Aaron Swartz Fellowship in Technology and Humanities at Blinken OSA

Each year, the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (Blinken OSA) at Central European University, one of the initiators of the Open Access Movement, offers a Fellowship to honor the work, legacy and memory of our friend, Aaron Swartz. The Fellow will be awarded $10,000 for a period of 3 months, to conduct their research at the Blinken OSA in Budapest. The Fellowship starts on September 1, 2019.

The focus of the Fellowship is on developing (collaborative) intellectual or technological tools that help in validating the authenticity and integrity of factual claims, digital or digitized documents, scholarly or legal evidence, or the validation of research in the networked environment of information. Applications are especially encouraged if the proposed projects would have one of the following aims:

• Redefining classical cataloging work with the help of emerging machine learning technologies (data classification, neural networks)
• Implementing a recommendation model
• Predicting the possible sufficient metadata towards automatic cataloging
• Generating a new kind of research experience through analysis of user behavior and usage statistics

Who can apply?

To be eligible for the Fellowship, applicants must have demonstrable results in technology and humanities. Holding a degree is not a prerequisite. The Fellowship will be awarded either to an unconventional technology expert early in their career, or a scholar or activist working at the intersection of humanities, social sciences and technology studies or technological solutions.

Applicants should have strong practical skills in developing technological tools to make knowledge and data broadly available to the public; hold an interest in challenging information management practices in libraries and archives; be ready to contribute to building innovative visual taxonomies or catalogs based on unorthodox ideas and challenging the control of information by governments and publishers to promote civil liberties and online activism.

How to apply?

Please send the following documents to the Blinken OSA at asf@ceu.edu no later than March 15, 2019, 11:59 p.m. CET.

• Motivation letter explaining the applicant's technology and research experience, and presenting a proposal for a new research or laboratory project to be completed during the term of the fellowship
• Curriculum Vitae
• One-page description of a laboratory workshop to be presented
• Two letters of recommendation

Late applications will not be considered. The Selection Committee will announce the Fellows in April 2019.