Application Programmer

Description

The Smithsonian Institution was founded in 1846 for the “increase and diffusion of knowledge”.  It has evolved into the world’s largest museum and research complex, consisting of 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoological Park, and 17 research and advanced study facilities, both scientific and cultural heritage in nature.

In 2011, the Office of Research Information Services (ORIS) was created, within the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to address the need to manage digital research data. Over the last 15 months ORIS has built a first prototype of “Sidora” a general information architecture and software that is designed to be used by Smithsonian researchers to capture and organize the digital “evidence” as they create it in their research process and use it directly in their analysis and dissemination activities. Based on a Fedora/Islandora/Drupal stack, the goal is to create a “system of systems” that actively supports the research process as it unfolds, leaving behind a coherent expression of the digital content that was generated which can permanently stand alongside related publications.

We are looking for a developer who can help us build upon a very early working version of the software to create a very powerful, user friendly system that will support research that creates and uses digital information in all media with a wide variety of software tools. A successful candidate will have good experience building web applications using Drupal (PHP) and javascript (with libraries such as EXT-JS), as well as experience with processing and managing a variety of digital media encodings. Experience with repositories systems such as Fedora, semantic web technologies (RDF), java programming, XML, and web services is desired. Good communication skills and the ability to work with a diverse, geographically dispersed team are necessary.

This position will soon be posted through the Smithsonian’s normal channels (http://www.sihr.si.edu/jobs.cfm) where candidates will need to apply. It is a two-year grant-funded position with benefits that closely match those of a Federal position. Questions about the position can be addressed to Thorny Staples at staplest@si.edu