Missions

The position's general aim is to support technological innovation and IT development initiatives that the MAP research unit will implement as part of its contribution to the European PlaceMus XR project. This project aims to create cutting-edge digital content and tools that will enable renewed explorations of heritage 'musical places' in different European cities and gain a deeper understanding of their historical, cultural and artistic context.

Within this general framework, three complementary fields of activity covering the spectrum of the laboratory's actions in the project have been identified:
- Technological innovation in the acquisition, processing and multimodal exploitation of spatio-acoustic data.
- Exploration of sound-space transfer solutions (visualisation of sound data and sonification of architectural and contextual data) to be used in end products aimed at the general public as well as at disabled audiences (visually and hearing impaired).
- Development of web interfaces that exploit heterogeneous data sets at the territorial level (geovisualisation interface) but also at the spatial grain of building interiors (visual and acoustic simulation, information visualisation, etc.), including in the form of immersive devices.

Tasks to be carried out as part of the position involve the co-design, implementation and documentation of protocols for the acoustic characterisation of interior spaces (physical analysis) and exterior spaces (perceptual analysis of soundscapes). They also include a significant creativity component in order to steer the design and testing of digital solutions aimed at promoting a reinterpretation of space through sound. Finally, it includes applied IT development work, which is expected to result in research prototypes using web technologies, developed as part of the project but to be used beyond its duration.

Activités

• Scientific / technological watch in sonification and information visualisation for the experiential enhancement of heritage sites.
• Co-design and implementation of visual and acoustic data acquisition protocols.
• Selection, analysis and modelling of heterogeneous data sets (spatial, acoustic, historical, contextual data) relating to the application field (architectural and urban heritage).
• Creation and experimentation with sound and/or visual evocations targeting audiences with disabilities (visually impaired and hearing impaired)
• Development of research prototypes based on web technologies, in a multimodal approach to data and information.

Compétences

knowledge:
• Acoustic measurement, signal processing
• Computer Music,
• 3D sound methods and techniques
• Virtual reality, immersive multi-sensory systems
• Perceptual analysis of ambient sounds
• Web development
• Awareness of cultural heritage issues

know-how
• Steering the design and implementation of visual and acoustic data acquisition protocols
• Post-process the data acquired in situ with an aim to promote multi-modal, multisensory exploitations
• Develop, document, and, possibly, participate in technology transfer initiatives (web applications).
• Develop, conduct and analyse results of perceptual evaluation campaigns.
• Dealing with deadlines and team relations in a multi-partner project.

life skills
• Self-reliance, self-learning abilities
• Curiosity, open-mindedness
• Professionalism / Reliability
• Creativity / Innovative thinking
• Organisational skills
• Sense of initiative
• Listening skills
• Conceptualisation skills

Contexte de travail

The MAP research unit's scientific profile is positioned at the intersection of emerging interdisciplinary fields – heritage sciences and data science. Its activities focus on developing and testing solutions that stem from these fields but that are applied to – and questioned by - historical sciences and the cultural heritage. The unit's approach is characterised by an intermingling of issues related to objects of study (at different scales), methods and instrumentations; and the development of research prototypes (in the sense of software and IT tools, with a clear focus on open source developments).

The tasks assigned to the research engineer are to be implemented as part of the unit's contribution to the European PlaceMus XR project, which brings together eleven partners. They however will largely be carried out on a specific case study (the theme of organ music in the city of Krakow), in close collaboration with the consortium's Polish partner. They are partly based on the methodology and technology of two multi-partners research projects carried out in recent years in the MAP research unit, the Territographie and SESAMES projects.

Contraintes et risques

The research engineer will be asked to coordinate all actions that the unit wishes to implement as part of the PlaceMus XR project: the position therefore involves a significant amount of project management and coordination activities, and may include the supervising of staff hired on short-term contracts.

The research engineer will closely cooperate with two of the MAP research unit's senior researchers as well as with the unit's scientific mediator. Regular contacts and interactions with other actors and in particular with those in charge of data acquisition campaigns are likely (for their expertise in terms of protocolisation of these campaigns, but also in IT development and archiving).

The position is based in Marseilles, on the Joseph Aiguier campus of the regional delegation of CNRS (DR12), and possibilities of teleworking can be discussed.