Sanskrit Library Assistant

[Peter Scharf]

The digital Sanskrit library in the Department of Classics at Brown  
University seeks a post-doctoral research associate for one year to  
assist in an NEH-funded project entitled, "Enhancing Access to Primary  
Cultural Heritage Materials of India."  The position carries a stipend  
of $25,000 for one year.

The Sanskrit Library is a collaborative project to make the heritage  
texts of India accessible on the web.  The project is building a  
digital Sanskrit library by integrating texts, linguistic software,  
and digital Sanskrit lexical sources.  This year the project is making  
digital images of manuscripts of the Mahābhārata and  
Bhāgavatapurāṇa housed at Brown University and the University of  
Pennsylvania, cataloguing them, and linking them with the  
corresponding machine-readable texts.  Extending the scope of  
linguistic software to these digital images serves as a pilot project  
to demonstrate the feasibility of doing so with manuscript images  
generally.

The research associate will work with the project director, software  
engineer, and student assistants on the following tasks:

--to mark manuscript page boundaries in machine-readable texts
--to develop word-spotting and automated text-image alignment techniques
--to develop conduits for simultaneous print, PDF, and html  
publication of the catalogue and other documents.

The position requires advanced training in Sanskrit, academic research  
skills, and expertise in XML.  Desirable additionally are some or all  
of the following: competence in the text-encoding initiative (TEI)  
standards, XSLT, HTML, CSS, TeX, Java, user-interface design, Perl,  
PhP, and server administration.  The applicant is expected to be  
creative and to able to work individually as well as to collaborate  
with technical personnel.

Brown University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity  
employer.  Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply.   
Apply by sending a resumé, a description of your relevant experience  
with links to products produced, a clear indication of your role and  
responsibility in their production (whether you are exclusively  
responsible or the manner and extent of your responsibility), and the  
names and contact information of three references to the project  
director (Peter Scharf) via email (scharf at brown.edu) with the subject  
heading, "Sanskrit Library Assistant," by 4 December 2009.

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Peter M. Scharf                           (401) 863-2720 office
Department of Classics             (401) 863-2123 dept.
Brown University
PO Box 1856                               (401) 863-7484 fax
Providence, RI 02912                Scharf at brown.edu
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Classics/people/facultypage.php?id=10044
http://sanskritlibrary.org/
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