New job working with the Geonet team at the Oxford Internet Institute: 'Researcher in ICTs, Geography and Development'

Mark is now hiring a researcher to work at the Oxford Internet Institute to investigate low-wage digital work being carried out in Sub-Saharan Africa:

The Oxford Internet Institute is a leading centre for research into individual, collective and institutional behaviour on the Internet. We are looking for a full-time Researcher to work with Professor Mark Graham on the ERC-funded project Geonet: Investigating the Changing Connectivities and Potentials of Sub-Saharan Africa's Knowledge Economy. Combining archival research, surveys, and in-depth interviews, this ambitious project will critically assess the changing landscape of digital work in Sub-Saharan Africa, and ask who benefits (and who doesn’t) from those changes.

In this exciting role, the Researcher will carry out 9-12 months of fieldwork among digital workers and organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as working at OII’s premises in Oxford. The Researcher will also contribute to the dissemination of the findings through peer-reviewed academic papers, project reports, events, blogs and social media.

Candidates should have experience of social science research in Development Studies, Geography, Sociology, Social Anthropology, Communications, Organization Studies, Management or related disciplines, training and practical experience in qualitative research methods.

Based primarily at the Oxford Internet Institute (with periods of fieldwork), this position is available immediately for 3 years in the first instance, with the possibility of renewal thereafter, funding permitting. For qualified candidates, there may also be opportunities to teach course modules on our ‘Social Science of the Internet’ MSc course.

The application form and further details, including a job description and selection criteria, are available on Oxford University's recruitment website.

The closing date for applications is 12:00 BST on Thursday 3 September 2015 and only applications received before then can be considered. Interviews for those short-listed are currently planned to take place in the week commencing Monday 21 September 2015.

We're hiring an Internet Geographer!

We are hiring a full-time Internet Geographer at the Oxford Internet Institute!

The position is for a researcher to work with Mark Graham on a project to study and map the Geographies of the Internet. This is an exciting role in which the researcher will both gather and analyse a range of Internet-related data and develop innovative and beautiful ways to visualise them.

It is important to understand who produces and reproduces, who has access to, and who  and where are represented by information in our contemporary knowledge economy. Building on existing work conducted at the Oxford Internet Institute, this project proposes a comprehensive mapping of contemporary geographies of the Internet using both primary and secondary data (examples of data that we propose to map include geographies of academic journals, intellectual property imports vs. exports, patents, Wikipedia edits and contributions, networks of Twitter mentions and followers, Facebook users, information takedown requests, contested articles in Wikipedia, content indexed in Google etc.).

This one-year project will be divided into four stages. First, we will bring together and start collecting all necessary data. While some of the data are readily available in existing and open datasets, others require the creation of custom scripts and data collection tools. Second, we will use GIS and statistical packages to comprehensively analyse the data. Third, we will create visually appealing and state-of-the-art graphics and maps that clearly convey the geographies of access, information production, and information representation. Finally, we will broadly disseminate this work in a variety of open and accessible formats including free and interactive ebooks, an interactive website, a printed atlas, and academic journal articles. There may also be opportunities to gain teaching experience in some of the methods classes offered at the OII.

Candidates should have a keen interest in the geographies of the Internet, a passion for visualising and disseminating results, and an exemplary record of creative activity or scholarly research. The successful applicant will demonstrate an ability to collect online data with scripting tools, analyse large datasets with GIS tools, and visualise results in both static and interactive formats. 

We welcome applications from candidates who are additionally keen to design a future research programme in Internet Geographies in order to extend the position. Based at the Oxford Internet Institute, this position is available immediately for 12 months in the first instance, with the possibility of renewal thereafter funding permitting. 

For more details, please check out the application link and related job description and selection criteria:

https://www.recruit.ox.ac.uk/pls/hrisliverecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=105781

Please also feel free to get in touch with any questions about the position. 

Relevant links:

Internet Geographies OII project page

OII Visualisation site

Our floatingsheep.org blog

Recent academic publications

Recent Guardian contributions

Hiring a part-time research assistant to do statistical, spatial, and social analysis

Mark is hiring a part-time Research Assistant to carry out research into the geography and social structure of Wikipedia in the Middle East and North Africa through large-scale data analysis. The position will involve the analysis of the corpus of Wikipedia text, user-pages and history files and the use of statistical techniques to explain spatial and social patterns. Our research question focuses on patterns of representation on Wikipedia as well as an articulation of patterns of conflict and barriers to participation.

The successful candidate will manage and perform queries on a large database, statistically and geographically analyse and visualise results, explore alternate methods to answer the project's core research questions, and assist in writing academic papers and technical reports.

Essential attributes:
• A graduate degree or postgraduate training in quantitative social science. Preference will be given to candidates in geography or sociology;
• Experience with statistical modeling, particularly regression analysis;
• Experience working with databases and large datasets (i.e. N > 1 million);
• Familiarity with GIS software;
• Familiarity with social network analysis software;
• Ability to work autonomously and be creative in the ways that you answer research questions.

Desirable attributes: 
• Experience visualising statistical, social networks and geographic data;
• Experience with text mining;
• Experience writing for an academic audience (i.e. journal articles and book chapters);
• Interest in and enthusiasm for the work of the OII;
• Experience working with publicly available secondary datasets.

The deadline for applications is June 1. Please get in touch with Mark if you have any questions.

(link to apply is here)

Links to our relevant Wikipedia projects:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/projects/?id=66
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/projects/?id=70

Random map from the project:

Hiring a Research Assistant (or Postdoc) to work on a Project to Study the Impact of Broadband Internet in East Africa

Mark is currently hiring a 28 month Research Assistant (or Postdoctoral Research Fellow) to work on an ESRC-DFID funded project titled "The Promises of Fibre-Optic Broadband: A Pipeline for Economic Development in East Africa."

Employing case-studies, interviews, surveys and textual analysis in Kenya and Rwanda, this project examines the expectations and stated potentials of broadband Internet and compares those expectations to on-the-ground effects that broadband connectivity is having in three economic sectors: tea production, ecotourism, and business process outsourcing.

Applicants should have a graduate or postgraduate qualification in one of the social sciences, experience of social science research, and be willing to conduct extended fieldwork in East Africa. The successful candidate will be able to take a lead in project management, data collection and analysis, and the dissemination of results.

Based at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, this position is available from 1st October 2011 for 28 months in the first instance, with the possibility of renewal thereafter funding permitting. It may be possible to hire at Postdoctoral Research Fellow level given the right candidate.

Full job details and online application are available at this link. Salary £25,751 - £30,747 p.a.
More details about the project available here.

Please share this position widely and feel free to get in touch with any questions about the position or the application procedure.