Social Science PhD Internships at Microsoft Research (Spring & Summer 2011)
Microsoft Research New England (MSRNE) is looking for PhD interns to
join
the social media collective for Spring and Summer 2011. For these
positions, we are looking primarily for social science PhD students
(including communications, sociology, anthropology, media studies,
information studies, etc.). The social media collective is a
collection
of scholars at MSRNE who focus on socio-technical questions, primarily
from a social science perspective. We are not an applied program;
rather, we work on critical research questions that we believe are
important to the future of social science scholarship.
MSRNE internships are 12-week paid internships in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. PhD interns at MSRNE are expected to devise and
execute a
research project during their internships. The expected outcome of an
internship at MSRNE is a publishable scholarly paper for an academic
journal or conference of the intern's choosing. The goal of the
internship is to help the intern advance their own career; interns are
strongly encouraged to work towards a publication outcome that will
help
them on the job market. Interns are also expected to collaborate with
full-time researchers and visitors, give short presentations, and
contribute to the life of the community.
Topics that are currently of interest to the social media collective
include: privacy & publicity, online safety (from sexting to bullying
to
gang activities), transparency & surveillance, conspicuous consumption
&
brand culture, news & information flow, and locative media. That
said,
we are open to other interesting topics, particularly those that may
have
significant societal impact. While most of the researchers in the
collective are ethnographers, we welcome social scientists of all
methodological persuasions.
Applicants should have advanced to candidacy in their PhD program or
be
close to advancing to candidacy. (Unfortunately, there are no
opportunities for Master's students at this time.) While this
internship
opportunity is not strictly limited to social scientists, preference
will
be given to social scientists and humanists making socio-technical
inquiries. (Note: While other branches of Microsoft Research focus
primarily on traditional computer science research, this collective
does
no development-driven research and is not looking for people who are
focused on building systems at this time.) Preference will be given
to
intern candidates who work to make public and/or policy interventions
with their research. Interns will benefit most from this opportunity
if
there are natural opportunities for collaboration with other
researchers
or visitors currently at MSRNE.
PEOPLE AT MSRNE SOCIAL MEDIA COLLECTIVE
>
The collective is organized by danah boyd (http://www.danah.org) and
> includes postdocs Alice Marwick (http://www.tiara.org/) and Mike
Ananny
> (http://www.stanford.edu/~mja/). Full-time spring faculty visitors
will
> include Nicole Ellison of MSU (https://www.msu.edu/~nellison/) and
Mary
> Gray of Indiana University (http://www.indiana.edu/~qcentral/).
Summer
> full-time faculty visitors are TBD.
>
> Previous interns in the collective have included Amelia Abreu
> (UWashington information), Scott Golder (Cornell sociology), Alice
> Marwick (NYU media studies), Omar Wasow (Harvard African-American
> studies), Sarita Yardi (GeorgiaTech HCI). Previous and current
faculty
> MSR visitors to the collective include: Beth Coleman, Bernie Hogan,
> Christian Sandvig, Eszter Hargittai, Helen Nissenbaum, James
Grimmelmann,
> Judith Donath, Jeff Hancock, Kate Crawford, Karrie Karahalios, Lisa
> Nakamura, Nalini Kotamraju, Nancy Baym, and Tarleton Gillespie.
>
> If you are curious to know more about MSRNE, I suspect that many of
these
> people would be happy to tell you about their experiences here.
Previous
> interns are especially knowledgeable about how this process works. If
> you are going to AOIR in Gothenburg, danah, Alice, and Mike will all
be
> attending and happy to answer questions about the internship.
>
>
> APPLICATION PROCESS:
>
> To apply for a PhD internship with the social media collective:
>
> 1. Fill out the online application form:
> https://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/jobs/intern.aspx Make sure
to
> indicate that you prefer Microsoft Research New England.
>
> 2. Send an email to [log in to unmask] with the subject "PhD Intern
> Application" that includes the following four things:
> a. A brief description of your dissertation project.
> b. An academic article you have written (published or unpublished)
that
> shows your writing skills.
> c. A pointer to your website or other online presence (if
available).
> d. A short description of 1-3 projects that you might imagine doing
as
> an intern at MSRNE.
>
> We will begin considering internship applications on November 15 and
> consider applications until all social media internship positions are
> filled.
>
>
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