Digital Humanities Graduate Greg Whistance-Smith Publishes First Book

Drawing on his research in the U of A’s Digital Humanities program (MA 2019) and his prior education in architecture, Greg Whistance-Smith recently published his first book Expressive Space: Embodying Meaning in Video Game Environments (De Gruyter 2022). It approaches video game spaces as new corners of the built environment, ones with potent links back to architecture, cities, and designed landscapes.

The book takes readers through 12 case studies to explore the huge diversity of contemporary video game environments and the many forms of meaning that can be woven into their worlds, drawing on work in philosophy, cognitive science, and psychology to argue for the central importance of the human body in spatial meaning. We can now use video games for expanding our horizons, transmitting cultural forms, developing skills, building empathy, and deepening our engagement with the physical world, and Expressive Space offers a critical perspective on the huge potential of this new environmental medium. Learn more about the book here.