Critical Writings and Areas of Research
Media, Interactivity, Community
Creative and Critical Explorations
Both critically and creatively, my work continues to focus on new modes of narrative construction developed through advanced writing, media production, and gaming platforms over the past decade.
Broadly considered, these new tools have borne entirely new perspectives and theories regarding the very nature of storytelling: strategic games can produce fascinating plots and character development through reader/player interaction, while even texting applications can evoke cryptic dialogues taken from real-time events.
In addition to multimodal features commonly used in digital narratives, I study how storylines can be composed synchronously in time, often at the precise point of reader or player access. In my view, these platforms continue to re-situate works of fiction as performative, interactive environments for open-ended, indeterminate styles of composition.
Current research concentrates on the recent introduction of GenAI in all media, looking specifically at GPT development and its role in the ongoing advancement of social networking technologies (podcasting, immersive interactive media, video/sound art). Regardless of format, all contemporary media tools provide powerful insights into player behaviour, conflict negotiation, and creative innovation.
Professional Affiliation
I’m an Associate Professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Director of the Communication and Media Program for the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.
I hold a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Contemporary American Literature, yet had the timely fortune of completing my academic thesis in poetics and postwar cultural theory just as the very first web-based literary experiments were appearing. Just a few years before the current century began, I knew then that the very nature of writing as a communication technology was
In my current position as the Communication and Media Program Director, I work closely with a growing number of dedicated and determined Faculty colleagues to ensure every student completes their degree and graduates with a comprehensive and critical understanding of digital media and its growing social and cultural impact. The entire program is built around the understanding that contemporary success worldwide, regardless of the field or discipline, requires highly specialized media skills, enhanced by the critical insights of profoundly talented professionals and academics working in our program.
