Job title: Digitisation Technician
Job type: Full-time, fixed-term project-related contract
Location: The Palestinian Museum- Birzeit
Department: The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive (PMDA)
Scope of work: Filming and digitising project materials, processing audio and visual media, and following up on the archiving process.
Main Tasks and Responsibilities
The Digitisation Technician is committed to processing and converting media and audio-visual recordings and digitizing materials and documents through photography, scanning, or any other assigned method. He will be responsible for the archiving platforms, digital assets, and the project’s electronic website, including storage and backup, and carrying out the following tasks and responsibilities:
- Work to develop and manage Collective Access, the Palestinian Museum’s archiving system. Work to solve any technical difficulties in coordination with the specialist technical team assigned by the Museum.
- Carrying out field and office research tasks to identify and retrieve endangered Palestinian archives, media, and audio and video recordings, and work to evaluate, digitise, and archive them per the project requirements and established protocols. This work will take place in Jerusalem, the 1948 areas, the West Bank, and/or any other areas as required by the project and workflow requirements.
- Digitising materials, photos, documents, recordings, and visual and audio media per project requirements.
- Follow-up on the process of bringing archives and digitising archival collections, materials, photographs and documents, through photography, scanning, audio and video media processing equipment, or any other means per project requirements.
- Processing, modifying, digitising and saving copies of digitised materials using the required programmes and platforms, while ensuring technical quality control and examining and managing files.
- Storing and preserving materials, photos, documents and recordings during the digitisation phase.
- Writing, adding and modifying the necessary Meta Data for the collections and archived materials when needed.
- Carrying out archiving and digitisation tasks within the project’s priorities and planning in any location the Museum deems necessary, locally or internationally.
- Preparing reports on work progress and the productivity of the work team periodically and as needed per the request of the direct manager.
- Actively supervising the development of the new Palestinian Museum Digital Archive (PMDA) platform, through coordination with project management, designers and implementers of the site, and producing educational promotional materials about the archive.
- Any other related tasks and responsibilities at the request of the direct supervisor
Scope of Prerogatives and Supervision
The Digitisation Technician position holder is responsible for searching for endangered archival materials, media, and audio and video recordings (personal/individual and institutional), acquiring and returning them to their owners, digitising them, and archiving them per the agreed upon workflow plan for project completion.
- Direct subordinates: None
- Internal relationships: The project team and other related Museum staff members.
- External relationships: Owners of archival collections, donors of archival materials, and external researchers.
Job Requirements
- A bachelor’s degree from an accredited university in photography, directing, graphic design, computer science, information technology and systems (ICT), or any related major.
- Documented practical experience in the field of archive digitisation for no less than 3 years.
- Documented practical experience in one of the fields of computer science, technology, information systems, and audio media for no less than 3 years.
- Experience in managing the content of digital archives
- Skills and Capabilities
- Familiarity with digital archiving principles and Meta Data standards.
- Knowledge of the basics of museum work, history, and standards for preserving and managing archives.
- Knowledge of the basics of restoration and preservation of archival materials and how to handle them.
- Excellent knowledge of digital photography methods, media processing, and audio and video recordings.
- Advanced knowledge of digital documentation techniques and preservation and management of Meta Data and digital collections.
- Highly skilled in using and calibrating digital cameras, scanners, and audio and video processing devices.
- The ability to use programmes for processing audio, video, and digital images, such as Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Audition, Premiere, Media Encoder, and declaring files in raw format (RAW).
- Skill in processing images, documents, digital audio and visual media, and correcting and modifying colours and sounds.
- Working knowledge of Arabic and English, writing and speaking.
- Personal Characteristics
- Positivity and an open mind.
- Tact and good listening.
- Excellent communication skills in writing and speaking.
- The ability to analyse and implement project requirements and tasks.
- The ability to work within a multi-tasking team.
- Initiative and ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
- The ability to live and work in Palestine legally.