Research Fellow in Media History & Historical Data Modelling
University of Sussex – Media, Film and Music/Sussex Humanities Lab (SHL)
Contract: fixed term until 31 December 2021
Salary: starting at £32,548 and rising to £38,833 per annum
Closing date: 2 February 2018. Applications must be received by midnight of the closing date.
Expected start date: 1 April 2018
The School of Media, Film and Music in collaboration with the Sussex Humanities Lab (SHL) wish to appoint to a fixed term Research Fellow to support a major AHRC funded research project: BBC Connected Histories. The project will create a digital oral history archive reflecting the inside story of the Corporation. Funded for five years and led by Professor David Hendy, BBC Connected Histories will create a fully searchable resource, incorporating extensive tagging and Linked Open Data, from interviews with staff held in the BBC’s oral history collection, dating from the early 1970s onwards, and reflecting the experience of employees going back to the founding of the Corporation in 1922.
The post is full-time for 45 months, commencing on 1 April 2018, or as soon as possible thereafter. The role will involve the migration and ingestion of digital assets – primarily oral history records – into the project’s research store, tagging, creating new metadata and enriching this material in other ways to facilitate analysis by a wide number of users. The post holder will also: participate directly in the analysis of this material; engage in collaborative workshops at the Sussex Humanities Lab; attend project meetings; liaise with project partners (BBC, Mass Observation, Science Museum Group, British Entertainment History Project); write/contribute to articles and chapters for project publications; present seminar and conference papers; provide general research support to the project team as required. The post will be based in the School of Media, Film and Music.
The successful candidate will be familiar with data management; possess excellent computer skills, and have some expertise in media and twentieth-century history.
Candidates will be expected to proficient in the following:
• The transfer of data between different formats, and the generation of associated meta-data.
• XML tagging and schema design in compliance with TEI standards.
• Data analysis tools including, for example, topic modelling and network analysis.
• Familiarity with media history and the history of broadcasting.
The fellow will be expected to play a full role in project, School and SHL activities.
The position involves:
• Working with inherited oral history interviews and new interviews generated by the project.
• Processing the materials into new formats, and adding substantial tagging and meta-data to each file.
• Analysing the text and audio and visual files as part of creating a wider history of the BBC.
• Maintaining and helping to populate the project website.
The person appointed will work with project team and associated academics to produce a high quality digital and online resource. The Research Fellow will work within a lively and intellectually vibrant research programme to help deliver a new vision of the humanities – as a field with digital resources and critiques at its heart.
Good communication skills, a commitment to innovation, and an ability to work productively as part of a cross-disciplinary team are essential for this position.
For an informal discussion of the post, please contact David Hendy, Professor of Media and Cultural History (D.J.Hendy@sussex.ac.uk<mailto:D.J.Hendy@sussex.ac.uk>).
For full details and how to apply see www.sussex.ac.uk/jobs
The University of Sussex values the diversity of its staff and students and we welcome applicants from all backgrounds.
More details found here: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/BGT733/research-fellow-in-media-history-and-historical-data-modelling/