publishing and scholarly communications issues
• Willingness to engage with geographically and chronologically diverse archaeological research topics
• Familiarity with environmental sciences and geospatial data
• A passion for making data and code empowering for members of broader and more diverse communities

In addition to the above, we seek individuals with some combination of the following technical skills. Please note, we do not expect applicants to have prior experience or expertise in each of these areas. Rather, we ask applicants to demonstrate their commitment to cultivate these technical skills through ongoing professional development as part of the position.

• At least some prior experience with scripting / programming in Python, Javascript or R. Commitment to develop, document, and publicly share working code via Jupyter Notebooks and other methods (such as Javascript)
• Enthusiasm to cultivate skills with reproducible research practices (including software documentation and Git version control)
• Commitment to use a variety of structured data formats, including as JSON, XML, RDF (various)
• Commitment to write using Markdown and HTML
• Commitment to use linked data and/or Web services (APIs)
• Software development workflows (issue management, code documentation, code review)
• Any specialized area of computing such as (but not limited to) machine learning, semantic / ontology engineering, API and service design
• Skills in data visualization and interaction design
• Proactive problem-solver, but comfortable asking for help when needed

This is a 3-year, full-time position (40 hours/week). The salary range is $50,000-$60,000 with benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401K). Depending on pandemic related health and safety concerns, some travel, especially for conference presentation, may be encouraged and supported with additional funds. AAI/Open Context is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, but this can be a remote position. 

To apply:
Please submit a letter of interest describing your vision for this position and data literacy in archaeology,  as well as a CV describing your contributions, qualifications and technical skills. Include a short writing sample as well as sample data analysis or visualization code (especially links to publicly accessible software repositories). Please also provide the names of three references, including one who can speak to your technical qualifications. We especially encourage applicants with backgrounds and experiences underrepresented in archaeology or technology.

Please submit your application by email to: jobs@opencontext.org
The Alexandria Archive Institute (Open Context) is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.