Opportunities in Open Education

The Open Knowledge Foundation is seeking an Editor for Open Textbook

We are currently seeking an Editor for Open Text Book, “a registry of textbooks that anyone can access, reuse and redistribute”:

* http://www.opentextbook.org/

If you are interested in the position, please contact us at info at okfn dot org.

Background

The Open Knowledge Foundation is looking for an Editor for its Open Text Book project. The project was launched in 2007 after Steve Coast of Open Street Map donated us the domain name. It aims to be a curated one stop shop for open textbooks – that is textbooks anyone is free to access, redistribute, reuse and build upon.

Recently there has been a sharp rise in interest in open textbooks. Earlier this month, a bill was proposed to make all Federally funded textbooks in the State of California available under an open license. Last year saw the start of a student led campaign to make textbooks open – which is currently supported by over 2000 college professors. There now are a plethora of open textbook projects around the world – at different educational levels, for a variety of different subjects. Its an exciting time for open textbooks!

The Open Text Book project aims to be, in the first instance, a simple registry to make it easy to locate open textbooks from many different sources. We have also begun to archive copies of some of the books in a repository. There is plenty of room for expanding the project in the future.

Responsibilities

We anticipate the Editor will spend 1 to 2 days per month working on the project. This is a volunteer position and the Editor can be based anywhere in the world. The Editor will be responsible for:

* Adding new textbooks to the registry on a monthly basis, and curating the repository of mirrored textbooks;
* Checking the legal status of the textbooks to see that they are compliant with the Open Knowledge Definition;
* Attending virtual meetings with the Working Group on Open Textbooks;
* Giving input on the design of the Open Text Book website, and on the future of the Open Text Book project.

Get in touch!

If you are interested in the position, please get in touch, and let us know:

* Your name, affiliation, and website (if you have one!)
* Why you think you’d make a good Editor
* Your ideas about the future of the Open Text Book project

If you know anyone who you think might be interested to hear about the position – please point them to this post! You can also help spread the word by microblogging the following Identi.ca and Twitter posts:

* http://identi.ca/notice/13415208
* http://twitter.com/okfn/status/5318869742

–
Jonathan Gray

Community Coordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://www.okfn.org

Assistant Professor in Participatory Media and Convergence Culture

The Department of Media and Cinema Studies at the College of Media at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign seeks to fill one entry-level, tenure-track assistant professor position, with an emphasis in cinema studies, beginning August 16, 2010. Desired qualifications include a Ph.D. in cinema studies, media studies, communications, or a related field; and evidence of excellent scholarship and teaching experience. A research specialization in the study of film and one or more of the following is desirable:

Convergence culture, participatory media, media activism

Digital/new media

Queer theory and sexualities

Race, diaspora, transnational

Area Studies, specifically Latin America, Africa and East Asia

Responsibilities include interdisciplinary scholarly research and teaching in both undergraduate and doctoral programs, including a vibrant graduate minor in cinema studies. Salary: competitive, based on experience and qualifications. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. To ensure full consideration, Please complete your candidate profile at http://jobs.illinois.edu and upload your resume, a cover letter detailing research and teaching experience, and the names and email addresses or phone numbers of three references. All requested information must be submitted by November 06, 2009.

Professor Angharad Valdivia
Head of Media and Cinema Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
810 S. Wright St.
228 Gregory Hall
Urbana, Illinois 61801

The University of Illinois is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. The administration, faculty, and staff embrace diversity and are committed to attracting qualified candidates who also embrace and value diversity and inclusivity.

To apply log into HIRE TOUCH via:

https://jobs.illinois.edu/

More about Media & Cinema Studies: http://www.media.uiuc.edu/icr/bs_mediastudies.html
More about the Institute of Communications Research: http://www.media.uiuc.edu/icr/
More about Illinois: http://illinois.edu/about/overview/facts/facts.html

Archive

Project Leader for Global Wiki on Dispute Resolution

The Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School is recruiting a project leader to take forward the global wiki it is developing about dispute resolution between companies and communities. The project is run on behalf of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, Prof. John Ruggie.

