{"id":233,"date":"2009-06-29T11:16:47","date_gmt":"2009-06-29T15:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/?page_id=233"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:39:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T18:39:06","slug":"greenspan-brian","status":"publish","type":"cu_people","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/people\/greenspan-brian\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Greenspan"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"mb-6 cu-pageheader cu-component-updated md:mb-12\">\n    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 pb-5 after:w-10 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px\">\n                    \n             \n                \n            <\/h1>\n\n    \n    <\/header>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Research Interests<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Utopian Studies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Science Fiction Studies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Digital Humanities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New narrative media<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Current Research<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My research traces the intersections of conventional narratives and new storytelling media, including hypertext and Extended Reality.&nbsp;I\u2019m particularly interested in how utopian and dystopian fictions from any given era respond to narrative technologies, and in how insights from Utopian Studies and the study of new media might inform each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With colleagues at Carleton\u2019s Hyperlab, I\u2019ve researched and developed innovative storytelling media.&nbsp;My StoryTrek XR system makes it easy to create complex multimedia narratives for mobile devices that twist and turn depending on the reader\u2019s location and style of navigation through real space. We\u2019ve used the system for mobile stories and games, heritage conservation installations, and the critical study of social and literary spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My long-term research project involves layering fictional communities (in the form of utopias, novels, serialized stories, unpublished manuscripts, and visionary drawings) over actual urban spaces. By using the city streets themselves as an interactive interface to historical representations of urban planning, decline, destruction, and renewal, I aim to create a speculative archive of the cities that were, and those that might have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Select Honours and Awards<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Carleton University Chair in Teaching Innovation, 2024-27<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Co-Investigator, CU Research Development Grant, 2024-25<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Collaborator, SSHRC Insight Grant, 2023-27<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Carleton Future Learning Innovation Fellow, 2023-24<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>International Co-Investigator, Project Support Grant, Queen\u2019s University Belfast, 2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>SSHRC Knowledge Exchange Grant: Knowledge Mobilization, 2020-21<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Collaborator, Multidisciplinary Research Catalyst Cluster, 2019-20<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Collaborator, Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund, 2018-20<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>International\u00a0Co-Investigator, AHRC Follow-on Funding for Impact and Engagement Scheme\u00a0Grant, 2017-19<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Collaborator, SSHRC Partnership Development\u00a0Grant, 2017-19<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Teaching Achievement Award,\u00a0Carleton University, 2017<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Collaborator, FRQSC\u00a0Appui \u00e0 la recherche creation, 2016-19<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Collaborator, SSHRC\u00a0Partnership Grant, 2015-18<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Network Partner, Leverhulme International Research Network Grant,\u00a02014-16<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>FASS Research Award, Carleton University, 2013<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Co-PI, Canada Foundation for Innovation Infrastructure Grant, 2013<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Recent Publications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cGaming.\u201d In Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor, Peter Marks and F\u00e1tima Vieira, eds. <em>The Palgrave Handbook of Utopian and Dystopian Literature<\/em>. London: Palgrave, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Peter Fitting, <em>Utopian Effects, Dystopian Pleasures.<\/em> Ed. and Pref. Brian Greenspan. Intro. Fredric Jameson. Ralahine Utopian Studies Vol. 21. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPostscript on the Cntl+Alt Society: Protocols for Locative Media.\u201d In Shane Hawkins, ed., <em>Access and Control in Digital Humanities<\/em>. New York: Routledge, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Creator, Producer, and Technical Supervisor. <em>Golden Days, Silver Nights. <\/em>Mobile critifiction. <em>Electronic Literature Collection Vol. 4<\/em>. K.I. Berens, J. Murray, L. Skains, R. Torres, &amp; M. Zamora, eds. Electronic Literature Organization: 2021. https:\/\/collection. eliterature.org\/4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>E.C. Murphy, B. Greenspan, &amp;&nbsp;S. Smith, \u201cThe Undergraduate Summer Intensive: Principles of Pedagogy and&nbsp;Design.\u201d In Crompton, Lane &amp; Siemens, eds.&nbsp;<em>Doing More Digital&nbsp; Humanities: Open Approaches to Creation, Growth, and Development<\/em>. New York: Routledge, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Scandal of Digital Humanities.\u201d In Matthew K.&nbsp;Gold and Lauren Klein, eds., <em>Debates in&nbsp;the Digital Humanities 2019<\/em>. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Selected Keynotes and Invited Lectures&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cImmersive Storytelling in the Hybrid Classroom.\u201d Keynote Address. 2024 OUCeL Summer Institute, Carleton University, Aug 7, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Ether Medium of Storytelling. Panel 1: Medium and Message.Brian Greenspan in conversation with Louise Pelletier.