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University of Wisconsin–Madison

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Storytelling and Documentary Project Assistant

Apply now(opens in a new window) Job No: 512124
Division/Organization: Community Partners
Department: WiscAI
Job Type: Local Work Study Student Jobs
Remote Eligbility: Partially Remote
Location: Enter Location
Salary/Wage Range or Lump Sum: $25.00
Job Categories: Interpersonal Communication, Critical Thinking/Problem Solving, Digital Technology, Professionalism/Work Ethic, Performing and Visual Arts, Communications, Broadcasting, and Media Arts, Local Work-Study Required Student Jobs

Department Overview:

 WiscAI is a small AI product studio in Madison. We build working AI systems inside real organizations in Wisconsin: manufacturers, universities, credit unions, athletic departments. The student works with the founder and with the teammate who runs our marketing and business development, next to a team that uses AI all day.

Anticipated Start Date:

 As early as September 29, 2026, and no later than October 13, 2026

Anticipated End Date (If Applicable):

 December 9, 2026. A spring option, if the project continues, is decided in November.

Remote Work Eligibility Detail:

Partially Remote

 

Anticipated Hours Per Week:

 Minimum: 4 Maximum: 8

Schedule:

 About 6 hours a week on average, two half-days, up to 60 hours for the fall. The standing session is Wednesday evenings at StartingBlock in Madison; the rest moves with the work. Everything from a session is due within five days. Recording is in person; the cutting and the notes can be done anywhere. If your fall schedule looks tight, say so and we will look at it together before either of us commits.

Salary/Wage Range/Lump Sum:

 Minimum: $25.00

Number of Positions:

 1

Qualifications:

 The work you have already shot matters more here than your major or your year. You have shot and cut pieces where a real person's story develops on camera; two or three of those tell us more than gear or follower counts. Journalism, communication arts, film and digital cinema, and anyone else with the work to show. No computer science required. Fits best a junior, senior, or graduate student with room for two half-days a week this fall. A Federal Work-Study award is required for this posting.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

- Curious enough to keep asking questions after you get the obvious answer.
- Can tell when something is genuinely interesting and when a company simply thinks it is, and will tell us when you do not think something is a story.
- Comfortable saying "I am a student doing a project, is it all right if I record this?" and meaning it.
- Unassuming in a room and good at listening.
- Writes clearly and without jargon. Captions, transcripts, and a page of notes are part of every session.
- Follows business, technology, media, or the changing world of work.
- Delivers on a deadline without being chased. Five days after a session means five days.
- Uses AI tools thoughtfully, without handing them your judgment.
- Shoots and cuts on your own camera or a recent iPhone. We provide Descript for the cuts and a shared Drive folder.

Position Summary/Job Duties:

This fall we are recording what actually happens inside an organization when AI arrives: the people, the arguments, the moment something works or does not. We set the direction. We pick the stories, the sessions, and what we are trying to show. You bring two things we do not have: you know how to handle a camera and a microphone in a room full of people at work, and you have a journalist's sense of how to bring a story to life, who to follow, what to ask next, where the real moment is. The material becomes short pieces for LinkedIn and video, and one rough episode by mid-November. The client is the hero of every piece. Nothing we make should feel like a commercial.

What you will do:
- Record at the sessions we schedule. This fall those include a student cohort that meets Wednesday evenings at StartingBlock, and may include the Tuesday builders' group there, the founder at work, client work (only with everyone's signed consent), and the events we host for Madison business leaders.
- Run the room quietly. Read the ground rules at the start, keep anyone off camera who wants to be, and notice when a human story is developing.
- Within five days of each session, hand back the raw footage in the shared folder, a transcript, three to five captioned clips of 30 to 90 seconds, ten stills, and one page of notes on what surprised you.
- Help us see the story. Tell us what is interesting and what is not. Suggest the angle, the person to follow, the question to ask next time.
- Sit in on story planning with our team, and research the ideas we hand you: what makes this matter to someone outside WiscAI?
- Help turn what we record into story ideas for the press: who covers this, and what would make them care. The notes to journalists go out from the founder.
- By mid-November, cut a rough first episode of 8 to 12 minutes.
- Watch what each published piece does: the views, the comments, the conversation it starts.

You will not be easing in. Your first session is a paid trial for both of us, at the builders' group we host at StartingBlock every Tuesday: as early as Tuesday, September 29, and no later than Tuesday, October 13. By the end of that week we have your first clips, and you know whether you want the rest of the fall.

Physical Demands:

Sessions are in person around Madison and can run two to three hours. You carry your own camera or phone and a small microphone.

Institutional Statements:

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:

UW-Madison is an Equal Employment, Equal Access Employer committed to increasing the diversity of our workforce.

Institutional Statement on Diversity:

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background-people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: diversity.wisc.edu

Accommodation Statement:

If you need to request an accommodation because of a disability, you can find information about how to make a request at the following website:https://employeedisabilities.wisc.edu/disability-accommodation-information-for-applicants/
 
 

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