Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Another Summer (not free) Excursion with Scholarship Opportunities

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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Course Evaluations: Can AnthSoc Win the ResponseRate Challenge?

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Dear Sociology and Anthropology Students,

The deadline for online course evaluations is almost upon us!

Course evaluations really do matter.  It's a place where you get your say and can tell it like it is.  And we do actually listen.  Your instructors don't get to see the results until after grades are submitted, of course, but each of us looks forward to the feedback as we plan how to teach in coming semesters.  Here are mine over time if you'd like to have a look.

Evaluations are VERY especially extremely important for part-time instructors as it is a factor in whether they get hired to teach at Mills in the future.  

Please take a few minutes and evaluate each of your courses.  Can you help to make our department the one with the highest response rate on course evaluations?  

We thank you in advance.

Dan

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Upcoming Events

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Wednesday, Dec 4th

Sociology Senior Thesis Showcase
4:00-6:00 in GSB 110 

Come hear presentations about conscious consumption, transgender fashion, changing attitudes toward birthing, Latino college students, race and class disparities in health outcomes, and online urban legends!
We will have food and celebration! Everyone is welcome!

Thursday, December 5

Barbara Voss, Anthropology @ Stanford Univ.
"Postcolonial and Queer Perspectives on the Archaeology of Sexuality"
6:30-7:30 pm, GSB 110, snacks served


Wednesday, Dec 11th

End-of-the-Semester Party!
Enjoy dinner, dessert and fun with the 
Sociology & Anthropology Department
Take a break from studying and join us!
All are welcome, bring a friend!

Monday, December 2, 2013

Another Possibility: Grad School in Europe

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This particular program requires a masters (as do many), but it's worth getting programs like this on your radar screen of possibilities.  European PhD programs are often a lot more streamlined and focused than conventional US programs.

The European University Viadrina (EUV) and the German Graduate School of Management and Law (GGS) are inviting applications for six PhD positions starting in April 2014 in their joint Doctoral Program in Dynamic Capabilities and Relationships (www.dcr-research.eu).
6 PhD Positions (Fully-Funded for 3 Years)
The aim of the doctoral program is to create knowledge about how organizations achieve and sustain competitive advantage in rapidly changing environments through the development of critical competences in relationship with other organizations and stakeholders.
What can you expect from the PhD program?
  • You will be thoroughly educated as a management or marketing scholar.
  • This is a structured PhD program. You have the opportunity to complete your degree within three years, part of which is training and part of which is work on your own dissertation.
  • This is an international program and the language of instruction and coursework is English. You will be able to interact with the international research community at leading conferences and other research forums (e.g., summer schools).
  • You will spend the first semester at EUV in Frankfurt (Oder) near Berlin and the second semester at GGS in Heilbronn near Stuttgart. Subsequently, you may choose between either one of the two locations.
What do we offer?
  • A monthly scholarship based on the guidelines of the German Research Foundation (www.dfg.de). This corresponds to about 1,300 Euros per month.
  • A laptop and access to the research software required for your work.
  • A personal research budget to fund participation in conferences and workshops.
  • The opportunity to develop your own research project in the area of dynamic capabilities and relationships.
What do we expect from you?
  • A Master’s degree (or equivalent) in business studies, social or behavioral sciences, or a related field.
  • Proficiency in English (some knowledge of German is beneficial, but not required).
  • Proven ability and drive to conduct an independent research project and to contribute to the overall efforts of the research group.
  • The submission of a complete application package (see http://www.dcr-research.eu/index.php/application for details).
The closing date for applications is January 6th, 2014. For further information and to get some insights into the program from current PhD students, please contact Peggy Zimmer at pzimmer@europa-uni.de or +49-335-5534-2362.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

It's that time of the year...

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Bryan Garner's LawProse.org Blog is a great source of writing advice. You can subscribe and get a daily email with some useful info that will improve your writing. With the end of the semester coming, you'll likely be in paper writing mode soon if not already. Garner's posts will help you write with less frustration and fewer mistakes. Here is a sample post.

Lesson #144:
Less vs. fewer
     Use fewer when referring to individual or countable things {fewer than ten chairs} {fewer questions asked by judges}. Use less when referring to volume, quantity, or degree {less influence on the jurors}, mass or bulk nouns {less water in the glass}, or units of measure or time {less than three ounces} {less than five months}.