The site – BASESwiki (www.baseswiki.org) – is currently being transferred to a new platform with new design and functionality. The transition will be complete by early November. The project leader will oversee the bedding down of the new site and handle any technical problems that arise, together with the developers. He/she will drive forward a new discussion forum and build the interactive aspects of the site; manage interns; build on and develop new institutional partnerships around the world, help with the development of additional language portals; conduct outreach to potential users; assess the site’s performance; and develop strategies, together with the Program Director, for its future development.

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

- strong project leadership skills

- experience in social media and programming, particularly with MediaWiki

- an interest in corporate responsibility and dispute resolution, and preferably some background experience

- strong team-working skills

- good written and oral communication skills

Job term: the position will commence on 15 November, subject to negotiation. An initial contract will be for one year with the possibility of a limited further extension.

Location: Boston or New York

Salary: $60,000-68,000 plus benefits, depending on experience

Please send applications to caroline_rees@harvard.edu by 21 October 2009, including a letter of interest, CV and 3 references.

AcaWiki Part-Time Community Manager

AcaWiki (acawiki.org) is a new not-for-profit project with the mission to make summaries of academic papers and literature reviews accessible to the world. Today, most academic papers are not accessible to the general public due to restrictive copyright policies held by publishers. Because of these policies, most of the public is locked out of accessing cutting-edge research. Furthermore many academic papers are written with complicated language that’s difficult for outsiders to understand.

To make academic knowledge accessible, we have built a user-friendly semantic wiki that enables people to post human-readable summaries of academic papers and literature reviews to acawiki.org. All content on the site is available under a Creative Commons Attribution license to guarantee maximum access throughout the world.

At this point AcaWiki is being run by a small group of dedicated volunteers; however starting a community wiki takes serious time and effort. We are looking to hire a part-time Community Manager to build community, culture, and content during the site’s first six months of operations. While our success is surely against the odds given the entrenched nature of a closed-access culture, we are passionate and determined to make the project a success and would be thrilled to find someone who shares our enthusiasm for open access.

If interested please a short letter of interest and your resume to acawikisummaries@gmail.com

Education Program Assistant

Update: The person in this position will also be helping to coordinate educational media and instruction on Creative Commons licensing and Internet usage for high school journalism students.

Creative Commons is looking for a Education Program Assistant to provide writing, research, and editorial assistance with ccLearn documents, projects, and to support other key programmatic priorities as needed. The goal of this position will be to work towards strengthening ccLearn’s role and reputation as a catalyst and authoritative voice in open education. This position will require substantial communications responsibilities, both among partner organizations and with the general public. The staff member will be expected to work closely with the ccLearn communications coordinator as well as other CC staff on relevant tasks.

Communications Projects include (but are not limited to): ODEPO (Open Database of Educational Projects and Organizations), other Semantic Mediawiki developments, and the ccLearn Website.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Communications
* Execute actions to support program initiatives and develop communications materials to promote and publicize these activities.
* Stay informed and abreast of the organization’s new initiatives, products, and services.
* Maintain ccLearn website, including possible redesign collaboration.

Research and Technology
* Help to identify, evaluate, sort, and upload digital educational resources and media.
* Seek and sustain awareness of open education trends and developments.
* Participate in training, conferences and online courses pertinent to open education theory and practice.
* Prepare written and verbal internal reports as requested.
* Research and write reports on key developments and usage of CC licenses worldwide
* Manage project-specific tasks, such as data-aggregation, text-mining, and other quantitative analyses.
* Help with user interface design, tech tools maintenance, and other technological upkeep as assigned.
* Assist or lead in the design of new Semantic Mediawiki applications as needed.

Public Information
* Respond to open education queries and engage with interested community members, facilitating formal meetings when necessary.
* Build relationships with professional counterparts in other professional, advocacy, and other community organizations through jointly-sponsored initiatives, communication campaigns and programs.
* Promote awareness of ccLearn in the education world by developing materials, such as slide shows, brochures, and other presentations.
* Create comprehensive resources about open education, including text, audio, and video.
* Serve as spokesperson for ccLearn when appropriate (i.e., conferences, online presence, meetings, interviews).

NON-ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

* Research possible partners and/or tools for managing and acquiring links to international materials. Translation tools are especially important.
* Develop (with guidance from ED) research proposals that are germane to the mission of ccLearn, perform the necessary research, and complete reports or other relevant outcomes.
* Contact educational organizations and content repositories on best practices for resource digitization, CC licensing, and open access.
* Organize and coordinate community activities that promote ccLearn and open education generally, via contests, collaborative events, and other awareness-raising exercises.

EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS:

* Bachelors Degree with relevant writing and research experience.

EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

* Experience working on specific projects, with specific deadlines and deliverables.
* Comfort with a small-office environment, where self-sufficiency is key.
* Comfort shifting focus as required based on opportunities that may arise unexpectedly.

SKILL REQUIREMENTS:

* Effective oral and written communication skills.
* Ability to follow through on assigned tasks with limited supervision.
* Attention to detail and ability to edit and proofread.
* Good time management and organizational skills.
* Demonstrated research and technology skills.
* Demonstrated capability for learning new technologies and design.
* Familiarity with open source/open sharing practices.
* Preference for MediaWiki skills.

How to apply

Applications and questions can be sent to:

Jennifer Yip
Operations Director
jennifer [at] creativecommons.org
fax: 415.278.9419

Thank you for your interest in our organization. Please NO phone calls.

Internships – Summer 2009

Creative Commons is pleased to announce this summer’s internship opportunities at the San Francisco office. If you are a currently enrolled student (College or Graduate levels) interested in applying, please read the descriptions carefully and follow the instructions below.
Internship terms:

We are currently hiring for the Summer of 2009: June through August (10 weeks). Applications should be submitted between now and March 13th. The positions are full-time. You should plan on spending the summer in San Francisco. Please be ready to assist with general office tasks in addition to focused projects.
Compensation:

Creative Commons offers paid compensation, if not otherwise covered by grant funding. If your school offers a stipend for work-study or internships, this factor is figured into the compensation.
Internships Available:

Technology Internship

This internship position will focus on aiding the Chief Technology Officer and Software Engineers with the development of software and maintenance of services. Knowledge of Linux, PHP, and Python is a must.

Legal Internships

This internship, geared towards law students, will focus on intellectual property and copyright as relates to creative works shared on the internet. A particular focus of the work this summer will involve research and development of protocols for identifying and marking content in the public domain. This intern will also work with the General Counsel on other legal projects involving CC licenses and international legal projects.

We will also be searching for another legal intern to work closely with ccLearn’s counsel on a variety of legal and strategic projects within the world of Open Education. The Intern’s primary responsibility will be to examine Higher-Education Institutional IP Policies. There will be opportunities throughout the summer for the Intern to engage in additional projects related to open licensing and open education as well, as appropriate tasks arise, and depending on the interest level of the Intern.

International Outreach Internship

This intern will work closely with the ccLearn Executive Director and the communications coordinator to enhance the international reach of our resources and products. Areas of likely focus include: open translation, the ccLearn-hosted OpenEd community site, and possible regional meetings as follow-up to similar activities from 2008. We are also expecting the intern will help to build greater coordination in such activities with the Creative Commons office in Berlin.

Graphic Design and Media Development Internship

This position is our first ever graphic design and media related internship. You will work closely with the Creative Commons senior designer and development team to create new print and online assets from scratch, and be responsible for new promotional and marketing materials from start to finish. Web design tasks are possible. Knowledge of Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign is a must. Standards compliant HTML & CSS skills are encouraged. Should have a good eye for typography and layout.
How to apply

If you are a college or graduate student interested in our internship program, please send us your:

* Cover Letter explaining your relevant interest in Creative Commons and in the position.
* Resumé
* Two References: Please include email and phone number.

Applications and questions can be sent to:

Jennifer Yip
Operations Manager
jennifer [at] creativecommons.org
fax: 415.278.9419

Thank you for your interest in our organization. Please NO phone calls.

OpenCourseWare Consortium (OCWC) Executive Director

The Consortium is a collaboration of more than 250 higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model. The organization’s mission is to advance formal and informal learning through the worldwide sharing and use of free, open, high-quality educational materials organized as courses.

Reporting to the Consortium’s Board of Directors, the Executive Director is responsible for growing the Consortium membership, delivering clear and compelling value to its members, representing the OCWC community, and directing communication about the organization’s goals and achievements. The Executive Director will oversee a small staff as well as contractors working on behalf of the Consortium, coordinate the work of all committees, and direct all strategic and business planning processes. S/he will manage all aspects of Consortium administration and finances including generating adequate funding, administering the organization’s budget, developing the Consortium’s infrastructure, and ensuring the maturation of the organization into a smoothly functioning independent entity.

