While the Internet’s design is widely understood to be open and distributed, control over how users interact online has given us largely centralized and closed systems. ShiftSpace is an open source platform that attempts to subvert this trend by providing a new public space on the web. By pressing the [Shift] + [Space] keys, a ShiftSpace user can invoke a new meta layer above any web page to browse and create additional interpretations, contextualizations and interventions. Using various authoring tools users can annotate, modify, and shift the content of a page. We believe not only in the “User Generated Content” but in a “User Generated Interface”, ‘Spaces’ are such interfaces. Use Javascript and the ShiftSpace API to develop your own. ShiftSpace is currently expanding beyond a Firefox plugin, and into a full fledged social applications platform. As a part of that effort ShiftSpace would provide all the social and personalized features for the upcoming redesign of the MoMA.org website.
§ Internship#1 – Javascript Hacker (2 positions)
Join the ShiftSpace team as a core developer and contribute to the code for new social features and developments in the core system. Work with Mootools and experiment with the most cutting edge web technologies in an open source environment. Qualified applicants must be comfortable with Javascript programming, with an appetite for teaching the web some new tricks. PHP and Python are a plus. This is also a great opportunity for those of you interested in developing their own new interfaces above any websites, and get real life experience and fair credit as a ShiftSpace contributer.
§ Internship#2 – Open Source Advocate / Community Manager (1 position)
Help us lead the ShiftSpace user community and find new opportunities for expanding the platform’s reach. This job involves actively contributing and experimenting with the ShiftSpace to expand its community reach, writing blogposts on ShiftSpace.org, representing ShiftSpace in the open source, tech and new media blogosphere. assessing user feedback and bug reports and helping refine the interaction designed based on user testing. Experience in communication and the non-for-profit sector a plus. A great opportunity to learn a lot about different collaboration models around technological innovation and to be introduced to the open source process.
*The ShiftSpace team meets every Wednesday at Eyebeam (540 E21st Street, Chelsea) and every Saturday at our E.Williamsburg studio (274 Morgan & Grand, Brooklyn). Interns will be invited to join the meetings, schedules are flexible.
We are really interested and invested in making this work. We would lover to come to ITP and talk to the students, and maybe present ShiftSpace to them too.
Let us know how should we move forward from here.
thanks,