     There is one exception: use less when count nouns are really being used as amounts instead of individual increments {he has less than one million dollars} {we have less than two minutes of rebuttal time}.

     Sometimes it can be a close call whether something is a mass noun or a count noun. Take, for example, a percentage: should it be less than 10% of the shareholders voted or fewer than 10% of the shareholders voted? A percentage could be something counted or a collective mass noun like money. I preferless than 10% of the shareholders because most percentages aren't whole numbers anyway, and lessis less formal in tone than fewer.

     One more point: it's redundant to say *a fewer number because the idea of number is included in the meaning of fewer (a smaller number) {*a fewer numberof managers}. Say a smaller number when referring to numbers specifically; otherwise, prefer fewer (standing alone) {fewer managers}. That uses fewer words -- and less space.

     Countables take fewer {fewer people} {fewer delegates} {fewer documents}. But compare "fewer than six pennies in my pocket" with "less than six cents in my pocket." Pennies are distinct things, butsix cents denotes an amount.

     Noncountable mass nouns take less {less power} {less documentation} {less than 50 years ago} {less than $100 in his wallet} {less of a burden}.

     You'll usually find it easy to apply these rules. You'll make fewer mistakes and commit them less often.


Sources:

  • Garner's Modern American Usage 351, 507-08  (3d ed. 2009).
  • Garner's Dictionary of Legal Usage 359, 538  (3d ed. 2011).
  • The Chicago Manual of Style § 5.220, at 288,  (16th ed. 2010).
  • The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style § 12.3, at 277 (3d ed. 2013).
  • The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 106 (2013).
  • Wilson Follett, Modern American Usage: A Guide 150-51 (Barzun ed. 1966).
  • R.W. Burchfield, The New Fowler's Modern English Usage 294-95 (3d ed. 1996).

Monday, November 25, 2013

Computation, Journalism and the Future of News Panel Discussion

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Here's an interesting event at Stanford that may be of interest, with folks from Stanford's journalism and computer science departments along with the inventor of Google News talking about the future of journalism:

Computation, Journalism and the Future of News Panel Discussion


A panel discussion featuring:
  • Jure Leskovec, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, Stanford
  • Krishna Bahrat, Distinguished Research Scientist, Google, Inc.; Founder, Google News
  • Jennifer LaFleur, Senior Editor, Data, Center for Investigative Reporting
  • James T. Hamilton, Hearst Professor of Communication; Director, Journalism Program, Stanford
Introductory remarks by Brown Institute Director, Prof. Bernd Girod, and moderated by Brown Institute Assoc. Director, Prof. Ann Grimes.  Sponsored by the David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation and the Jordan S. Knight Fellowship Program.
When:Tuesday, December 3, 20134:15 PM.  Reception to follow.
Where:Clark Auditorium, Clark Center, 318 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA (Reception to follow in the Nexus Cafe) (Map)
Sponsor:Sponsored by the David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation and the Jordan S. Knight Fellowship Program.
Admission:Event is open to the public, but for logistical planning the organizers please request a RSVP via http://bit.ly/1gOy1Nz

Friday, November 15, 2013

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Mills Students Use Cartographic Skills to Aid Typhoon Recovery Effort

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2013-11-12_20-54-01.png
Crowd Source Mapping at Mills
Fifteen Mills College students spent part of Tuesday afternoon lending a hand to the post-typhoon recovery effort in the Philippines, but they never left campus. They were not holding a food drive or collecting donations; they were making maps. 

Using a tool called "Open Street Maps" they were transferring data from aerial photographs to a mapping database that can be accessed by workers on the ground in areas devastated by the recent typhoon. By the end of the afternoon they had contributed hundreds of new features to the OpenStreetMaps database.

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The "Task Manager"
OpenStreetMap is a sort of Wikipedia for geospatial information - the stuff we see on maps from roads and rivers to building footprints and utility lines. It is a software platform that makes it possible for people anywhere in the world to update the maps with data from their GPS devices or from doing field work by walking around their neighborhood and then makes it possible for anyone else in the world to access that data. 