Successful candidates will have strong hands-on management skills, analytic skills, and attention to detail as well as multi-cultural competency and experience working internationally. A collaborative working style and strong communication skills are necessary, as is the demonstrated ability to form and maintain strategic partnerships, a belief in the value of open educational resources, and respect for collaboration, inclusiveness, transparency, and innovation. Fundraising experience and skills are required, as is a master’s degree or higher.

As most of the work of the OpenCourseWare Consortium is done via electronic tools, the Executive Director is not required to live and work in any particular country. Frequent travel is necessary and so proximity to an airport is required, as is comfort with an international Board of Directors and employees, and an ability to fully utilize technology to foster communication with Consortium members around the globe.

Applications, nominations, and questions should be directed to Katie Dean, Principal, Opus Search Partners via email at katie.dean@opuspartners.net. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it. Application review begins immediately and will continue until the position is filled; applications received by March 10, 2009 will be guaranteed consideration. The salary range is $80,000 to $110,000 commensurate with experience.

ccLearn Counsel

Purpose Of Job:
ccLearn is a division of Creative Commons which is dedicated to realizing the full potential of the Internet to support open learning and open educational resources (OER). Our mission is to minimize barriers to sharing and reuse of educational materials — legal barriers, technical barriers, and social barriers. We are seeking someone who is interested in open education, relevant legal issues, and public engagement, who can help to manage our legal projects and bring this work to fruition.

Much of the work involved in these and related projects is not strictly legal; instead, this position will consist of substantial communications (written and verbal, formal and informal), networking and engagement with a diverse communities of interest, strategic planning regarding pursuits of greatest impact for ccLearn, and close collaboration on a variety of related initiatives with the ccLearn and CC staff. In addition, we have access to substantial intellectual and legal resources associated with our organization which can be leveraged as necessary. It is expected that the candidate for this position will play a substantial role in helping ccLearn to achieve its global mission, and will serve as a primary spokesperson for ccLearn and the open education movement generally.

Major Duties And Responsibilities:

• Oversee and implement ccLearn legal strategy.
• Advise on legal policies and ongoing legal issues that arise for ccLearn and for the various ccLearn projects.
• Work closely with the CC general counsel and other divisional counsel to review, draft and negotiate any legal documents and address any related legal issues.
• Respond appropriately to public queries about ccLearn, Creative Commons’ licenses, general licensing and intellectual property law issues.
• Review and draft grant applications, press releases and other documentation.
• Represent ccLearn publicly in various venues and with various audiences, both domestically and internationally.

Minimum qualifications:

• A law degree, ideally with at least two years’ experience in intellectual property and copyright. Please note that these are minimum qualifications…. More experienced candidates are strongly urged to apply.
• Excellent written and oral skills.
• Good familiarity (ideally with some relevant experience) with Creative Commons, open source software, open access issues, or equivalent.
• Willingness to engage in legal research in other, intersecting areas of interest.
• Excitement about the potential for Creative Commons to make a real difference in education.
• Understanding of international law and the nature of legal documents that are intended to apply internationally.
• Familiarity and facility with technology, especially for communications tools (e.g., wikis, blogs, IM).

Desired qualifications:

• A dedication to the basic principles of openness, such as mediated by CC licensing, and particularly the open education movement.
• A deep appreciation for the challenges faced by specific communities, including other countries and cultures, in terms of educational achievement, and the role of the law in either helping or hindering improvements in educational access and practices.
• Ability to work independently and efficiently. Ability to set priorities and maintain communications despite a constantly shifting schedule.
• Good collaborative and interpersonal skills. Project management experience is also a plus.

Terms of hire:

• Start date: Currently hiring, starting ASAP.
• Location: This position will report directly to the ccLearn executive director and will be based in San Francisco. The location of the position is not negotiable, as the nature of this position requires regular personal communications with the staff of both ccLearn and CC, nearly all of whom are located in the main San Francisco office. The position will also require some travel.
• Compensation: This is a full-time position. In addition to salary, a full suite of benefits, including health, dental, and retirement, will apply. Compensation will be commensurate with experience, and competitive for equivalent types of positions, but limited to the overall salary scale of this small, non-profit organization.

How to apply: If interested, please submit:

* Cover Letter explaining your relevant interest in ccLearn and in the position.
* Resume.
* Three References; please include email and phone number.

