I have a continuing position as an Academic Literacy Coordinator (Library Academic and Research Services) at Western Sydney University (WSU).

 

In this role I provide specialist expertise to support the design and implementation of academic literacy programs, and I am responsible for coordinating the development of WSU’s Academic Literacy Strategy that supports academic literacy initiatives across the entire university. WSU was the vision of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to create more equitable learning opportunities for the people of Western Sydney. It has one of the most socio-economically diverse student cohorts in Australia, leading the way in providing social mobility through education.

 

I also have an ongoing interest in developing artificial intelligence literacy skills among university students and researching generative AI in tertiary education from a literacy and linguistics perspective.

My PhD “A Discourse-Analytic Approach to the Study of Information Disorders: How Online Communities Legitimate Social Bonds When Communing Around Misinformation and Disinformation” was officially conferred by UNSW Sydney in May 2023. My thesis developed a combined systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) framework to understand how online communities on YouTube, via language and visual resources, construct and legitimate social bonds that propagate information disorders. I am currently working on turning this research into a book that will explore the more practical implications of my research.

Post-PhD, I completed research at RMIT School of Computing Technologies in Melbourne. In this role, I contributed an Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) methodology to the team, complementing work in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and use of the OpenAI API (GPT 3 and GPT 3.5), to research the detection of internet trolling and political propaganda on Twitter.

My interdisciplinary research has been published in linguistics, multimodality, and discourse journals (e.g. Discourse & Communication, and Social Semiotics) and communication studies, politics, and social media journals (e.g. Social Media + Society, and The Communication Review).

I have 5.5 years research experience (honours, PhD, post-PhD) and 4 years experience in tutoring and guest lecturing (media and communication studies). I also have 6 years experience as a part-time professional staff member at UNSW Colleges (3.5 years as Deputy Dean at Fig Tree Hall). In this role I provided administrative services, academic and pastoral care to a diverse cohort of 159 young university students. Despite having come from a rural and low socio-economic area, I was fortunate enough to receive scholarships to attend university. This has motivated me to work hard and not take education for granted, and to now give back by mentoring and volunteering in my spare time. I am currently a Mentor for the Public Education Foundation and I hold lifetime membership at Fig Tree Hall UNSW.

If there’s anything you think I could help you with or you'd just like to chat, feel free to contact me: o.inwood@westernsydney.edu.au | oinwood@gmail.com

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