In response to the typhoon, OpenStreetMap contributors created a wiki page that provides access to existing maps and tools and they use a tool called the "Task Manager" to identify needed mapping work. Volunteers log in and are given a task such as trace all the roads or building outlines in a village from aerial photography. They're shown a grid map that indicates what's already been done and what task is next. The software keeps track of who is working on what, which areas are ready to be checked over by other volunteers, and which areas are highest priorities.

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Map Edits by Mills Student NM
The Mills students have learned how to contribute to OpenStreetMap as a part of their work in a sociology class with an unwieldy name: "Geographic Information Systems and Sociological Geography." One of the themes of the class is the use of and contribution to open source projects like OpenStreetMap. Rather than the expensive software usually used in courses like this, the Mills class makes use of Quantum GIS an open source software project built by a team of programmers from around the world.

Typhoon Haiyan, also known as Typhoon Yolanda, struck the central Philippines on November 8. Its sustained winds of up to 195 mph with gusts of 235 mph have been called the worst weather event ever recorded. At this writing the death toll is reported to be over 2,000 with the destruction from wind, floods, and ocean waves including entire towns.

The OpenStreetMap project is one of many "crowd sourced mapping" efforts. Others include Ushahidi,  Sahana, CrisisMappersGoogle.orgINSTEDD. The UN even organized an international meeting "Crowdsource Mapping for Disaster Risk Management and Emergency Response" held in Vienna in 2012. Crowd-sourced mapping is an example of "peer production" or "mass collaboration" in which software platforms permit people around the world to cooperate to produce a joint product.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Sunday, November 3, 2013

FULLY FUNDED CONFERENCE at Harvard's Kennedy School

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Public Policy and Leadership Conference


What is the Public Policy and Leadership Conference?
The Public Policy and Leadership Conference (PPLC) is designed to inform students about careers in the public sector. The conference will encourage students who possess a commitment to public service to prepare for graduate study in public policy and international affairs, as well as to provide information on financial support through various fellowship programs.

Why Attend PPLC?
Harvard Kennedy School will be offering its fourteenth annual spring conference for first and second year undergraduate college students who are interested in pursuing professional careers in public service. These include careers in federal, state or local government, and work in the nonprofit sector or in international agencies. Our goal is also to provide information on various fellowship opportunities. To find out more about individual fellowships, please visit our resources page.

Who Attends PPLC? The conference aims to attract students from groups under-represented in public policy and international affairs in an effort to increase the diversity of students receiving these professional degrees. The conference will help prepare future leaders for study in public policy, particularly those from historically under-served communities and people of color. Participants receive paid travel, accommodations, and meals. Please note that the conference is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents in their first or second year of undergraduate studies only.

Selection Criteria
Conference participants will be selected based on good academic standing, as well as demonstrated commitment to public service. Commitment to public service will be measured through student leadership and activism, participation in the civic aspects of school or community, and volunteer commitments in high school and college. Please include this information on your resume.

Learn More

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Tutoring High School Kids for Cash

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PAID Internship Opportunity: Apply to be a mentor with CollegeSpring

CollegeSpring works with low-income high school students in the Bay Area and Los Angeles by providing SAT prep and college counseling services. We are searching for dynamic college undergraduates who will join our team as Mentors for the 2014 Spring Semester. As a member o fCollegeSpring's staff, you will develop teaching and leadership skills, meet talented undergraduates, and make higher education a reality for high school students with low-income backgrounds. If you want to make a direct impact in the lives of high school students, you might be the person we're looking for!

To apply, Mentors and Interns must submit a resume and application on our website,www.collegespring.org by: 

 Friday November 8th 2013


Mentor responsibilities include: 
  • Lead groups of 3-5 students in SAT Writing, Critical Reading and Math tutoring
  • Guide students through the college admissions process
  • Collect and use student data to better improve students' SAT Reasoning scores
  • Collaborate with other undergraduate mentors and the professional teachers on site
  • Act as a role model for CollegeSpring high school students
  • Must be available for the entire spring semester (January-April) AND one week of training 
  • Must pass criminal background check and TB test
Time Commitment & Compensation:
  • Mentors are expected to commit 4 hours a week for fifteen weeks
  • Mentors receive $10/hour
  • Mentors are compensated for drive/travel costs

Questions???