Applications and questions can be sent to:

Jennifer Yip
Operations Manager
jennifer@creativecommons.org
fax: 415.278.9419

Thank you for your interest in our organization. Please no phone calls.

CK-12 Foundation: Community Coordinator

Responsibilities:

• Conceptualize, foster and galvanize a Community of Volunteers to work on various life cycle stages of CK12 Content Lifecycle
• Propose, drive, and manage Community Programs that include working with authors, editors, reviewers, teachers, and parents
• Advise the organization on volunteer recruitment planning and coordination efforts
• Closely work with community to devise, recruit and formulate Local Chapters along with Policy Guidelines
• Help prioritize community activities aligned with overall mission of CK-12 and calibrate with tangible results oriented metrics
• Compile best practices and scaffold a framework to engage volunteers with ranging spectrum of skill sets and time availability
• Conduct focus group studies for community interaction and report volunteer involvement on a regular basis
• Help understand the volunteers, why it is important to volunteer by establishing the importance of long term sustainability
• Act as a catalyst to identify dormant chapters and evolve them in a constructive basis to be operational
• Be hands-on in organizing and conducting regular online events and tutorials to educate users about volunteer opportunities
• Periodically promote incentive programs with various units of currencies of interests for the volunteers, which will not involve huge cost expenses

ccLearn Counsel and Assistant Director

ccLearn is a division of Creative Commons which is dedicated to realizing the full potential of the Internet to support open learning and open educational resources (OER). Our mission is to minimize barriers to sharing and reuse of educational materials — legal barriers, technical barriers, and social barriers. We are seeking someone who is interested in open education, relevant legal issues, and public engagement, who can help to manage our legal projects and bring this work to fruition.

The majority of the work involved in these and related projects is not strictly legal; instead, this position will consist of substantial communications (written and verbal, formal and informal), networking and engagement with a diverse communities of interest, strategic planning regarding pursuits of greatest impact for ccLearn, and close collaboration on a variety of related initiatives with the ccLearn and CC staff. In addition, we have access to great intellectual and legal resources associated with our organization which can be leveraged as necessary. It is expected that the candidate for this position will play a significant role in helping ccLearn to achieve its global mission, and will serve as a primary spokesperson for ccLearn and the open education movement generally.

Major Duties And Responsibilities

• Oversee and implement ccLearn legal strategy.
• Advise on legal policies and ongoing legal issues that arise for ccLearn and for the various ccLearn projects.
• Work closely with the CC general counsel and other divisional counsel on CC-wide legal programs and policies, and in connection with legal agreements and any related legal issues.
• Respond appropriately to public queries about ccLearn, Creative Commons’ licenses, general licensing and intellectual property law issues. [note: this would be coordinated with the GC]
• Review and draft grant applications, press releases and other documentation.
• Represent ccLearn publicly in various venues and with various audiences, both domestically and internationally.

Minimum qualifications

• A law degree, ideally with at least two years’ experience in intellectual property and copyright.
• Excellent written and oral skills.
• Good familiarity (ideally with some relevant experience) with Creative Commons, open source software, open access issues, or equivalent.
• Willingness to engage in legal research in other, intersecting areas of interest.
• Familiarity or interest in education.
• Understanding of international law and the nature of legal documents that are intended to apply internationally.
• Familiarity and facility with technology, especially for communications tools (e.g., wikis, blogs, IM).

Desired qualifications

• A dedication to the basic principles of openness, such as mediated by CC licensing, and particularly the open education movement.
• A deep appreciation for the challenges faced by specific communities, including other countries and cultures, in terms of educational achievement, and the role of the law in either helping or hindering improvements in educational access and practices.
• Ability to work independently and efficiently. Ability to set priorities and maintain communications despite a constantly shifting schedule.
• Good collaborative and interpersonal skills. Project management experience is also a plus.

Terms of hire

• Start date: Currently hiring, starting ASAP.
• Location: This position will report directly to the ccLearn executive director and will be based in San Francisco. The location of the position is not negotiable, as the nature of this position requires regular personal communications with the staff of both ccLearn and CC, nearly all of whom are located in the main San Francisco office. The position will also require substantial travel.
• Compensation: This is a full-time position. In addition to salary, a full suite of benefits, including health, dental, and retirement, will apply. Compensation will be commensurate with experience, and competitive for equivalent types of positions, but limited to the overall salary scale of this small, non-profit organization.

