CCL Digital Humanities and Engagement SRA (Student Wage)

This position will be responsible for virtual and in-person engagement and data curation across the Center for Cultural Landscape’s (CCL) initiatives, to include data preparation, organization, and visualization and assisting with the planning of and preparation for events related to the Center’s digital work. The successful applicant will support data preparation, organization, and visualization. They will also work closely with residents and heritage practitioners in historic Black settlements throughout the US and Canada as they prepare contributions to a new web interface dedicated to place-based descendant storytelling.

Along with engaged work, the position will utilize geospatial, ethnographic, and other forms of data to help answer key research questions about community placemaking, commemoration, migration, and heritage, and to inform the development of a web portal with descendant-determined protocols around data storage and sharing. The student research assistant will work with the Principal Investigator and CCL’s Project Manager, and Research Specialist to determine data needs and to situate their tasks within the Center’s initiatives [Out(sider) Preservation Initiative, The Texas Freedom Colonies Project, Setting the Data Free], and with a contracted web portal developer as needed. Across all projects, the CCL’s focus is on data ethics and self-governance as it relates to descendant-led historic preservation and recognition of Black settlements and towns. 

SRA Activities include:

• Examining recordings, transcripts, surveys, and other collections of data for insight into descendant opinions on data governance
• Summarizing findings for Center for Cultural Landscapes team
• Cleaning and preparing data to respond to research questions
• Visualizing geospatial data for a variety of audiences, including non-technical and non-academic ones
• Troubleshooting data processing and visualization errors
• Assisting with all stages of event planning and management (ex. communicating with participants, setup, facilitation, breakdown)
• Attending team meetings on a weekly basis

Preferred experience and skills

• Graduate student in architectural history, history, anthropology, media studies, architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, data science, or African American and African studies
• Experience working with ethnographic data is a plus
• Strong writing, communication, and organizational skills
• Intermediate to Advanced ArcGIS, StoryMap, and Excel skills
• Experience with digital storytelling and curation of archival materials and various forms of data 

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Education: Bachelor's degree. Registered as a UVA graduate student.
Experience: none
Licensure: None

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job does occasionally require traveling some distance to attend meetings, and programs.

The University of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. All interested persons are encouraged to apply, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Click here to read more about UVA’s commitment to non-discrimination and equal opportunity employment.