Overview
Digital Scholarship Summer Graduate Internships are summer term paid graduate student appointments within the University Library System’s Digital Scholarship Services (DSS). This program provides designated time to gain experience in the skills of contemporary digital scholarship through project-based work and make a public presentation of their work. Additionally, the Graduate Interns will contribute to the operations of DSS, such as working with faculty and students, preparing for workshops, and assisting with outreach and engagement.
Blending work experience and professional development, Digital Scholarship Graduate Internships are intended to prepare students for success in digitally-inflected scholarly careers, both in the academy and beyond. They are designed to be a shorter and more independent experience than the Digital Scholarship GSA that runs through the fall and spring terms.
Details
Graduate Interns commit to work 20 hours a week during the summer term.
The specific work of each internship will be planned in cooperation between the Graduate Intern and members of the unit. The internship will center the Graduate Intern’s interests and learning goals related to digital scholarship, supported and structured by a cooperatively designed project. This project will emphasize one or more of the following:
- Use of library collections in digital scholarship
- Contribution to a digital project hosted by or affiliated with the library
- Further development of library support in digital scholarship
Past intern projects include:
Graduate Interns will make a public online presentation of their work at the end of the internship. Graduate Interns working on library-affiliated projects will receive public credit and recognition as contributors to these projects.
During the internship, DSS staff will provide Graduate Interns with individual or small-group training on digital scholarship skills, such as:
- Digital project management and collaboration tools
- Coding and Computational Methods
- Data Acquisition, Manipulation, Analysis, and Visualization
- Digital Storytelling
- Digitization and Digital Creation
- Mapping, Geographic Information Systems, and Spatial Analysis
- Multimedia and Web-based Scholarship
- Research Data Management
- Text Mining and Analysis
- Scholarly publishing: basics of copyright and licensing, principles of open scholarship
- Critical and ethical perspectives on Digital Scholarship
Supporting Resources
On-campus resources:
- The Open Lab @ Hillman provides support and resources to anyone in the Pitt community interested in incorporating emerging technology into their teaching or directly engaging in hands-on exploratory learning. Technologies in the Open Lab include 2D scanning, 3D scanning, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), 3D printing, vinyl cutting, laser cutting and engraving, virtual reality, and more. The Open Lab @ Hillman is a collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning.
- ULS Distinctive Collections including Archives and Special Collections, Frick Fine Arts Library, Finney Music Library, Center for American Music, and other collections of archival, unique, and/or specialized materials.
Online resources:
- ULS Digital Collections and Repositories include Historic Pittsburgh, D-Scholarship@Pitt (the university’s institutional repository), the Archive of European Integration, and the PhilSci Archive, and the Contemporary Chinese Village Gazetteer Data (CCVGD 数字村庄) project.
Eligibility
- Graduate student in any school at the University of Pittsburgh
- Completed at least two full semesters of graduate coursework
- Must be able to commit to a hybrid work schedule of 20 hours a week during the summer term
- May not hold any other university employment during the summer term. This includes stipend payments from the university paid over the summer. Speak with your graduate program administrator if you are unsure about your appointment status.
- No prior digital scholarship experience required
Hourly Rate
$20/hour, 20 hours per week May 22 – August 11, 2023
Application Instructions
Please answer the following questions (250-500 words each).
- Describe your research interests, including topics, methods, and approaches.
- Describe how you interact with and use digital tools or methods as a scholar or hobbyist. Alternatively, you can describe what you’d like to learn about using digital tools or methods.
- What library collection, project, or service would you like to investigate? You don’t need to have a fully conceptualized project but include some specifics of your interest, identify one or more digital methods that you might focus on, and explain why you made those selections.
- Describe how you might apply what you learn as a Digital Scholarship Graduate Intern to your own research.
Application submission:
Send your current CV and answers to the above questions via email, with the subject line “Digital Scholarship Graduate Internship”, to ULS-DigitalScholarshipServices@pitt.edu. The same email may be used for any questions about this Graduate Intern opportunity or the application process.
Priority will be given to applications received before March 31, 2023
