MSR Social Media Collective 2013 Summer Internships

On By danah boydIn MSR

** APPLICATION DEADLINE: JANUARY 30, 2013 ** 

Microsoft Research New England (MSRNE) is looking for PhD interns to join the social media collective for Summer 2013. For these positions, we are looking primarily for social science PhD students (including communication, sociology, anthropology, media studies, information studies, etc.). The Social Media Collective is a collection of scholars at MSRNE who focus on socio-technical questions, primarily from a social science perspective. We are not an applied program; rather, we work on critical research questions that are important to the future of social science scholarship.

MSRNE internships are 12-week paid internships in Cambridge, Massachusetts. PhD interns are expected to be on-site for the duration of their internship.

PhD interns at MSRNE are expected to devise and execute a research project during their internships. The expected outcome of an internship at MSRNE is a publishable scholarly paper for an academic journal or conference of the intern’s choosing. The goal of the internship is to help the intern advance their own career; interns are strongly encouraged to work towards a publication outcome that will help them on the academic job market. Interns are also expected to collaborate with full-time researchers and visitors, give short presentations, and contribute to the life of the community. While this is not an applied program, MSRNE encourages interdisciplinary collaboration with computer scientists, economists, and mathematicians. There are also opportunities to engage with product groups at Microsoft, although this is not a requirement.

We are looking for applicants to focus their proposals on one of the following eights areas:

  1. Big data, the politics of algorithms, and/or computational culture
  2. Entertainment and news industries and audiences
  3. Digital inequalities
  4. Mobile media and social movement/civic engagement
  5. Affective, immaterial, and other theoretical frameworks related to digital labor
  6. Urban informatics and critical geography
  7. Personal relationships and digital media
  8. Critical accounts of crisis informatics and disasters

Applicants should have advanced to candidacy in their PhD program by the time they start their internship. (Unfortunately, there are no opportunities for Master’s students or early PhD students at this time.) While this internship opportunity is not strictly limited to social scientists, preference will be given to social scientists and humanists making socio-technical inquiries. (Note: While other branches of Microsoft Research focus primarily on traditional computer science research, this group does no development-driven research and is not looking for people who are focused solely on building systems. We welcome social scientists with technical skills and strongly encourage social scientists to collaborate with computer scientists at MSRNE.) Preference will be given to intern candidates who work to make public and/or policy interventions with their research. Interns will benefit most from this opportunity if there are natural opportunities for collaboration with other researchers or visitors currently working at MSRNE.

Applicants from universities outside of the United States are welcome to apply.

PEOPLE AT MSRNE SOCIAL MEDIA COLLECTIVE

The Social Media Collective is comprised of researchers, postdocs, and visitors. This includes:

Previous interns in the collective have included Amelia Abreu (UWashington, information), Jed Brubaker (UC-Irvine, informatics), Scott Golder (Cornell, sociology), Germaine Halegoua (U. Wisconsin, communications), Airi Lampinen (HIIT, information), Jessica Lingel (Rutgers, library & info science), Alice Marwick (NYU, media culture communication), Laura Noren (NYU, sociology), Jaroslav Svelch (Charles University, media studies), Shawn Walker (UWashington, information), Omar Wasow (Harvard, African-American studies), and Sarita Yardi (GeorgiaTech, HCI).

If you are curious to know more about MSRNE, I suspect that many former interns would be happy to tell you about their experiences here. Previous interns are especially knowledgeable about how this process works.

For more information about the Social Media Collective, visit our blog: https://socialmediacollective.org/

APPLICATION PROCESS

To apply for a PhD internship with the social media collective:

1. Fill out the online application form: https://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/jobs/intern.aspx Make sure to indicate that you prefer Microsoft Research New England and “social media” or “social computing.” You will need to list two recommenders through this form. Make sure your recommenders respond to the request for letters so that their letters are also submitted by the deadline.

2. Send an email to msrnejob -at- microsoft-dot-com with the subject “SMC PhD Intern Application: ” that includes the following four things:

  1. A brief description of your dissertation project.
  2. An academic article you have written (published or unpublished) that shows your writing skills.
  3. A copy of your CV.
  4. A pointer to your website or other online presence (if available).
  5. A short description of 1-2 projects that you propose to do while an intern at MSRNE, independently and/or in collaboration with current SMC researchers. This project must be distinct from the research for your dissertation.

We will begin considering internship applications on January 30 and will not consider late applications.

PREVIOUS INTERN TESTIMONIALS

“The internship at Microsoft Research was all of the things I wanted it to be – personally productive, intellectually rich, quiet enough to focus, noisy enough to avoid complete hermit-like cave dwelling behavior, and full of opportunities to begin ongoing professional relationships with other scholars who I might not have run into elsewhere.”
— Laura Noren, Sociology, New York University

“If I could design my own graduate school experience, it would feel a lot like my summer at Microsoft Research. I had the chance to undertake a project that I’d wanted to do for a long time, surrounded by really supportive and engaging thinkers who could provide guidance on things to read and concepts to consider, but who could also provoke interesting questions on the ethics of ethnographic work or the complexities of building an identity as a social sciences researcher. Overall, it was a terrific experience for me as a researcher as well as a thinker.”
— Jessica Lingel, Library and Information Science, Rutgers University

“Spending the summer as an intern at MSR was an extremely rewarding learning experience. Having the opportunity to develop and work on your own projects as well as collaborate and workshop ideas with prestigious and extremely talented researchers was invaluable. It was amazing how all of the members of the Social Media Collective came together to create this motivating environment that was open, supportive, and collaborative. Being able to observe how renowned researchers streamline ideas, develop projects, conduct research, and manage the writing process was a uniquely helpful experience – and not only being able to observe and ask questions, but to contribute to some of these stages was amazing and unexpected.”
— Germaine Halegoua, Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison

“The summer I spent at Microsoft Research was one of the highlights of my time in grad school. It helped me expand my research in new directions and connect with world-class scholars. As someone with a technical bent, this internship was an amazing opportunity to meet and learn from really smart humanities and social science researchers. Finally, Microsoft Research as an organization has the best of both worlds: the academic freedom and intellectual stimulation of a university with the perks of industry.”
— Andrés Monroy-Hernández, Media, Arts and Sciences, MIT

36 thoughts on “MSR Social Media Collective 2013 Summer Internships”

  1. Pingback: MSR Social Media Collective 2013 Summer Internships, UK, 2013 : Developing Career

  3. Interns must start before July 1.

    The pay is similar to other industrial research labs and is equivalent on a monthly basis to what computer scientists with a similar level of education would receive if they joined the company full time, but the exactly amount is not public nor do I actually know it.

  4. Natalia

    could you please tell me when will you announce the results? I am not a US citizen and it will take me some time to get my visa in case I will be selected for this Internship… Thanks

  5. Application deadline is January 30. Decisions will be made by mid-March. Only the shortlist will be contacted. Microsoft Research handles all visa processes for interns.

  6. Xaroula

    Hello

    I am about to submit my PhD thesis in a few weeks time. Could I still apply for an internship?
    Thank you

  7. Unfortunately, you must be an active student at the time of your internship. Students who have already graduated or will graduate this spring are not eligible for internships.

  8. laura

    Oh no, I wanted to apply so badly! I have to hand in my thesis by April 30th and discuss it in June. I guess I am not eligible, could you maybe confirm this? Thanks a lot

  10. Laura: I’m sorry, but you are not eligible for the internship if you will be done by June.

    Xaroula: Postdoc applications were announced in November and due in early December. We are no longer accepting new applications for the postdoc position.

  11. Pingback: January 2013 Newsletter « ASIS&T SIG SI

  12. AJ

    My question is about the nature of the research project we are expected to work on during the summer internship. Along with a description of our dissertation project, we are asked to submit “a short description of 1-2 projects that you propose to do while an intern at MSRNE, independently and/or in collaboration with current SMC researchers. This project must be distinct from the research for your dissertation.”

    Does this–the 1 to 2 projects we propose–then become the substantial project we work on over the summer? Does this mean we are not expected to work in an area related to our dissertation? Additionally, should we contact SMC researchers to ensure that they might be interested in working the project(s) we have suggested?

    Thanks in advance for the clarification.

    1. AJ – The area you work in may be *related* to your dissertation but it cannot be part of your dissertation. And no, we are not prescreening applications in advance and giving feedback on proposal proposals 😉

      1. AJ

        Thanks Nancy, your response was helpful.

        Last bit of clarification. Are our proposed projects (rather than our dissertation topics) of most interest to those reviewing the applications? What I’m trying to assess is the level of detail expected in proposed projects, particularly if they are given more weight–“short” was the only hint given (compared to a “brief” summary of the dissertation).

        Should the projects read as mini-dissertation proposals where the research question(s), theory, and method are all clear and ready-to-execute? Or, is it a more open and flexible proposal that generally outlines a phenomena and research problem which then may be reshaped through the collaborative process? Thanks again for your time with these tedious questions!

      2. Yes! They should read as mini (MINI – 2 pages or so) dissertation proposals that show a project ready to execute. The intern only has 12 weeks to get from arrival in the office to presenting a final project so it’s important that the first few weeks not get lost trying to nail down a project.

  13. Nader

    When you say “A brief description of your dissertation project”, do you consider about 500 words as brief? I wonder if you could explain what you consider as brief.

    Thanks!

    1. Nader – see the comment I left just above – we are looking for something on the order of 2 pages that demonstrates a ready-to-go project. So yeah, 500 words is about right.

      1. Blue

        Another clarification question. Is the 500 words for everything (summer project and dissertation descriptions/research interests), or do you mean 500 words for the dissertation and 500 words for the summer project each? Thanks!

    1. Erica – When you apply the site will ask you to specify the researcher(s) whose work is closest to yours and that is the time to indicate which person you most want to work with.

  16. AJ

    Other than filling out the contact information for our references, what, if anything, are they required to do? Are they required to send in a letter or fill out an online form? Or, will they be contacted directly?

  17. Blue

    Is the 500 words for everything (summer project and dissertation descriptions/research interests), or do you mean 500 words for the dissertation and 500 words for the summer project each? Thanks!

  18. Richenda

    Hi there,
    Just a few quick questions.

    I have two supervisors (advisors). May I use both of them as referees, or would you prefer me to find one referee who isn’t a supervisor?

    What does ‘advanced candidacy’ mean exactly? PhD programmes in the UK work differently. At my institution we have a ‘transfer of status’ assessment in either the first or second year of the PhD. This involves submission of a sample chapter and various other documents, and it also involves a viva. I ‘transferred up’ in July last year. I am now half way through my PhD and will be about to enter my final year when this internship takes place.

    Thanks!

  19. Hi there,
    I have submitted my application but did not receive a confirmation email. Also, my faculty recommenders did not receive an email in order to submit their letters of support. Is there an email address they should send the letter to directly? I just want to make sure they meet the 1/30 deadline.

    Best,
    Erica Ciszek

    1. We don’t send confirmation emails, but I know yours has arrived. If necessary your recommenders could email me at baym at microsoft dot com. Please be sure they include your name and “PhD Internship” in the subject line.

  20. ES

    Hi there,

    I can’t submit my writing sample due to its file size. Could you let me know another way to do it?

    Best,
    ES

Comments are closed.