Transgender Digital Privacy and Security Analyst
Carleton University (Ottawa, ON)
Starting September 2021 (2 year program)
Applications accepted on a rolling basis.
Join the Trans Mediascapes Project!
The Trans Mediascapes team is seeking an incoming MA student to design and analyze approaches to digital privacy and security for the Transgender Media Portal.
Trans Mediascapes investigates the aesthetic, political, and cultural work of trans-made films in Canada and the US from the 1990s to today. To do this, we are building the Transgender Media Portal, a collaborative online database and website that combines features of IMDb and Wikipedia. The portal will: a) enable new ways of analyzing trans film production, distribution, and reception; b) engage trans arts communities and the public to collaboratively generate new knowledge about trans films; c) share information about trans-made films with educators, students, festival programmers, artists, activists, and the public; and d) model best practices in terms of academic/community digital partnerships and transgender digital security and privacy.
We are seeking an incoming MA student to design and analyze approaches to digital privacy and security for the portal.
Responsibilities may include:
- Researching transgender digital security and privacy concerns in academic literature and feminist, queer, and trans anti-online-harassment community groups and forums
- Researching technological, behavioral, and policy-based ways of addressing these concerns
- Writing up requirements and policy recommendations
- Helping design and run policy consultations with community members
We anticipate that a successful candidate might come from a variety of backgrounds, including film studies, gender studies, communications, social sciences, information technology, computer science, or computer security. In your application, please describe your relevant skills and experience and your particular interest in the project. Although we anticipate that the skills listed below will be useful in the project, they are not necessarily required and could be gained in the process of completing the degree.
Preferred skills and experience:
- Qualitative research skills
- Social sciences research methods
- Website design and evaluation
- Work with trans communities
- Experience with crowdsourced projects and community management
- Experience with Drupal or similar content management systems
Compensation & Duration:
- The position will provide funding for the duration of a two-year Masters program (assuming the student maintains good standing in the program).
- This position is for up to 200 hours of work per academic year (up to ~$9,000/year). It will be compensated at the CUPE 2626 graduate TA rate (currently $44.86/hr, plus annual inflation of 1%).
- The position also includes a Transgender Media Lab Scholarship of $1500 per year.
- Funding for student travel for research and conferences will also be provided.
- If the applicant is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, they are also eligible to receive a $2,000/year top-up fellowship from Carleton University.
Interested candidates should apply to the Human-Computer Interaction Master’s program (any stream) at Carleton University. We encourage candidates to apply for additional awards and financial support. We welcome applications from anyone interested but advise international applicants to use the Carleton University Fee Estimator to estimate the cost of international tuition.
The Transgender Media Lab is committed to principles of equality and social justice. We especially encourage trans, queer, Black, and Indigenous candidates and candidates of colour to apply. Fellows will be expected to agree to a statement of values and abide by a code of conduct to ensure a safe, supportive working environment for all lab members and guests.
To apply:
- Email the project director, Laura Horak (laura.horak@carleton.ca) to indicate your interest in the position.
- Follow the online instructions to apply for the program(s) of your choice. In the “Statement of Intent” in your application:
- Indicate your interest in this position and include the following sentence: “I give permission for the graduate admissions committee to share my application materials and letters of reference with Dr. Laura Horak and Dr. Elizabeth Stobert”;
- Describe all relevant skills and experience you have and your particular interest in the project;
- Trans, queer, Black, and Indigenous candidates and candidates of colour are invited to self-identify.
Do you have questions? Feel free to reach out to project director Laura Horak at laura.horak@carleton.ca or HCI supervisor Elizabeth Stobert at elizabeth.stobert@carleton.ca. For questions about HCI Master’s programs, please contact hci@scs.carleton.ca.
The Trans Mediascapes project is based at the Transgender Media Lab at Carleton University and funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The project will be a collaboration with Security and Privacy Interactions Research Lab at Carleton University.