How to apply

If interested, please submit:

• Cover Letter explaining your relevant interest in ccLearn and in the position.
• Resume.
• Three References; please include email and phone number.

Applications and questions can be sent to:

Jennifer Yip
Operations Manager
jennifer [at] creativecommons.org
fax: 415.278.9419

Thank you for your interest in our organization. Please NO phone calls.

OpenCourseWare Consortium Director of Marketing and Outreach

The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of more than 200 higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model. The mission of the OpenCourseWare Consortium is to advance education and empower people worldwide through OpenCourseWare. The Goals of the Consortium are to extend the reach and impact of OpenCourseWare by encouraging the adoption and adaptation of open educational materials around the world; to foster the development of additional OpenCourseWare projects; and to ensure the long-term sustainability of OpenCourseWare projects by identifying ways to improve effectiveness and reduce costs. Traditionally, activities of the OpenCourseWare Consortium were administered by the MIT OpenCourseWare project – but we are in the process of formally incorporating the OCWC into an independent 501c3 non-profit.

The OCWC Director of Marketing and Outreach, in close consultation with the OCWC Director and the OCWC Board of Directors, is generally responsible for the oversight and execution of marketing, public relations and outreach activities within the Consortium. The principal responsibilities of the OpenCourseWare Consortium Director of Marketing and Outreach are:

1. Direct the external marketing, communications and public relations efforts of the Consortium. The Consortium requires a coordinated and thoughtful approach to telling its story through its web site and collateral materials, in the context of strategic speaking engagements and media coverage, and by engagement in emerging Web 2.0 social communities. In addition, the OCWC has traditionally targeted its communications at select university professors and staff. Going forward, we will need to find ways to build grass-roots awareness of and participation in OpenCourseWare – expanding our target audience to include, among others, university students, professional organizations, potential consumers of OCW content.

2. Manage internal OCWC membership development and communications. The OCWC is, first and foremost, a service organization to its members. It is imperative that clear, open and productive channels of support and communication be developed among the OCWC staff, the OCWC Board, and OCWC members. The OCWC Director of Marketing and Outreach will play a large role in managing outreach and communications with OCWC members – from initial inquiries about OCWC membership all the way through the implementation of individual OCW sites – and beyond.

3. Organize and facilitate Consortium meetings. Consortium meetings, currently held twice each year, are a crucial part of maintaining and expanding the OCW community. These meetings provide regular opportunities for members to keep up-to-date on project developments, reaffirm commitments to goals and priorities, and present work completed to-date on Consortium projects. They are also wonderful recruiting opportunities for new OCWC membership. Increasingly, the OCWC is also being called upon to organize additional, ad hoc meetings which could be strategic to the OCWC’s long term success.

The OpenCourseWare Consortium Director of Marketing and Outreach reports to the OCWC Executive Director.

Specific duties and responsibilities (1)

Direct the external marketing, communications and public relations efforts of the Consortium.

• Develop and execute a marketing plan for the Consortium. This might include things like a monthly internal email blast, blogging, an advertising campaign, an annual OER/OCW event/competition, etc.
• Develop and execute a public relations plan for the Consortium. At a minimum, official press releases should be constructed for each major milestone in the life of the OCWC. This should also include the creation and updating of a basic media kit for the OCWC on the web site, along w/ a standard set of presentation and collateral materials for OCWC members to use.
• Serve as a primary coordinator for OCWC media opportunities, ensuring balance of said opportunities among other OCWC members, board and staff. Should also act as one of the primary spokespeople for the OCWC.
• Coordinate the promotion of the Consortium’s mission and goals at relevant professional speaking engagements and Conferences. Since the travel budget will be extremely limited in at least the first year – an important part of this role will be to help resourcefully coordinate distributed coverage of strategic conferences between OCWC members, the OCWC board, and staff – and to know which events need support.
• Report back to OCWC members on insights and results from such conferences.
• Establish and maintain the content and business design of the OCWC web site.

Manage internal OCWC membership development and communications.

