Missions

As part of the OSCARS "AMIS" (Advanced Metadata Intelligent System) project, the ARIANE Consortium-HN is recruiting a Digital Humanities Engineer. The ARIANE Consortium-HN (Analysis, Research, Artificial Intelligence, and New Digital Editions) is an interdisciplinary scientific network within the Huma-Num infrastructure. It brings together experts in the humanities (literature, linguistics, history, etc.) and computer science. The aim of this consortium is to create a collaborative space between these two fields, fostering methodological and epistemological advancements in the analysis of objects specific to text sciences. ARIANE's goal is to contribute to the design, adaptation, and refinement of digital tools currently applied to textual data in the humanities. The consortium's mission is to develop an interdisciplinary approach by combining digital humanities methodologies with advanced natural language processing technologies. It seeks to enhance the text analysis process using (semi-)automated tools, while creating a critical space for discussing the interpretation of results produced by these methods.

As part of the OSCARS "AMIS – Advanced Metadata System" project (https://oscars-project.eu/about-oscars), which aims to develop an assistant for the semi-automatic creation of metadata, the recruited engineer will be responsible for identifying and exploring the literary databases of the project's partners (Romania, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal). They will need to analyze the modeling of these data in order to provide the necessary information to the teams responsible for the development of the assistant. This analysis will guide the training of the models, based on the steps of extracting, analyzing, and integrating metadata. The engineer will prepare the necessary mappings to align heterogeneous data structures with the standard formats defined by the project, ensuring the consistency and compatibility of data across different partner systems. They will collaborate closely with the scientific and technical teams from each country to ensure the correct structuring of the data. The engineer may also test technical solutions to automate the metadata creation process as efficiently as possible, taking into account the specifics of each system, while ensuring the quality, consistency, and integrity of the data in accordance with the needs of the scientific experts.

In a later phase, they will contribute to drafting the project's technical documentation and participate in monitoring and updating the specifications for the "AMIS" application. This part-time position, initially, may be extended depending on the project's needs.

Activités

Main Activities

Data Analysis and Modeling
• Exploring Partner Databases: Identify and analyze the data structures used by the project partners (France, Romania, Spain, Italy, Portugal) to understand their metadata models and guide the development of the AMIS assistant.
• Preparing Metadata Mappings: Develop mappings to align heterogeneous structures with the standards defined by the project, ensuring interoperability between systems.
• Technical Integration Support: Collaborate with IT engineers to integrate these schemas into the AMIS architecture and participate in validation tests and optimization of the automated metadata processing.

Documentation and Technical Formalization
• AMIS Assistant Specifications: Contribute to drafting and updating the specifications document for the AMIS tool, including functional requirements, technical specifications, and use cases, in close collaboration with scientific and technical teams.
• Cataloging Ontologies and Thesauri: Maintain an up-to-date structured inventory of ontologies and controlled vocabularies used in partner corpora, ensuring their compatibility with FAIR principles and project standards.
• Technical Documentation of Tools: Write or update documentation for the components developed for AMIS, including technical specifications, data formats, and deployment instructions.

Support for Data Quality and FAIRification
• Assisting with Metadata Structuring: Support partners and data producers in improving the quality of their metadata by providing technical assistance with tools (e.g., MyNkl, Nakala) and organizing targeted support sessions.
• Developing Technical Guides: Produce best practice materials for structuring and integrating metadata, intended for project teams and end-users.

Co-supervision of Interns
• Contribute to supervising interns recruited from the various partner countries of the AMIS project. Guide interns in their tasks related to partner databases, verify data, and provide technical and methodological support to ensure the successful completion of their projects.

Compétences

 A sense of innovation, intellectual curiosity, strong communication skills, and technical support abilities
 Ability to work in an international and interdisciplinary context
 Proficiency in English and one of the project partner languages (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, or Romanian)
 Strong interpersonal skills, attention to detail, reliability
 Technical skills:
• Data processing and modeling: database analysis (structure, content, format), metadata modeling, creation of metadata mappings between heterogeneous schemas, data structuring and integration, information systems architecture applied to the humanities, knowledge of metadata standards in the field (Dublin Core, TEI, MODS, etc.), information systems engineering, data interoperability
• Digital Humanities & FAIRification: FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), ontologies, controlled vocabularies, and thesauri (alignment, usage, updating), tools for managing digital humanities data
• Technical documentation and project management: drafting technical specifications, documenting tools and processes, functional and technical specifications, formalizing use cases
• Specific technologies and tools: XML/TEI, JSON, RDF, scripting or data transformation languages (XSLT, SPARQL, Python), metadata extraction and processing tools, collaborative environments (e.g., Git, FAIR platforms, collaborative documentation tools)

Minimum of a Master's degree (or equivalent)
Proven background in Digital Humanities (Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD)

Contexte de travail

Work Location: MSHS Poitiers
Remote work possible
Frequent travel within France and potentially abroad is expected.

Contraintes et risques

/