Field Analyst, Open Technology Initiative

Posted by on October 03, 2011

Field Analyst, Open Technology Initiative

The Open Technology Initiative (OTI) seeks a well organized, self-directed, community minded, driven person, ideally someone with program evaluation experience to become a Field Analyst based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This full-time position will help to lead a team of researchers evaluating a multimillion dollar citywide program to help city residents adopt broadband access in their lives, and help them gain access to Internet resources in public computer centers citywide.

OTI formulates policy and regulatory reforms to support open technology architectures and open source innovations. Over the past year, OTI has partnered with community organizations, municipalities, research institutions, and others in Philadelphia, PA, and Detroit, MI, to win millions of dollars in funding to build or expand public computer centers and provide essential training for city residents’ broadband adoption. OTI has developed an online reporting platform built on the Drupal content management system to facilitate data collection from these projects.

Philadelphia partners, including major nonprofit institutions, grassroots community organizations, and the City of Philadelphia, won grants totaling $18.2 million from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, which is funded by the American Reinvestment an Recovery Act of 2009. The partners are providing millions of additional dollars in matching funds. The Freedom Rings Partnership will build 77 computer labs across Philadelphia and provide over 200,000 hours of hands-on training to 15,000 people at over 130 training locations citywide.

The Field Analyst will collaborate with OTI’s Senior Field Analyst, the Director of Field Operations, additional OTI staff, and a team of researchers and academics to evaluate the efforts of the Freedom Rings Partnership. She or he will support the Philadelphia-based Senior Field Analyst in representing OTI in Philadelphia to build and strengthen local partnerships. The Field Analyst will work with the staff from the participating organizations in the partnership to facilitate the documentation of their programs, including gathering feedback on the performance of the online data collection platform. The primary responsibilities of the Field Analyst are noted below.

Responsibilities

Work with Executive Director, Senior Field Analyst, Field Director and Finance Director to ensure OTI’s compliance with our evaluation and documentation contracts.
Work with OTI research staff and technical staff to collect quantitative and qualitative data about the success and challenges of program partners in deploying their trainings and labs in Philadelphia.
Work with OTI team, program partners, and academic team to produce regular evaluative reports on the successes and challenges of the broadband programs in Philadelphia.
Serve as a point of contact in multiple relationships with very different organizational partners and coordinate meetings among the partners.
Help connect Philadelphia partners with leaders in other communities executing broadband buildouts or other key work on the digital divide nationwide.
Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Ideal candidates will have the following qualifications:

Demonstrated familiarity and/or experience in participatory research, ethnography, and/or program evaluation.
Ability to balance local organizational needs with rigorous and forward-thinking policy research and analysis. A background in community organizing and/or community technology is helpful.
Comfort with or experience with working with major nonprofit, academic, and/or governmental agencies, for example the City of Philadelphia. Prior knowledge of Philadelphia and a proven track record working in Philadelphia is a plus.
Excellent research, writing, editing, and presentation skills.
Familiarity with multiple platforms of web, office tools, as well as online and mobile research tools.
Knowledge of Drupal, HTML, and other website management is a plus.
Strong self-direction and personal organization, including the ability to delegate, think creatively and act quickly.
Strong interest in telecommunications and technology policy, especially efforts to bridge digital divides.
A flexible and enthusiastic team player.

Application Process

Email a cover letter, resume, three references and a writing sample (up to 12 pages) to: Human Resources, New America Foundation, 1899 L Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036. E-mail: jobs@newamerica.net. Please state “Field Analyst, Open Technology Initiative” in the email subject line. The position is open until filled.  Please also cc: Kistine Carolan, carolan@newamerica.net

Generous salary package commensurate with experience; excellent benefits. The New America Foundation is an equal opportunity employer.

http://newamerica.net/node/50204