Call for Proposals: Senior Web Architect

Leonardo On-Line / Leonardo Electronic Almanac

Leonardo/ISAST (International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology) announces an opening for the position of Senior Web Architect. Leonardo/ISAST and its associated web sites, such as Leonardo Electronic Almanac (LEA), are preeminent resources for those interested in the intersection of art, science, and technology. The journal Leonardo, published by MIT Press, recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. The Leonardo/ISAST Board of Directors has decided to initiate a major effort to update its web sites and to explore Web 2.0 and other electronic possibilities. The board seeks proposals from those who would be interested in helping to lead this challenging effort.

Logistical and financial arrangements:

As Leonardo's web activities have no independent source of funding at this time, this position is not being offered as a paid position. The Board is seeking someone for whom this position would make sense in terms of career development, intellectual challenge, and passion to foster the intersection of art, science, and technology. It is estimated that Leonardo can offer an honorarium of $5,000 a year to cover expenses, including all technical and editorial assistance. The web site is hosted on Leonardo's web server. It is anticipated that whoever holds this position would have other sources of support and infrastructure (for example, from a university).

Overview of the position:

The position encompasses three realms of activity. The principal focus will be on:

1. Development of a visually and intellectually vibrant web-zine featuring art, analysis and news related to the intersections of art, science, and technology. In the last few years this function has been served by LEA (Leonardo Electronic Almanac).

2. Advice to the Leonardo/ISAST Board on new electronic and Internet projects and experiments that might be undertaken to further the organization's mission such as developing Web 2.0 efforts in contexts such as YouTube, MySpace, Second Life, Podcasts, etc.

3. Development of Leonardo/ISAST’s main web site portal. Leonardo's main web site must serve as a portal for all the information about the organization's publications and other activities. It also is the main link to all of the organization’s associated web sites such as Leonardo Digital Reviews, Leonardo Music Journal, etc. (see the list at the bottom of this call). These sites are each maintained autonomously so the senior architect would not have responsibility for their internal structure although ideas for coordination would be welcomed. Leonardo/ISAST anticipates engaging technical consultants to update the portal with automatic content insertion capabilities and other enhancements. The web architect will be invited to help shape that effort.

Design Issues:

The Leonardo/ISAST Board and its advisors have been debating new web directions and ideas. Below we list several of these issues. While we don't expect your proposal to address all of these issues, please include commentary on some of them in your response to this call for proposals.

- E-zine content / relationship to other web sites: What kinds of content would be useful and compelling for the art, science, and technology community? What other web sites that address these topics already exist? What unique niche should Leonardo's web site serve? Should the strategies employed by Leonardo Electronic Almanac be continued or changed?

- Funding: Like many organizations and web sites, Leonardo has not found a financially self-sustainable way to fund web-based activities. One idea being considered is to divide offerings into significant free material and premium material available only to users who pay a modest fee. Do you have other ideas for generating self-sustaining revenue?

- New Interactive Social Computing Opportunities: There are many Internet approaches circulating beyond simple web pages - for example, blogs, wikis, Second Life environments, podcasts, YouTube channels, Flickr, Linked-in, MySpace, news feeds, etc. Which of these make most sense for Leonardo/LEA? How might these become part of Leonardo's future activities?

- Synergies with other Leonardo resources: Leonardo is a major trusted institution. It maintains important archives of art/science activity. Its peer review system guarantees a high level of quality. Its book series publishes many of the most important books on these topics. Many international conferences seek to co-publish with Leonardo. As an example of synergies developed in the past, LEA's web-zine implemented activities such as chats with Leonardo book series authors, preprints of articles coming out in the journal, etc. What creative cross fertilizations might be implemented?

- Information Architecture: Leonardo-related activities and web sites are wide ranging. Some analysts have noted that Leonardo's web sites are hard to navigate. What design concepts could bring more understandable order to the portal?

- Streamlined Site Maintenance: Maintaining a wide-ranging site can be complex. New tools can help streamline the process - for example, automatic database linkages to web pages so that html is automatically written when new items are posted. What automated web authoring environments could be used to facilitate site maintenance?

Items to be included in proposals:

Please include the answers to the following questions in your response:

1. What is the nature of your interest and experience with the intersection of art, science, and technology? What is relevant in your background? What previous activities have you been involved with?

2. What is your experience with web site design and maintenance? What sites have you been involved with? What were your roles? What accomplishments are you most proud of? Please provide links.

3. What strategies would you propose for dealing with some of the design issues listed above? What is your vision of a Leonardo web site? What new initiatives interest you the most?

4. What infrastructure and support structures do you have that would help in undertaking this work?

5. Please include your curriculum vitae and 3 references (with contact info).

Proposals are due December 1, 2008.
Email them to Web Architect Search: search@leonardo.info

List of Leonardo related sites:

Leonardo On-Line (main site) http://www.leonardo.info/
Leonardo Electronic Almanac (LEA) http://leoalmanac.org/
Leonardo Music Journal http://www.leonardo.info/lmj/
Book Series http://www.leonardo.info/isast/leobooks.html
Leonardo Reviews http://www.leonardo.info/ldr.html
Olats (l'Observatoire Leonardo pour les Arts et les Techno-Sciences) http://www.olats.org/
Leonardo Transactions (pre-print server) http://www.leonardo.info/transactions.html
Leonardo Abstracts Service (LABS) thesis abstracts - several languages http://www.leonardo.info/isast/journal/calls/labsprojectcall.html
Leonardo Education Forum (LEF) http://artsci.ucla.edu/LEF/; http://www.leonardo.info/isast/lef.html
Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) series http://www.leonardo.info/isast/laser.html

Working Groups

Leonardo Space and the Arts Working Group
The YASMIN discussion group
The Scientists Working Group