Communication and Public Relations Division

Digital Services Section

We need help

Outsourcing Work

We have two RFPs out - one for ElasticSearch and one for Drupal 8 development.

Seeking Backend Dev

We have a position open for a backend developer to work with us in subtropical Okinawa, Japan.

Requests for Proposal

We are accepting proposals for two web development contracts. We are looking for:

1. An ElasticSearch expert to set up a search backend on AWS ElasticSearch Services that will index our websites and organize the results to facilitate easy and powerful searches.
Download the RFP "OIST Federated Search Backend Development" (PDF).

2. A Drupal expert to develop an intuitive front-end Drupal 8 search site on Pantheon that helps users find what they need in English and Japanese.
Download the RFP "OIST Federated Search Frontend Development" (PDF).

While we are happy to get proposals for both RFPs, we are required to select two different companies – one for backend, one for frontend. We cannot hire the same company to do both.

We would be very happy to answer any questions you may have, and we would appreciate it if you could send the RFPs to anyone you know who would be interested in bidding for the work.

We have pushed back the deadline for proposals to December 15. We will evaluate the proposals received and start the contract process soon thereafter.

About OIST:

The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) is a publicly funded interdisciplinary graduate school offering a 5-year PhD program in Science. Over half of the faculty and students are recruited from outside Japan, and all education and research are conducted entirely in English.

Learn more about OIST at www.oist.jp and vimeo.com/oistedu.

Backend Web Developer

This position will soon be reposted on the OIST Careers page, but you can download a PDF of the "Backend Web Developer" job description for reference.

Contact:

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST)
Digital Services Section
digital-services-all@oist.jp

Mission and Overview

The Digital Services Section

Is focused on digital design and development - web design, web development, user training, and content strategy and management.
Works to ensure university-wide consistency and quality for digital services.
Aims to provide excellent internal digital services to employee and staff content creators and consumers to ensure the quality of the university's public online presence.
Coordinates with IT on content management and strategy, development, maintenance, documentation, and user training for administration websites and the systems that support these websites.
Operates like an internal web development agency focused on the university's core web presence, helping administration and students to evaluate their needs and then developing and maintaining the required solutions.
Provides consultation and assistance to researchers by offering possible solutions, advice on best practices, and information about relevant university policies like the PRP, Graphics Standard Manual, web security, privacy, and accessibility.

Contact

For Q&A and help requests, send email to web-help@oist.jp.

Members

Web Administrator

Micheal Cooper

Micheal joined OIST as web administrator in October of 2010. He has a BA in English, a BS in Computer Science, and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Linguistics. At Miyazaki International College, he ran the IT department, taught IT Literacy, and helped with translation and student recruiting. Before that, he did interpretation and translation for companies like Asahi Kasei and Sheraton, managed an English school, installed LAN networks, did independent catering, and performed restaurant weddings as a fake minister, among other things. Before coming to Japan, we was an assistant to the Dean at Emory University.

Web Developer

Chris Wu

Chris joined OIST as Web Developer in 2019, after eight years in the information industry in Taipei. Chris has an MA in Industrial Design from NCKU Taiwan and loves doing frontend web development to bring aesthetic and functional user experiences to the end user. He is also an open source contributor and well-known Drupaller in Taiwan. He has presented at several events, including Drupalcamp Taipei, Drupalcamp Tokyo, COSCUP and ModernWebTW.