• Support OCWC members through the full lifecycle of membership – from initial email and phone inquiries, through the membership application approval process, all the way through the creation and development of members’ own OCW sites.
• Make on-site support visits to OCW members as needed, with the understanding that, except under special circumstances, travel costs must be covered by OCWC members.
• Develop and execute an internal OCWC communications plan, which will likely include some type of regular email blast, along w/ other indirect communications (such as blogging, etc.).

Organize and facilitate Consortium meetings and events.

• Oversee all aspects of planning and executing Consortium meetings.
• Collaborate with host institutions to support their hosting efforts.
• Manage communications in advance of and after meetings.

General

• Support all aspects of OCWC revenue generation – including grant writing, the development of strategic partnerships, and solicitation of donations.
• Maintain awareness—including current status—of open knowledge efforts of all kinds, whether or not directly related to OCWC. This includes following institutions’ OpenCourseWare efforts (which may or may not have formal ties to the OCWC), and efforts in other realms of information sharing in higher education, in the library domain, and elsewhere.
• Maintain a working knowledge of issues and concepts related to open knowledge sharing and publication, including intellectual property issues and requirements and open licensing concepts.

Qualifications

• Knowledge and experience: Background and experience in an academic/higher education setting and working with faculty is highly desirable. At least 3 years of direct experience on an OpenCourseWare team is also highly desirable. Must have demonstrated accomplishment in developing web-based educational resources projects. HTML and basic web design skills a plus. Experience and knowledge of community-building through social software a plus.
• Relationship building/interpersonal skills: Ability to understand and develop productive work relationships with others at all levels; ability to persuade and influence senior decision makers; ability to resolve conflicts with a win/win attitude. The OCWC Director of Marketing and Outreach is the primary public representative of the Consortium, and will have frequent contact with global leaders in education, government and commerce; therefore, the Manager must have a highly professional personal presentation and the ability to earn respect of others quickly.
• Communication and facilitation skills: Excellent oral and written communications skills at all levels, including senior management, faculty, academic support staff, engineering and technical staff, collaborators of all kinds. Good consulting, facilitating, and leadership skills; ability to lead or follow with equal ease.
• Problem solving and decision-making: Ability to think strategically and to understand the complexity and nuance of strategic relationships. Respond promptly and effectively to issues; demonstrate good judgment. Ability to work with vague concepts and loosely defined ideas and mold them into structured plans and operational programs.
• Planning and organizing skills: Must organize and manage time to accomplish job requirements in a professional and timely manner. Establish and prioritize objectives; develop plans to meet deadlines; adapt to changes in work priorities. Ability to follow-up efficiently and to see tasks through to completion. Must be well-organized, committed, accurate, thorough, and punctual.
• Initiative and resourcefulness: Develop ideas and methods; effective use of available resources; self starter; ability to work in a fast-paced environment to meet critical deadlines; ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Accountability: Must accept personal responsibility for on-schedule task fulfillment and job performance; must be self-motivating, professional, and comfortable with ambiguity in a diverse organization.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree or higher. Masters degree or higher preferred.

Job Location: Negotiable.

(1) The duties and responsibilities listed are representative of the kinds of tasks and levels of work difficulty required, but are not intended to limit or in any way modify the right of any supervisor to assign, direct, and control the work of employees under his or her supervision. The use of a particular expression or illustration describing duties shall not be held to exclude other duties not mentioned that are of a similar kind or which may be concomitant or ancillary to any of the duties listed.

‘LiquidPublication’ Post-doctoral researcher

Innovating the Scientific Knowledge Object Lifecycle
Institut Jean Nicod (CNRS, EHSS, ENS), Paris
-under the responsibility of Gloria Origgi and Roberto Casati

Candidates are invited to submit an application (in English) including a detailed curriculum vitae, a list of publications, a statement of interest, and two letters of recommendation. The application should be sent directly both to Gloria Origgi at origgi@ehess.fr and to Roberto Casati at casati@ehess.fr .

