The Allard Pierson Museum of Archaeology is part of the UvA heritage division
and the University Library, and closely collaborates with the Faculty of
Humanities on digital media in and around the museum and its extensive
collections of the civilizations of ancient Egypt, the Near East, the Greek
World, Etruria and the Roman Empire. Starting in February 2013, the Allard
Pierson Museum and the department of Media Studies of the Faculty of
Humanities participate for four years in the EU-FP7 funded project on
"Material EncounterS with Cultural Heritage" (meSch) as part of an
international consortium.

  
Project Description

  
The core problem underlying all digital artifacts is the loss of materiality
which is crucial to the appreciation of traditional cultural heritage: how to
make digital artifacts tangible in ways that transfer the feeling of
materiality, authenticity, or "aura"? The Material EncounterS with digital
Cultural Heritage (meSch) project will design, develop and deploy tools that
connect the physical experience of museums and exhibitions with relevant
digital cross-media information in novel ways - allowing visitors to "touch
the story." A wealth of digital cultural heritage content is available in on-
line repositories and archives. However, this rich context is accessible in
limited ways and remains separated from the traditional exhibition of objects
inside the museum. MeSch will bridge the gap between visitors' cultural
heritage experience on-site and on-line by providing a platform for the
creation of tangible smart exhibits. This includes an authoring toolkit that
enables heritage professionals to compose physical/digital narratives to be
mapped to interactive artifacts, which can be embedded into sensor-rich "smart
objects" that unlock this information in physical smart exhibits. Three large-
scale case studies in different museums will provide test beds for the real-
world evaluation of meSch technology with the public and cultural heritage
stakeholders.

  
Position 1: Search and recommendation over rich data

  
The first candidate will contribute to the technical infrastructure of meSch,
and work on search and recommendation over rich museum data; enriching and
linking data to external (re)sources; customization and personalization; and
transaction log analysis.

  
Requirements

  
A research oriented master's degree (MSc or MA);

a strong background in: i) information retrieval, especially search and
recommendation, ii) semi-structured data, semantic annotation, and linked
data, iii) interactive information access;

solid programming skills are a must; and

research experience or demonstrable interest in cultural and scientific
heritage is a definite advantage.

  
Position 2: Case studies and evaluation

  
The second candidate will contribute to the deployment in a realistic museum
context, and work on suitable use cases, the design of the authoring
environment, extensive case studies with curators (back office) and visitors
(front office), evaluation strategies, and formative and summative evaluations
of meSch tools and the resulting smart exhibitions.

  
Requirements

  
A research oriented master's degree (MA or MSc);

a strong background in: i) digital heritage collections, ii) traditional
heritage descriptions, iii) access to (digital) heritage;

experience with museum and/or heritage collections is a must; and

research experience or demonstrable interest in presenting (digital) heritage
narratives is a definite advantage.

  
Job Description

  
The candidates are expected to:

complete and defend a PhD thesis within the official appointment duration (see
text below);

regularly present intermediate research results at international workshops and
conferences, and publish them in proceedings and journals;

collaborate with the other researchers in the meSch project and in the
university;

participate in the organization of research activities and events at the
Allard Pierson Museum such as exhibitions, conferences, workshops and joint
publications;

assist in teaching activities of the Faculty of Humanities.

The meSch consortium consists of 12 partners: DEN (Netherlands), Fondazione
Bruno Kessler (Italy), Museo Storico Italiano della Guerra (Italy), Museon
(Netherlands), Sheffield Hallam University (UK, coordinator), University
Carlos III Madrid (Spain), University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), University
of Limerick (Ireland), University of Strathclyde (UK), University of Stuttgart
(Germany), Waag Society (Netherlands), and eCTRL Solutions (Italy). The PhD
candidates will actively collaborate with researchers across Europe, and we
envisage visits to other partners on a regular basis.

  
Appointment

  
The PhD candidates will be appointed for 4 years for 0.8 fte. The salary for
the position (on a full-time basis) will be €2,042 during the first year
(gross per month) and will reach €2,612 during the fourth year, in accordance
with the CAO for Dutch universities.

  
Job Application

  
Applications should include a letter of motivation, a detailed curriculum
vitae, a publication list, and two letters of reference. Please submit your
application before 18 January 2013 by clicking "Apply Now" below. Make sure to
quote the vacany number and the specific position you are applying for.

  



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