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Internship - NEO PreservationNation (Boston, MA)

Filed under GSLIS Jobs and Opportunities
Posted by GSLIS, May 17, 2008
View all posts for May 2008

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a non-profit membership organization bringing people together to protect, enhance and enjoy the places that matter to them. By saving the places where great moments from history—and the important moments of everyday life—took place, the National Trust for Historic Preservation helps revitalize neighborhoods and communities, spark economic development and promote environmental sustainability. With headquarters in Washington, D.C., nine regional and field offices, 29 historic sites, and partner organizations in all 50 states, the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education, advocacy and resources to a national network of people, organizations and local communities committed to saving places, connecting us to our history and collectively shaping the future of America’s stories. For more information visit http://www.PreservationNation.org.

Description: PreservationNation (PN) is a web-based technology platform that the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) has recently launched. Not only a website, it is designed to be a virtual town square where people share proven tools, make connections, and get inspired to save historic places.

PreservationNation has tremendous potential as a new vehicle for engaging, informing and training people about historic preservation. As part of the initial phase, staff members are transferring and translating the NTHP’s many existing resources over to PN and adding content on an ongoing basis.

Interns will work in various programs and regional offices to continue the process of adding PreservationNation content onto the new website. This will involve copying some current web content into new pages, re-purposing material from various other formats, and editing and adapting material to new messaging standards, new web content guidelines and new Web2.0 and social networking uses. Interns will help identify usefulness of material for various purposes and will tag for interest topics and suggest linkages to other programs, pages and sites.

Through their day to day work, interns will gain in-depth exposure to a number of topics within historic preservation, as well as experience in principles of online communication and web management, and will learn to use Convio content management tools. The intern in the Northeast Office in Boston will have opportunities to observe preservation in action at the grassroots level, and will have an extensive orientation to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The intern will be included in office activities, including regular staff meetings and an annual summer retreat in Vermont. Depending upon the intern’s interests, staff will include her or him in key meetings or site visits and opportunities can be arrangDescription:

PreservationNation (PN) is a web-based technology platform that the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) has recently launched. Not only a website, it is designed to be a virtual town square where people share proven tools, make connections, and get inspired to save historic places.

PreservationNation has tremendous potential as a new vehicle for engaging, informing and training people about historic preservation. As part of the initial phase, staff members are transferring and translating the NTHP’s many existing resources over to PN and adding content on an ongoing basis.

Interns will work in various programs and regional offices to continue the process of adding PreservationNation content onto the new website. This will involve copying some current web content into new pages, re-purposing material from various other formats, and editing and adapting material to new messaging standards, new web content guidelines and new Web2.0 and social networking uses. Interns will help identify usefulness of material for various purposes and will tag for interest topics and suggest linkages to other programs, pages and sites.

Through their day to day work, interns will gain in-depth exposure to a number of topics within historic preservation, as well as experience in principles of online communication and web management, and will learn to use Convio content management tools. The intern in the Northeast Office in Boston will have opportunities to observe preservation in action at the grassroots level, and will have an extensive orientation to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The intern will be included in office activities, including regular staff meetings and an annual summer retreat in Vermont. Depending upon the intern’s interests, staff will include her or him in key meetings or site visits and opportunities can be arranged for the intern to meet other preservation professionals in Boston.

Details: Internship Length: June 9-August 15, 2008
Schedule: Full-time, M-F, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Stipend: $3,000
Location: Northeast Office, 7 Faneuil Hall Marketplace, 4th Floor, Boston, MA

Duties:

  • Prepare existing Northeast Office (NEO) information for uploading to and repurposing for PreservationNation (PN).
  • As necessary, add to and update the content and format of NEO materials that were uploaded prior to the launch of PN.
  • As needed, reformat existing PDFs to make them part of web site pages and/or improve on current design and functionality.
  • Adapt content from the NEO monthly ENews, staff reports, and annual reports and repurpose for posting on the Northeast Office web page.
  • If time permits, organize, label, and prepare images from the NEO digital image library for web publication.
  • If time permits, work on creating an on-line vehicle for inviting people to augment the stories captured in the Rebuilding Community: Best Practices Toolkit with additional examples of ways that communities have addressed problems of housing vacancy and abandonment.

Qualifications: The intern will require some knowledge of databases (especially MS Access), word processing, and spreadsheet software. A familiarity with CMS-based websites is a plus, as is an understanding of Adobe PhotoShop, Microsoft Publisher, and project planning. The intern should have excellent verbal and written communication skills, and an ability to analyze and organize a large volume of information is essential.

  • Strong written and verbal communication skills
  • Office skills, including use of MS Office in a workplace environment for functions like mail merge, and creating professional tables, charts and Power Point presentations
  • Data entry skills and experience managing data
  • Using the internet as a professional research tool, including using services like Lexis-Nexis
  • Basic web design and use of “Web 2.0” and social networking technology
  • Ability to think graphically and proficient with Publisher or similar

How to Apply: To apply, please type or paste your cover letter into the body of a message and email your resume as a Word, PDF or Text attachment to: 19609-CS-815@nthp.hrmdirect.com. Please include “NEO Summer PreservationNation Internship” in the subject line.