Notes EM

As some of you may know, I’m working on my second book.  At this point, I know enough about the overall structure and flow of the argument that I can start delegating some basic research tasks to others.

Thus, I’m looking for 2-3 research assistants who can commit to 10-15 hours of work every week and who can stay on this project from mid-February to mid-June (I expect the workload to be heavier in the first half of the project). All this work is virtual, so you can be based anywhere; I don’t expect much collaboration between the assistants - you’ll mostly be working with me personally. 

Broadly speaking, it’s a book about the idea of liberal democracy and how it’s being reconfigured (I’m afraid, not necessarily for the better) by the Internet and Internet-related discourse. Given the subject matter, it would help if you have some background in political philosophy, political theory or political sociology and/or some background in philosophy and history of technology. However, I’d be happy to consider candidates from other disciplines and fields, not least because most of the research you’ll doing will be limited to news sites and blogs (i.e. I’m afraid I won’t force you to come up with arguments on my behalf ;-). Foreign languages are a plus but not crucial.

The vast bulk of your time would be spent tracking quotes and news stories on themes that I’m writing about. As already noted, you’ll mostly be going through newspapers, magazines, and blogs; Google will become your second home. If you have access to databases like LexisNexis, ProQuest and EBSCO, it’s definitely a plus. 

Some tasks will be more open-ended than others; while you may be asked to simply track whether Person X has ever said anything on Subject Y, I’d also expect you to do some heavy lifting and try to find examples of Phenomenon Z happening in Context W. Another common task would be to prepare research dossiers - i.e. compiling all relevant recent articles and blog posts - on a given subject. 

What do you get in return? I’m willing to pay a honorarium; it won’t make you rich but I’m mostly looking for people who are genuinely interested in conducting research on technology-related issues or who need a resume booster. As a token of appreciation, I’d also be willing to thank you in the acknowledgments section of the book and provide a reference letter, which - especially if you are planning to work in Internet/technology/politics related fields -  may be of some help. A related success story: one of my research assistants for The Net Delusion ended up getting a job at the US State Department’s Internet Freedom desk!

Send me your resume and 3-4 paragraphs about your research skills and relevant experiences to evgeny dot morozov at gmail dot com