Node.js Application Developer Full-time

The Open Technology Institute at New America Foundation (OTI) seeks an enthusiastic, tech savvy individual to work with our team in New York City and Washington, D.C as an application developer. You will be working as an early contributor to an exciting new open source platform: Tidepools – a visual and data driven App & API hub for communities.

OTI’s field operations team is adding to successful collaborations in Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia, with new collaborations in San Francisco, New Orleans, and in multiple international locations. The work includes citywide strategic planning for broadband access, pilot wireless networks in select areas and ongoing analysis of broadband adoption projects in terms of their social and economic impact and their implications for privacy and surveillance. We are developing innovative methodologies and models for understanding and addressing issues of equity in urban broadband access.

The application developer will contribute to these efforts by assessing, developing and implementing innovative technologies in collaboration with community-based partners and OTI’s team of technologists, researchers, organizers and educators.

Tidepools is a re-skinnable collaborative mobile mapping platform for gathering and sharing hyperlocal information and culture through expressive, community maps and data feeds, enabling greater connectivity and communication among neighbors and local organizations. The field team is working with Tidepools to bridge the digital and physical space of a neighborhood, storing its data on local servers and broadcasted over WiFi so it can run even without reliance on an Internet connection. It integrates location-specific civic data in situ, including real time transit notifications and community safety issues. Community members can share events, user-created map layers and landmarks, and other local temporal information, creating a historical geospatial community database.

The application developer’s work on Tidepools will include expanding on the existing feature set within Tidepools to incorporate additional data and application interfaces, working with the field team (designers, analysts, engineers) to turn community needs into local applications, and prototyping and testing these applications with user communities. This will require working directly with communities to understand needs and capacities, and collaboratively developing solutions that support the vision and practices of community partners and their constituents
Responsibilities

Work with our designers to develop a mobile Javascript/jQuery/HTML5 web interface, as well as implement changes to the current desktop/tablet web interface.
Assist in designing and building a lightweight, scalable architecture for API integration using Node.js, enabling aggregated information sorting by relevance, time, and other factors for further visualization and interaction through the user interface.
Develop a time based snapshot archive of the data Tidepools is pulling in remotely and generating locally.

Qualifications

Required qualifications

Ideal candidates will have 2 or more years of experience developing web applications or services, and will be familiar with the following:

Node.js
MongoDB
Javascript
HTML5/CSS
Git

Desired qualifications

PHP
Remote Linux Server Management
A taste for delicious food
Interested in empowering communities through technology
Passion for open source

Application Process

Submit a cover letter, resume, and work sample(e.g., code samples, wireframes, portfolio site, Github, etc.) by . The position will be open until filled. No phone calls or emails, please. Salary commensurate with experience; excellent benefits. The New America Foundation is an equal opportunity employer.

http://newamerica.net/node/84589