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Stanford Journalism Goes Digital

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Stanford wants coding ninjas like you: Use tech chops to help journalists uncover hidden stories.

Right now, work at Stanford University and in the broader Silicon Valley is changing the way stories are discovered, told, and transmitted. That’s why the Stanford Journalism Program -- based in the heart of Silicon Valley -- will develop data analysis and visualization tools, partner with media and technology companies around content creation, and lead research and instruction in computational journalism.
You don't need to be a journalist. You just need the hunger to code for the mission of keeping society informed and holding the powerful accountable.

We’re leading the charge with an interdisciplinary approach to innovation, bringing digital journalists together with computer scientists, data experts, and media industry leaders. Our nine-month master’s program is fast-paced and focused with 15-16 students a year.

If you’re interested in joining us as we reengineer the future of media, please visit http://journalism.stanford.edu for more information or join us at our Nov. 6 open house.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Ph.D. program in Media, Technology and Society

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The Graduate School at Northwestern University is seeking exceptional applicants to join the Ph.D. program in Media, Technology and Society (MTS) to start in Fall 2014. The Media, Technology, and Society (MTS) doctoral program is an innovative, interdisciplinary, and flexible curriculum focusing on the dynamic media and technology environment and its impact. The program encourages students to pursue their passion by designing individualized programs of study that incorporate relevant classes from across Northwestern University. The program faculty are internationally renowned for their research in areas such as:

  • Children’s development 
  • Digital media use and effects 
  • Health and well-being 
  • Human-computer interaction 
  • Innovation and change 
  • Media institutions 
  • Networks and organizing 
  • Social media 

The MTS faculty undertake research in these areas using a wide array of traditional and innovative research methods. In addition, they actively pursue opportunities to make positive economic, cultural, and social impact through their research in businesses, nonprofit, and government agencies.

MTS is a vibrant and growing program at Northwestern. Six new professors --Jeremy Birnholtz, Aymar Jean Christian, Amy Shirong Lu, Anne Marie Piper, Aaron Shaw and Michelle Shumate-- have joined our core faculty a year ago, which also includes Pablo J. Boczkowski, Noshir Contractor, James Ettema, Darren Gergle, Wendy Griswold, Eszter Hargittai, Paul Leonardi, Jennifer Light, Barbara O’Keefe, Daniel O’Keefe, Janice Radway, James Schwoch, Ellen Wartella, James Webster, and D. Charles Whitney.

In addition, our highly active student body hosts InfoSocial, an annual international conference for graduate student scholarship in the area of media, technology and society. As we continue to grow, we seek to recruit students from a variety of backgrounds in social and behavioral sciences, human-computer interaction, humanities, and historical and cultural studies.

We are particularly interested in students who can thrive within an interdisciplinary environment, and bring to their graduate education a passion for research and innovation. Deadline for application to the next academic year is December 1st, 2013. For more details on the program, faculty, and admissions requirements see: http://mts.northwestern.edu If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the program director, Pablo J. Boczkowski.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Looking for Something to Do This Weekend?

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Check out the East Bay Mini-Maker Faire

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Program Assistant | Measure of America

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See Full Listing at SSRC.ORG

Summary

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is an independent, international nonprofit organization devoted to the advancement of interdisciplinary research in the social sciences through a wide variety of workshops and conferences, fellowships and grants, summer training institutes, scholarly exchanges, research, and publications. Measure of America (MOA) is seeking a Program Assistant to join a small but dynamic team. The Program Assistant supports the development of research and advocacy publications, contributes to writing for research briefs as well as social and traditional media, coordinates project activities, and maintains the project’s records and budgets.

