Job offering Knowledge Graph Engineer(s)/Digital Humanities Specialist(s) (60-80%)

(available in English only)

The Swiss Art Research Infrastructure (SARI) provides unified and mutual access to scholarly research resources in art history and related fields, including research data, digitised visual resources, and collection data from specialised research institutions, archives, collections, and museums across Switzerland. As part of the Swiss Roadmap of Research Infrastructures of National Relevance, SARIs mission is to combine the unique scholarly expertise from specialised research institutions nation-wide by providing access to a state-of-the-art research environment for teaching and research in the digital humanities.

For the expansion of our fast growing team we are seeking to recruit one or more

Knowledge Graph Engineer(s)/Digital Humanities Specialist(s) (60-80%)

to commence immediately or by agreement. The incumbent will be instrumental for the development of the fundamental research platforms of SARI as well as for project specific solutions such as »Bilder der Schweiz Online«.

The position involves the design and implementation of web based solutions for research environments, rich information platforms and editorial tools based on semantic data and historical images. This includes the analysis, cleaning, modelling, and transformation of cultural heritage data using common target ontologies (CIDOC-CRM, among others), the implementation of custom ETL-processes, as well as the harmonisation and management of numerous datasets across multiple partner institutions. The candidate will be, furthermore, expected to participate and cooperate in international consortia and projects and share the voice of the organisation and its use cases within the digital humanities/heritage community. The position includes:

• Management of semantic data, rich metadata, and digital assets
• Transformation, curation, and harmonisation of semantic data
• Evaluation and implementation of complex ETL-processes
• Leading technical and design discussions in regards of media integration
• Implementation of best practices for collection management using graph technology
• Definition and implementation strategies for interlinking distributed image collections
• Implementation of visualisation solutions for rich, image-centered data collection
• Creation and maintenance of the necessary documentation

The ideal candidate should have a background in the humanities (art history, history, alike) and/or information science (computer science, knowledge representation) as well as prior experience in the field of digital humanities. The candidate should be fluent in current methodologies adopted across the digital humanities and social science for the management of structural data and digital assets. A proven track record in the analysis, cleaning, modelling, transformation, and management of cultural heritage data as well as practical working knowledge of semantic technologies (RDF, RDFS, OWL, SPARQL) and image presentation technologies (IIIF) is essential. Proficient knowledge of domain specific ontologies (CIDOC-CRM, others) and fundamental web technologies (HTML5, CSS) as well as basic knowledge in one or more programming languages is considered a plus. A keen interest in and genuine understanding of historical research questions and methodologies as well as a strong affinity to cultural heritage data are mandatory.

Generous conditions of the University of Zurich apply. The contract will be initially limited to one year, with possibility of extension.

The window for applications has closed (deadline was July 12th 2020).