\u201d Negotiating Digital Space for Culturally-diverse Storytelling: Canadian Centre for Mindful Habitats, the Bachelor of Media Production and Design, Carleton University, and the Bachelor of Interior Design Program, Algonquin College. Ottawa, July 21, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFragments from the Archives: For a Dystopian DH.\u201d Invited Lecture. Media Studies\/Digital Media\/Digital Humanities \u201921 Speakers Series. Hartwick College, May 6, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Mobile Sleuth: Stories for Urban Media.\u201d The 2019 Babcock Lecture in English. Hartwick College, April 29, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFrom the ground up: Building a Digital Humanities centre.\u201d Keynote address. Digital Humanities Symposium: Shaping Digital Narratives, Youngstown University, October 19-20, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cStrange Cognitions: SF and the Metanovum.\u201d Plenary Lecture.&nbsp;Science Fiction Colloquium, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, December 11, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cParty Dress: Wearable Media for Utopian Bodies\u201d. Keynote&nbsp;address. Digital Humanities Summer Institute-Atlantic (DHSI@Dal), May 10, 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBurning the Library: DH as Dystopia.\u201d Closing plenary address.&nbsp;DHSI@Congress, May 30-31, 2015 Ottawa, Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNew Worlds for New Media: A Digital Humanist\u2019s Map of Utopia.\u201d&nbsp;Keynote lecture for Digital Utopias: Literary Space(s) in the Digital Age, EGSA&nbsp;Annual Conference, April 3-4 2014, University of Texas-Arlington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNot in Kansas Anymore: Designing an Abducted Reality Game.\u201d&nbsp;Keynote address. Canadian Game Studies Association Annual Conference, Victoria University, June 3-5, 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Other Selected Presentations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c\u2018Why Chase the Past?\u2019: Educating Desire with Extended Reality.\u201d Society for Utopian Studies. Wrightsville Beach, NC, October 30 &#8211; November 1, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>B. Greenspan &amp; R. West, \u201cElementary, Watson: Using Fictional Experts to Model Artificially Intelligent Expert Systems.\u201d CSDH 24, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, 06\/20\/24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>B. Greenspan &amp; R. West. \u201cAndroid Dreams: The Science and Fiction of Cognitive Estrangement.\u201d 44th Annual Conference of the Society for Utopian Studies, Michigan State University, Oct. 17-19, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A. Pepper and B. Greenspan. \u201cTailing Rebus: Adapting a Best-Selling Detective Novel for Locative Mobile Media.\u201d EURONOIR 2019, Sept. 30-Oct. 2, Aalborg, Denmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDazzle them with Baffles: Gauging Attitudes towards Digital Fabrication in an Online Musicians\u2019 Community.\u201d Digital Humanities 2017: ADHO Annual Conference. McGill University, August 8-11, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYesterday\u2019s Island of Tomorrow: Augmented Reality as Utopian Space.\u201d Society for Utopian Studies 41<sup>st<\/sup> Annual Meeting. St. Petersburg, FL, October 27-30, 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJust What Is It That Makes Today&#8217;s E-Lit Labs So Different, So Appealing?\u201d 2016 Electronic Literature Organization, University of Victoria, June 10-12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c\u2018In small clumsy letters he wrote\u2019: Utopian Media and the Future of Writing.\u201d ACCUTE Annual Conference, University of Calgary, May 28-31, 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAgreeable Tactics: University Governance, Differentiation and the Digital Humanities.\u201d ACCUTE Annual Conference, University of Calgary, May 28-31, 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPositioning Pedagogy: Locative media in and around the classroom.\u201d&nbsp;Invited presentation for Post-Literate Pedagogies: The Digital Gymnasium panel, Canadian Society for Studies in Education 2014, Brock University, June 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCo-creative Destruction: Virtual Demolition as Nonviolent Resistance.\u201d&nbsp;Paper Session:&nbsp;USS 2014: Utopia and Non-Violence; 15th International Conference of the Utopian Studies Society,&nbsp;Charles University, Prague, July 2-5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Recent Graduate Supervisions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Adrien Robertson, Ph.D. English. Topic: Digital\u00a0Games and Community. In progress.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Phineas Savchenko, M.A. Research Essay. Defended 2024. Topic: Posthuman Games.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Co-Supervisor, Jenna Stidwill, Ph.D. Cultural Mediations. Topic:\u00a0The Animation Archive. Defended 2019.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sarah Thorne, Ph.D. Cultural Mediations. Topic: The digital transformation of storytelling. Defended 2018.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Adam Benn, Ph.D. English. Topic: The Political Economy of\u00a0Digital Games. Defended 2017.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Co-Supervisor, Matt Carroll, Ph.D. English. Topic: Antarctic Speculations.\u00a0Defended 2017.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Co-Supervisor, Ingrid Reiche, M.A.\u00a0English. Topic: Digitizing the History of Pyrates. Defended 2016.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9299,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cu_people_first_name":"Brian","cu_people_last_name":"Greenspan","cu_people_initials":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_people_type":[22],"cu_people_expertise":[],"class_list":["post-233","cu_people","type-cu_people","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_people_type-professors"],"acf":{"cu_people_job_title":"Associate Professor - Utopian Studies; Science Fiction Studies; Digital Humanities; New narrative media","cu_people_degree":"Ph.D. (University of Toronto), M.A. (University of Western Ontario), B.A. (Hons.) 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