Description

Measure of America is an initiative of the Social Science Research Council founded in 2007 and dedicated to stimulating fact-based public debate about and bringing political attention to issues of well-being and access to opportunity in the United States. The project’s hallmark is its human development approach, focusing on equity, sustainability, and a rights-based framework for understanding human progress. MOA published the first-ever human development report for an affluent country, Measure of America, in 2008 (Columbia University Press), a second volume in 2010 (NYU Press), and a third volume online this year. In addition, MOA has produced a series of state and county human development reports and several thematic research reports and interactive online map programs, and it conducts research for other organizations on social justice and human rights-related issues. More information about the project is available at www.measureofamerica.org.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in sociology, political science, statistics, economics or interdisciplinary or a related field.
• Excellent writing skills, including the ability to produce written work for external audiences and to proofread others’ work. School newspaper or other journalism experience very desirable.
• Demonstrated research skills, familiarity with principles of social scientific inquiry, and the ability to work with data.
• Demonstrated ability to compile, organize, and perform basic analysis of quantitative data related to social, environmental, and/or economic issues. Familiarity with a statistical package (SPSS/SAS/STATA/R) a plus.
• Previous work experience with, or knowledge of, American social policy a plus.
• Attention to detail, flexibility, professionalism, critical thinking, and independence.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Planning Camp in Oakland this Saturday

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Planningcamp.org is an unconference exploring urban planning, technology, and social change.

This Saturday (Oct 12th), Urban Strategies Council and OpenPlans are excited to bring PlanningCamp to Oakland and the East Bay!  Be there on October 12th if you're working at the intersection of technology and the hard effort of making better cities -- on the technology side, or the planning side, or a bit of both.

To be held at Laney College.

Here are a few of the sessions form the NYC PlanningCamp to whet your appetite:
  • NACTO urban street design guide: How do we change the DNA of city streets?
  • Gentrification of the waterfront after Sandy in Nook.
  • Digital Deserts (infrastructure + adoption + literacy)
  • Participatory Budgeting: how can we keep the bad ideas out?
  • How can technology build social capital and economic opportunities for low income communities? (brainstorm)
  • Lost in Translation—>tools to increase participation among immigrant communities
  • Carshare & self driving cars: How do we repurpose the street?
  • Measuring the Quality of Bicycle Infrastructure.

PlanningCamp Bay Area will take place at Laney College in the Forum Building, close
to E 10th St. We're just a block away from the Lake Merritt BART, close to AC Transit bus lines, and totally accessible by bike.

register at http://planningcampbayarea.eventbrite.com/

See also: openoakland.org

Thursday, October 3, 2013

UC Press Sidewalk Sale Next Week

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It’s back! The annual UC Press Sidewalk Sale (née Hurt Book Sale) is going down on the steps of Berkeley Way next Thursday, October 10. Snap up paperbacks like Seth Holmes’ Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States for $5 and hardcovers like Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu for just $10. Some books have little dings and scratches on them (which is why they’re “hurt”); others are like new. All books deserve a good home, we say. Arrive early for the best selection!

Monday, September 30, 2013

D Lab at Berkeley to Offer Intermediate R Workshops

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Intermediate R - 3 new #rstats training offerings Tuesdays in Oct & Nov dlab.berkeley.edu/training

Other workshops too.

Designers + Policy Analysis = Improved Public Conversation about Issues

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An interesting project that brings graphic designers together with policy analysts to improve public knowledge about important issues.

 

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Paid Internship in Program Evaluation at Wikimedia Foundation

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The team at the Wikimedia Foundation is looking to bring on an intern for 3-6 months part time (with potential for a full time internship depending on the work load). This is a paid internship. You'd be working closely with me and my teammate, Jaime. Please forward! 


Description:

The Wikimedia Foundation, the non‐profit organization behind Wikipedia and other free knowledge projects, is looking for an intern for the Programs Department. If you’re a current student of social sciences, have experience in evaluating programs or projects, and if you have a background in working with statistical data, we can provide you with an immersive in‐house experience over the course of three to six months. Interns selected would work half‐time at the Foundation’s downtown San Francisco office (we will also consider applications for full‐time work on a case‐by‐case basis).

What to expect:

This year, the Wikimedia Foundation started the Wikimedia movement’s first initiative on systematically evaluating the effectiveness and impact of different programs across countries. Programs include "Wiki Loves Monuments", a public photo competition around cultural heritage monuments, "Wikipedia Education Program", using Wikipedia as a teaching tool in universities around the world, Wikipedia Edit-a-thons and workshops, on-wiki contests, and a large number of other, volunteer-driven initiatives that aim at growing the amount of freely accessible online information. Our goal is to empower Wikimedia Chapters and individual volunteers to evaluate their own programs and programmatic activities in order to increase impact through ongoing analysis and shared learning.

