English, Media and Creative Arts

Doctoral research: Cultural glocalization or resistance? Interrogating the production of YouTube videos at an Irish summer college through practice-based research. This transdisciplinary project included the filming, editing and post-production of an hour-long creative documentary film in Irish called Dúshlán Lurgan ('The Lurgan Challenge'), together with two precursor films and a contextual reflection or exegesis which situated the film in relation to practice-based research in the creative arts and media on the one hand, and academic discourse regarding cultural globalization and hybridity on the other. The film asked if the process of making Irish-language versions of commercial pop music videos can be understood as an example of the cultural hybridity described by Nederveen Pieterse (2004a) as evidence of cultural vigour, or if the phenomenon is better understood as an act of assimilation, by reworking cultural products in English into a lesser-spoken language which is threatened with erasure for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the increasing dominance of the hegemonic language in a globalized era.

Other research interests include citizen journalism; the impact of social media on journalism and society; media convergence; and the impact of technological change (including mobile journalism) on minority language media.

Extensive experience in teaching and curriculum development in media and journalism in both English and Irish at NUI Galway since March 2005. Current work includes a range of modules covering media studies, history of media, television news journalism, multimedia/mobile journalism and other journalism and media modules on programmes within the Discipline, including the B.A. (Journalism), the M.A. (Journalism), the M.A. (Sports Journalism) and the M.A. (Global Media). Previous work included a leadership role in curriculum development for the B.A. Cumarsáid agus Gaeilge (B.A. in Communications and Irish) and the M.A. Cleachtas Gairmiúil sna Meáin (M.A. in Professional Media Practice), which was developed in collaboration with RTÉ; and a film-making for the internet module at the Huston School of Film & Digital Media which was offered to students of the M.A. in Journalism, M.A. in Digital Media and M.A. in Film Studies.