About Me

I was born in Ireland, but at four years old went to live in Luxembourg. My mother worked with the European Commission and thanks to the European School system, I became a 'true' European.

I got my first degree (Sociology) in the University of Glasgow. After that I spent five years in Belgium working in telemarketing, customer service and sales - I learnt a lot of things, but eventually decided that I was not suited for a career in those fields. I made a decision to take a different turn, and went to do a Masters in Social Anthropology of Development with SOAS in London.

That was where I met my wife-to-be - referred to in these pages as WW (Wonderful Wife, Wonder Womyn, or Whipping Witch - depending on circumstances). After six months in Nigeria she suggested I come to Malaysia. I was able to find a lecturing job with HELP University College, and we eventually got married

I am now a PhD candidate at Monash University, Sunway campus, researching the commercialisation of Malaysian blogs. You can see more detail about my research here.

Please feel free to contact me with any comments or questions about anthropology and blogs. I will do my best to be useful.

Degrees
Monash University (ongoing): PhD Candidate
School of Oriental and African Studies (2001): MA Social Anthropology of Development
University of Glasgow (1994): MA (Hons) Sociology

Professional qualifications
ITTC Bournemouth (Oct-Nov 2002): Cambridge Certificate for English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA)

Conference Papers
Hopkins, J 2010. 'The Malaysian lifestyle blog: a national blogging genre?' Colloquium: WCU Webometrics Institute at Yeungnam University. Gyeongsan, Republic of Korea.
Click for pdf

Hopkins, J 2009. 'Blogging field notes: participatory innovation or methodological dead end?', Australian and New Zealand Communication Association Conference 2009, QUT, Brisbane, 9 July 2009.
Click for pdf

Hopkins, J 2008. 'Blogwars - authenticity and value in the blogosphere', MSC6 - Engaging Malaysian Modernity 50 Years and Beyond, Kuching, Malaysia, 5-7 August 2008.
Click for pdf
Online presentation also available
Poster also available (you'll need to zoom out to read it)

Book Reviews
Hopkins, J 2009, 'Media Studies: Blogging and Democratization in Malaysia', review of Blogging and Democratization in Malaysia by Jun-E Tan and Zawawi Ibrahim, M/C Reviews, http://reviews.media-culture.org.au/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3382, viewed November 25, 2009.
Click for pdf

Non-Academic Publications
Hopkins, J, 2010. 'Not the MSM?' Off the Edge. Click for pdf
Hopkins, J 2007. 'Cyberplagiarism - technology in education', Prospect Malaysia, no. 3, pp. 24-26. Click for pdf

Media
Renganayar, C.D., 2010. 'Blogging -- so yesterday'. The New Straits Times. Available at: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/a26blog-3-2/Article/index_html
Podcast (13/1/2010): The Digital Edge
Mohamed, N 2009, ‘Welcome to the blogosphere’, The New Straits Times, 18 April 2009. Click for scanned copy

Selected relevant blog postings
• Results from the myBlogS 2009 survey
Do Malaysian bloggers think that blog advertorials need to be disclosed?
The 'ideal type' blog?
myBlogS 2009 - First Malaysian blog survey results released
And other posts that come under the 'Survey' tag

• Others
Blogging and Democratization in Malaysia - Forum and book launch
Remixing, blogging and authorship
Blog Alliances: Part I, Part II, Part III
A historical chronology of English language blogs in Malaysia

Entries tagged as 'anthropology'
Entries tagged as 'blogmeets'
Entries tagged as 'blogosphere'
Entries tagged as 'comments'
Entries tagged as 'fieldnotes'
Entries tagged as 'fieldwork'
Entries tagged as 'SNA'

Selected Lectures
New Media Cultures
Digital Futures

Teaching experience
November 2007 - current: tutoring and occasional lectures at Monash University, Sunway campus
COM1010: Media Studies
COM1020: Introduction to Communication Studies
COM2409: Media Texts
COM2418: Digital Culture and New Reading Practices
COM4010: Research Issues and Methodology

May 2003 - May 2007: Senior Lecturer, HELP University College, Kuala Lumpur
Providing first and second year American Degree courses in Anthropology, Sociology, Philosophy, History, French and Italian. Additional duties include chairing the Teaching Quality committee, and developing a new Liberal Arts degree programme. Promoted to Senior Lecturer in September 2006.

2005-2006
Voluntary work: English teaching to MahMeri at Kampung Bumbun, Pulau Carey, Selangor, Malaysia

Other
President, Monash University Postgraduate Association (MUPA), 2008-2009
Oxford Internet Institute Summer Doctoral Programme participant (2009)
Higher Degree by Research Scholarship (2007-2010), awarded by Monash University, Sunway campus