As an intern to the Programs Department you would be

  • Extracting and summarizing data from evaluation reports;
  • Helping to coordinate data submissions by grantees (across different countries);
  • Creating data tables and graphs;
  • Participating in team meetings of the Program Evaluation and Design Team;
  • Learning about the diverse and international world of Wikipedia and its sister projects;
  • Getting insight into the many programs and projects created and executed by volunteers around the globe.

An ideal candidate has:

  • High energy for and commitment to the Wikimedia Foundation’s free knowledge mission.
  • The strong ability to analyze and synthesize quantitative and qualitative data from different sources, and proven ability to create simple, meaningful tables and graphs.
  • Exceptional verbal and written communication skills and interpersonal skills.
  • The ability to excel in a fast‐paced, multitasking environment that demands fast turn‐around.
  • Intellectual curiosity and flexibility that makes them enjoy tackling difficult and ambiguous problems in creative ways. Students with strong research backgrounds are preferred.
  • The ability to flourish in a highly transparent and collaborative environment and work on a team with diverse demographic and cultural characteristics.

This is a paid internship. When the opportunity exists, we will work with an intern’s university to facilitate earning academic credits.

Application Details:
Please submit a cover letter (including information about your possible start date) and a resume.

The Wikimedia Foundation values and promotes diversity. We invite applications from candidates regardless of race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, age, or disability.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Ethnography at Facebook

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Design & User Experience

Ethnographer

LocationMenlo Park, CA
Facebook aims to connect the world in a big way, across all cultures and creeds, cities and countrysides. And to do that successfully, we need to understand the unique character of all those communities: what Facebook means or could mean to each of them, what themes are common across them, what themes are unique to each, and how best to make our products and technology work for all of them. Come join a diverse and collaborative team of researchers who work to make the best social platform for Facebook’s billion+ users. For this position we are looking for an experienced ethnographer to help drive us towards this mission, where success rests largely on the careful understanding of its social, human element. The ideal candidate will have an extensive background conducting research, especially in international/developing markets.

Responsibilities

  • Partner with a diverse team to identify research topics
  • Design the strategy and methodology for ethnographic research relevant to all initiatives within Growth and Analytics
  • Generate insights that inspire design, improve the user experience, and help unlock the potential of Facebook
  • Work cross-functionally with design, product management, content strategy, engineering, and marketing
  • Understand the diverse cultural norms, needs, and perceptions present among these different communities. Seek opportunities to translate and raise awareness of these factors among internal teams, particularly where they defy conventional understanding.
  • Deliver actionable research insights that make the Facebook user experience measurably better

Requirements

  • 3+ years conducting ethnographic research
  • Command of a broad set of qualitative and user-centered design methods
  • Compelling verbal and visual communication
  • Ability to ask, as well as answer, meaningful and impactful questions
  • Experience working with design and product teams
  • Master’s or Ph.D. in Human Computer Interaction, Cognitive or Experimental Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology or a related field

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Summer Internship | Religion and the Public Sphere

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Summary

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC), an independent, nonprofit international organization devoted to the advancement of interdisciplinary research in the social sciences, seeks a summer 2013 intern for the Religion and the Public Sphere Program.

Description

The Religion and the Public Sphere Program aims to foster innovative research on questions concerning religion, secularism, and related themes, especially in regard to their impact on contemporary public life; to encourage exchanges and collaborations between scholars working on these and similar topics across disciplinary boundaries; and to inform and elevate public discourse by disseminating rigorous and research-based social science in an accessible form and through innovative and catalytic media.
The intern will assist with the Religion Program’s ongoing projects and digital forums, including The Immanent Frame and Reverberations, and will be expected to work at the SSRC’s Brooklyn Heights office for approximately twenty hours per week for three months (June–August). This is an unpaid internship, with a monthly stipend for travel and expenses.

Qualifications

Applicants should be current undergraduates or recent graduates in the social sciences or humanities, preferably with an interest in religion, and should have
• strong writing and editorial skills, as well as excellent organizational abilities and attention to detail;
• experience with publicity efforts, including through social networks; and
• proficiency with web publishing platforms and Internet resources (familiarity with HTML being a plus).

