Digital Project Specialist

Description

Visual Resources (formerly called Slides and Photographs and the Visual Resources Collection) of the Department of Art and Archaeology has existed since the late 19th century. The original mission of VR was the provision of images for the support of the department curriculum and research. This role has evolved to include the digitization and publication of the unique archival collections held by the department and the support of new methods of scholarship within the fields of art history and archaeology.

Visual Resources seeks an innovative and service-oriented information professional to expand this progress to include the development and publication of digital applications utilizing the latest technologies for departmental curriculum and scholarship. The position will also increase the awareness and utilization of digital methods to advance the exceptional scholarship of one of the nation’s oldest art history departments.

To be considered for this opportunity, a cover letter is required and can be submitted as an iForm in the application process.

Responsibilities

Reporting to the Director of Visual Resources the Digital Project Specialist is responsible for consulting, designing, implementing, and managing department digital projects. The position works to increase the understanding and application of digital scholarship among faculty and students and should therefore have up-to-date knowledge of successful digital humanities research projects, tools, methods, and funding sources particularly those pertaining to the visual arts. The successful candidate will also be expected to collaborate with colleagues across campus to share expertise on project management, new digital applications, resources, and training. Candidates should demonstrate an interest in digital art history methods and in providing services supporting digital art history: outreach, instruction, and technical infrastructure. This position will be required to support the current department projects (Omeka) and will be responsible for building and maintaining the environment for future department projects which will most likely involve Blacklight/Spotlight, and static site development.

Creation, management of digital resources:

• Work with the Director to build the necessary technological infrastructure to support computational approaches to art history and archaeology.  Design, test, and deploy digital projects with eye towards accessibility, interoperability, and sustainability.

Department outreach and instruction:

• Devise and implement strategies to engage students and faculty in new methods of scholarship, digital publications, and data management in the department. Offer regular guidance to VR staff on new platforms and strategies in digital scholarship.

Campus outreach and collaboration, future-thinking, testing:

• Establish and maintain consistent lines of communication among campus resources. Seek out and test new platforms, resources, classroom technologies, etc. for their potential application in the classroom or scholarship. Research and test new strategies for image collections, digital projects, and methodologies.

Project management, content strategy, workflow development:

• Design and evaluate workflows, develop and initiate project management strategies, conduct user testing and assessment.

Qualifications

The Digital Project Specialist will need to work flexibly, independently, and collaboratively with colleagues, faculty, and students in a changing service-oriented environment. Applicants should have a keen interest in the development of educational, image-based or cultural-heritage-focused digital projects and the pedagogy and scholarship those projects afford.

Required:

• Minimum three years’ experience working in an environment that includes building web-based applications and services
• Experience with modern HTML, CSS and JavaScript frameworks that meet contemporary usability and accessibility guidelines
• Demonstrated experience with an object-oriented language such as PHP, Java, Python or Ruby
• Desire to learn new technical skills, programming languages, and open-source tools
• Commitment to the field of academic research support and to participation in the broader professional community and professional development opportunities
• Ability to set priorities and manage work and deadlines independently
• Demonstrated effective oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills, particularly in communicating technical concepts to non-technical audiences

Preferred:

• BA or other advanced degree in art history, archaeology, architecture, or other visual media subject
• Knowledge of image delivery via the iiif standard and image viewers (Universal Viewer, Mirador, Open Seadragon)
• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases (Access, FileMaker, NoSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL)
• Demonstrated knowledge of descriptive, administrative, and technical metadata formats and standards (CCO, VRA Core, Dublin Core), and digital preservation standards
• Use of and familiarity with CMS software in higher education: Canvas, Drupal, WordPress, Omeka, Wagtail
• Familiarity with GitHub workflows and command line use
• Knowledge of Jekyll or other static site generators
• Familiarity with XML and XSLT, JavaScript and JSON
• Experience with APIs, Docker, and search and indexing platforms like Solr and Elasticsearch
• Experience with ArcGIS or other mapping software