Digital Humanities Research Programmer

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

Salary: competitive, plus benefits

Start Date: September 1, 2023

Duration: 1 year

Description

With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Carnegie Mellon University's Print & Probability team is seeking a highly motivated Digital Humanities Research Programmer to work on our interdisciplinary Freedom and the Press before Freedom of the Press project. The successful candidate will work collaboratively to streamline bash code, develop front-end interfaces, and build and maintain data pipelines. The Research Programmer will implement warehousing solutions for extremely large collections of images of individual character imprints from historical books, large collections of images of whole pages, and complex metadata from libraries and other institutions. The ideal candidate will have a research background or demonstrated interest in early modern print culture and/or analytical bibliography and library science.

About the Project

Print & Probability is an interdisciplinary, NEH- and NSF-funded project at the intersection of book history, computer vision, and machine learning that seeks to discover letterpress printers whose identities have eluded scholars for several hundred years.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with interdisciplinary team members to streamline bash code.
• Develop front-end interfaces for digital humanities research projects.
• Develop and apply data analysis techniques to solve book history and bibliographical mysteries.
• Conduct research on digital humanities topics related to early modern print culture and/or library science.
• Communicate research findings through publications and presentations.
• Maintain and contribute to the development of open-source software on a Github repository.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Information Science, History, English or a related field.
• Experience in software engineering and development.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as bash, Python, and JavaScript.
• Experience with web development frameworks such as Django and React.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively in an interdisciplinary team.
• Demonstrated experience contributing to open-source software on Github.
• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.

Preferred Qualifications

• Working knowledge of bibliographical scholarship, including
  databases and reference works documenting the early modern book trade
• Substantial background in early modern print culture and/or library science.
• Experience in designing and implementing data architectures and pipelines.
• Experience with SQL, NoSQL databases, and data warehousing solutions.
• Experience with cloud computing platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Familiarity with software development practices and version control systems.

Application Instructions

To apply, please submit the following materials:

• Cover letter outlining your qualifications and research interests.
• CV including any publications and major projects.
• Names and contact information of three references.
• Link to your Github repository.

Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Please submit applications at –> https://cmu.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/CMU/job/Pittsburgh-PA/Digital-Humanities-Research-Programmer_2020034.

Inquiries about the position may be directed to sixdegreesfrancisbacon@gmail.com.