AUT - Philippa Smith
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Philippa Smith
Research Manager in the Institute of Culture, Discourse and Communication at AUT University.
Her doctoral research titled New Zealanders on the 'Net identifies discourses about national identity by examining the 'talk' of New Zealanders through computer mediated communication (CMC) on the Internet.
For her analysis of discussions on a blogsite and through an email list. Philippa uses Anderson's (1983) theory of
"imagined political communities" as a theoretical foundation, and applies a "discourse-historical" methodological framework, as developed by Ruth Wodak and others (1999, 2000, 2008).
The study examines competing discourses based on people's understanding of nationhood in relation to their ethnicity and/or ties with former homelands, to their kiwi' citizenship and to various perspectives on what it means to be a 'New Zealander' The question is raised: how do New Zealanders construct their identity in an increasingly diverse society?
In addition this research seeks to determine whether the Internet can operate as a public sphere for democratic discussion that facilitates the construction of individual and collective identities.
Philippa has been the recipient of an AUT Contestable PhD Scholarship which she was awarded in 2007.
Background
Philippa has worked at the Institute of Culture, Discourse and Communication (formerly the Centre for Communication Research) since 2003 as research co-ordinator and project manager, prior to commencing her doctoral studies.
She has been involved in a number of research projects including the "NZ Television Violence Project" (2003), the "bro’Town Research Project" (2005-2006) and the "World Internet Project- NZ" (2006-).
Philippa is a founding member of both ICDC’s Discourse Research Group and the Internet Research Group. Her research interests include media, new media technologies, identity and discourse analysis.
Philippa is a member of the Association of Internet Researchers and has been a co-editor of ICDC’s on-line publication, "Working Papers in Communication Research". In 2011 Philippa was a plenary speaker along with Dr Jennie Billot at InternetNZ’s Nethui Conference in Auckland, presenting an "Overview of the NZ Internet".
Distinctions/Honours
- 2003 - Recipient of the AUT School of Communications Studies award for excellence in Post-Graduate Research – Master of Arts in Communications Studies, Auckland University of Technology.
- 2004 - Recipient of AUT, Vice-Chancellors award for excellence in team research in the Television Violence in NZ project
- 2006 – Awarded financial support from the Royal Society of New Zealand’s International Science and Technology Fund to attend the international partners’ meeting of the World Internet Project, Beijing, People’s Republic of China, July, 2006.
- 2007 - Recipient of an AUT contestable PhD scholarship
Selected publications
- Smith, P., Smith, N., Sherman, K., Goodwin, I., Crothers, C., Billot, J., Bell, A. (2010). The Internet in New Zealand 2009. Auckland: Institute of Culture, Discourse and Communication, AUT University.
- Lustyik, K. and Smith, P. (2010). From The Simpsons to “The Simpsons of the South Pacific": New Zealand’s First Primetime Animation, bro' Town in Television & New Media 11(5) 331–349.
- Smith, P. (2009). Rebuilding New Zealand’s national identity: A critical discourse analysis of the role of the charismatic documentary presenter. In 'Critical Discourse Analysis: An interdisciplinary perspective' T. Le (ed) Nova Publisher, New York.
- Smith, P., & Bell, A. (2008) English in Mass Communications: News Discourse and the Language of Journalism. In A Companion to the History of the English Language. H. Momma and M. Matto (eds). Blackwell Publishing: Oxford.
- Smith, P. & Lustyik, K. (2008) The global popularity of animated sitcoms – 'bro'Town’ - New Zealand's answer to 'The Simpsons’. In Youth, Media and Culture in the Asia Pacific Region International Symposium. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
- Smith, P., Smith, N., Sherman, K., Kripalani, K., Goodwin, I., Crothers, C., Bell, A. (November, 2008) The Internet: Social and demographic impacts in Aotearoa New Zealand, Journal Observatorio (OBS*), 2 (3). - document stored as "Observatorio final.doc"
- Smith, P. & Bell, A. (2007) Unravelling the web of discourse analysis in Media Studies: Key Issues and Debates, E. Devereux (ed) Sage Publications: London.
- King, B., Bridgman, G., Smith, P., Bell, A., King, A., Harvey, S., Crothers, C., and Hassall, I. (2003). Television Violence in New Zealand: A study of programming and policy in international context. Centre for Communication Research, AUT University.
- Smith, P. (2003). Desperately seeking a national Identity: an examination of narrative in the Heartland television series and its influence in defining New Zealanders. Unpublished MA thesis. School of Communication Studies. AUT University.
Contact: philippa.smith@aut.ac.nz