Responsibilities

• Work closely with program staff to help conceive and implement publicity efforts.
• Manage social networking and e-mail campaigns in promotion of noteworthy project developments, as well as regular Twitter and Facebook activity.
• Help expand and organize our academic, media, and public contact lists.
• Copyedit and edit according to the standards of the Chicago Manual of Style, the APA, the MLA, and other sources.
• Provide assistance with the day-to-day maintenance of The Immanent Frame and Reverberations.

Terms, Salary and Benefits

While this is an unpaid internship, we provide a monthly stipend for travel and expenses.

Application Information

Please send a resume and cover letter to applications@ssrc.org (with “Religion Summer Intern” in the subject line of your e-mail).
The SSRC is an equal opportunity employer.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Does Gender Cause Crime?

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The Institute for the Study of Societal Issues
presents
Lynn Chancer
Professor of Sociology, Hunter College

Class, Racism – But Does Gender also “Cause” Crime?: High Profile Crime Cases from Glen Ridge to Steubenville
Wednesday, April 17th
4:00-5:30pm
Wildavsky Conference Room
Institute for the Study of Societal Issues
UC Berkeley


Sociologists and criminologists have effectively shown how class stratification and racialization influence disproportionate crime rates as well as biases in the criminal justice system. On the other hand the structural effects of gender, and especially of widespread ideologies associated with masculinities, are less widely identified as (insidious) ‘causes’ – or at least influences on – a number of gender-skewed violent crimes. Many scholars have written about gender and crime, and yet gender-based analyses arguably remain marginal to the heart of many criminological investigations – inside academia but, even more strikingly, inside the worldview of criminal justice analysts and practitioners. To develop this argument, I tap previous work of my own on high-profile crime cases while incorporating well-known recent incidents as well.

Lynn S. Chancer is Professor of Sociology at Hunter College and a member of the doctoral faculty at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She has written four books including Sadomasochism in Everyday Life: Dynamics of Power and Powerlessness (Rutgers University Press, 1992), Reconcilable Differences: Confronting Beauty, Pornography and the Future of Feminism (University of California Press, 1998) and High Profile Crimes: When Legal Cases Become Social Causes (University of Chicago Press, 2005), as well as many articles on gender, crime and culture. She is currently working on a book on contemporary feminist issues and an edited collection on The Psychic Life of Sociology.

This event is free, wheelchair accessible, and open to the public. For wheelchair access please call 642-0813 one day prior to the event. Light refreshments will be served.

For more information, call the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues at 510-642-0813 or email isscucb@gmail.com.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Talk at Mills: "I Can Bank Online; Why Can't I Vote Online?"

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Please join us for a fascinating talk by Dr. Barbara Simons, an eminent computer scientist and an expert on electronic voting.

"I Can Bank Online; Why Can't I Vote Online?"
Thursday, April 11 ~ 4-5 PM
NSB 215  ~  Refreshments will be served

There is a widespread perception that Internet voting is the wave of the future and a way to save money while increasing voter participation, especially by young people. There is also strong pressure to adopt Internet voting in the U.S. for voters with disabilities and for members of the military and civilians living abroad. Consequently, Internet voting is currently being deployed in some states and considered by others.

Do you know what your state is doing? Do you think you can bank online? Come and find out!

This event is free and open to the public.
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Dr. Simons recently published "Broken Ballots: Will Your Vote Count?," a book on voting machines co-authored with Douglas Jones. She was appointed to the Board of Advisors of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission in 2008 by Sen. Harry Reid, and she co-authored the report that led to the cancellation of the Department of Defense?s internet voting project (SERVE) because of security concerns. A former Association for Computing Machinery President, Simons co-chaired the ACM study of statewide databases of registered voters. She also co-authored the League of Women Voters report on election auditing.


Simons, who is retired from IBM Research, is the only woman to have received the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award from the College of Engineering at U.C. Berkeley. She is a Fellow of ACM and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and she has received several awards, including the Computing Research Association Distinguished Service Award and the Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award.


Sponsored by the Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science and the Office of Graduate Admissions.


For further information, please contact Prof. Susan Wang: wang@mills.edu