We are seeking to recruit a post-doctoral researcher as part of an international project entitled LiquidPublication. Funded by the European Commission, the project will bring together a highly interdisciplinary team of researchers and experts in order to explore how ICT and the lessons learned from software engineering and the social Web can be applied to provide a radical paradigm shift in the way scientific knowledge is created, disseminated, evaluated, and maintained. The goal to exploit the novel technologies to enable a transition of the “scientific paper” from its traditional “solid” form, (i.e., a crystallization in space and time of a scientific knowledge artifact) to a Liquid Publication (or LiquidPub for short), that can take multiple shapes, evolves continuously in time, and is enriched by multiple sources. We call these new, dynamic objects, Scientific Knowledge Objects (SKO). More details on the project and its partners are available at: http://project.liquidpub.org/

Keywords: social epistemology, web epistemology, scientific evaluation, information design, social simulation, human-computer interaction

The post-doctoral researcher will be based in Paris, at the Institut Nicod (Ecole Normale Supérieure and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, www.institutnicod.org ) and will have the opportunity to (1) work in an interdisciplinary team, (2) learn to manage an international research project (3) present research plans and findings to specialist audiences at project workshops and conferences, and (4) disseminate their research in a wide range of project publications.

The core expert consortium on the project includes Project Coordinator, Professor Fabio Casati (Department of Computer Science, University of Trento), the Spanish National Research Council, the academic publishing house Springer Science, the University of Fribourg and the CNRS in Paris.

The post will start in late May 2008. Candidates are welcome to submit their applications from now on. Applications will be accepted until the position is fulfilled. The position will be initially for 12 months. The project will continue thereafter for a further 24 months and post-holders will be eligible to apply for continuing post-doctoral research positions. During the first 24 months, research will mainly be based at the Institut Jean Nicod (CNRS, EHESS, ENS) in Paris, France. The researcher will be required to develop a programme of research under the supervision of Gloria Origgi and Roberto Casati (CNRS) on “Defining Processes and Roles of Scientific Knowledge Objects (SKO)”, that is, understanding the mutual interaction between different actors in the creation of a liquid document: authors, collaborators, readers, evaluators, publishers, and designing a prototype version of SKO and its related plug-ins. The candidate will be also involved in research on copyright policies and will be encouraged to explore already existing solutions on the Web 2.0 to diffuse and evaluate academic research.

The post-doctoral researcher should fill the following requirements:

A background in epistemology, web-studies, media studies, information design, human-computer interaction. An interest and experience in web-based design and evaluation of knowledge. An interest and experience in the Web 2.0 social tools Some programming skills for Web development (PhP, SQL)

Doctoral degrees must be completed before appointment to the post.
Candidates should be effective team players and independent researchers who can work to deadline and who are able to communicate effectively across disciplines.

Fluent spoken and written English is essential.
The salary is €2000 per month (net). French social security and retirement benefits will apply.

Candidates are invited to submit an application (in English) including a detailed curriculum vitae, a list of publications, a statement of interest, and two letters of recommendation. The application should be sent directly both to Gloria Origgi at origgi@ehess.fr and to Roberto Casati at casati@ehess.fr .
The successful candidate will be given ample leeway. Our objective is to create a leading group in web epistemology, and SKOs, and thereby to make sure that our candidate will establish her or himself as a leading figure in the domain. We will be thus flexible in redefining assignments during the life of the project.

The candidate is expected to contribute to the scientific and the management aspects of the project.

1. Participate in the research and design process:
-Writing up a state of the art on evaluation policies and software (in the early months)
-Contributing to the definition of SKO roles and the information design of the SKO prototype
- Contributing to the software development of the SKO prototype
-Producing two scientific papers per year in international peer-reviewed journals), on themes defined in coordination with the principal investigators.
-Tracking the relevant communities (such as Bp3 and Researchblogging): search for relevant communities, follow up of activities, production of periodic executive summaries.
-Participate in the creation of guidelines for SKOs (copyright design, etc.).

2. Management
-Effectively managing the project on behalf on the Institut Nicod, under the direction of the principal investigators, including: implementing project policies, keeping in touch with the coordinator, producing reports, ensuring the timely production of deliverables for WPs, liaising the CNRS and the European Commission, organizing meetings, keeping track of knowledge (e.g. by contributing to the project website and blog).
-Providing creative solutions for making the LiquidPublication community members interact in an efficient way, and for outreaching to other communities.

For enquiries, email Gloria Origgi origgi@ehess.fr.

A pdf copy of this call can be retrived here.

Gloria Origgi
CNRS
Ecole des Hautes Etudes – Ecole Normale Supérieure
29, rue d’Ulm
75005 Paris
www.institutnicod.org
Tel. +33 1 43202250
Blog: www.gloriaoriggi.blogspot.com