Job posting: Graduate Research Assistant
Research Project: Research in the Cloud
Supervisor: Dr. Mike Smit
Position Details:
- $15.00 per hour; 10 hours / week, Winter 2015 semester.
- Some flexibility in hours.
- Option to start as early as December 3rd
Tasks and Responsibilities:
The RA will investigate research questions related to how researchers in academic environments use, or wish to use, cloud resources (particularly cloud infrastructure, like data storage). The first stage of this new project is transitioning from the first high-level goal (“understanding research workflows”) to data collection and analysis. Activities will therefore include literature reviews, authoring data collection instruments and protocols, pilot testing with these methods, and preparing an ethics submission. Time permitting, the RA may also assist in recruiting research participants, promoting this research project, or disseminating research results.
The successful applicant will join existing RAs from other projects under the umbrella of Dr. Smit’s Emerging Technology & Information research. This particular project is funded primarily by NSERC, a federal research funding agency, through their Discovery grants. Students interested in the area of research data management are encouraged to apply; there is potential to align these tasks with a reading course (or thesis!) in this area.
Required skills
- Attention to detail and accuracy
- Ability to meet deadlines
- Communication skills at a professional level
- Ability to work independently; responsible.
- Critical thinking and analysis skills
- Enroled as a graduate student at Dalhousie University
Preferred Skills
- Interest in the subject.
- Familiarity and experience with research methods (on-the-job training provided).
- Experience with bibliographic software and/or the ethics process would be an asset.
Applications received by November 30, 2014 will be considered. Students may submit applications (CV and cover letter) or forward inquiries to:
Dr. Mike Smit
School of Information Management
Faculty of Management
e-mail: Mike.Smit@dal.ca
phone: 902-494-1901
SIM alumnus Geoffrey Allen featured in CLA’s 13 questions
SIM alumnus Geoffrey Allen is featured in the Canadian Library Association’s 13 Questions series
SIM alumnus Michael Groenendyk continuing his work in 3D printing
Read about Michael Groenendyk’s co-development of a tool that allows users to search by shape: http://bit.ly/1wluP47
IM Public Lecture: Dr. Kevin Absillis
The Information Management Public Lectures give attention to exciting advances in research and professional practice. The topics are diverse reflecting the importance and global extent of Information Management in today’s society. The lectures are open to all members of the Dalhousie campus and surrounding community. When feasible, recordings of the lectures are posted here for wider circulation. For the full schedule, visit the Public Lecture page of our website.
Why the Book is by Definition Better than the Film: The Utopian Significance of the Printing Press
Dr. Kevin Absil
lis
University of Antwerp
Lecture Details
Tuesday, November 4th from 1:00pm-2:00pm
Room 3089, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue
You can listen to the presentation here.
Abstract
It is remarkable that all major early modern utopias – from Thomas More’s Utopia (1516), to Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis (1624) and Tommaso Campanella’s The City of the Sun (1623) – explicitly pay tribute to the invention of the printing press. At least as remarkable is the fact that in 20th century dystopic fiction the destruction of books and the decline of the printing press are a crucial part of the nightmare they represent. One immediately thinks of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948), Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and, perhaps, of E.M. Forster’s short story ‘The Machine Stops’ (1909). This very motive is also taken up in a fair number of movies, e.g. Rollerball (1975, dir. N. Jewison), Minority Report (2002, dir. S. Spielberg), Equilibrium (2002, dir. K. Wimmer), V for Vendetta (2006, dir. J. McTeigh), The Book of Eli (2010, dir. Hughes Brothers). In my talk I will investigate this topical relationship between the printing press/books and utopian fiction in order to assess a by no means purely ‘fictitious’ fear that our so-called Gutenberg Galaxy is currently coming to an end.
Biography
Dr. Kevin Absillis is a faculty member in the Department of Literature at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He completed his PhD in literature and linguistics in 2008 with a dissertation on the history of the famous Belgian literary publishing house A. Manteau. The book resulting from this study, Vechten tegen de bierkaai. Over het uitgevershuis van Angèle Manteau, 1932-1970, was published in 2010 and was awarded the triennial Pil Van Gastel-prize for History in 2013. Dr. Absillis was a scientific consultant and researcher on the staff of the Flemish House of Literature and a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders before taking up an appointment at the University of Antwerp, where he has held a full-time tenure track position since 2013. He teaches courses on modern and contemporary Dutch literature, nationalism studies, book history, and literary studies. His research focuses on Flemish literature, Flemish and Dutch book history (19th-21st centuries), cultural nationalism in Flanders, and language ideology. Over the last few years he published several books, including Van Hugo Claus tot hoelahoep. Vlaanderen in beweging, 1950-1960 (Garant, 2007) dealing with Flemish cultural history in the 1950s; De manke usurpator. Over Verkavelingsvlaams (Academia Press, 2012) on language ideology; and Literatuurwetenschap en uitgeverijonderzoek (Academia Press, 2012) and De plicht van de dichter. Hugo Claus en de politiek (De Bezige Bij-Antwerpen, 2013). He has contributed numerous papers to academic journals as well as to newspapers and magazines. In 2012, for example, he wrote a four-part New Year’s essay for the Flemish leading newspaper De Morgen. Recently, he was the co-chair of the 22nd annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (SHARP) on the theme “Religions of the Book,” hosted by the University of Antwerp.