Biography
Dr James O’Sullivan conducts empirical research on literature and culture; reads digital fiction; and explores the changing nature of culture and cultural production in the digital age. He is Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities at University College Cork. He currently serves on the Research & Innovation Committee for UCC's College of Arts, Celtic Studies & Social Sciences, and as a member of the inaugural board of the Future Humanities Institute, for which he convenes the Digital Cultures, New Media, & Cultural Analytics research cluster.
Dr O’Sullivan is a graduate of University College Cork, University College Dublin, and Cork Institute of Technology. Prior to joining UCC, he held faculty positions at the University of Sheffield and Pennsylvania State University. He has also taught in adjunct capacities at Cork Institute of Technology and Washington State University Vancouver and has held visiting fellowships at NOVA University Lisbon and Trinity College Dublin.
He is currently Lead Researcher on CASCADE, a Horizon Europe MSCA Doctoral Network developed to train early career researchers in cultural and text analytics for identifying and interrogating how meaning is expressed in language across diverse contexts, as well as Principal Investigator for C21 Editions: Editing & Publishing in the Digital Age, jointly funded by the Irish Research Council (IRC) and the UK-based Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
He is the author of Towards a Digital Poetics (Palgrave Macmillan 2019), as well as editor of The Bloomsbury Handbook to the Digital Humanities (Bloomsbury 2023), Technology in Irish Literature & Culture (Cambridge University Press 2023), Digital Art in Ireland (Anthem Press 2021), Electronic Literature as Digital Humanities: Contexts, Forms, & Practices (Bloomsbury 2021), and Reading Modernism with Machines (Palgrave Macmillan 2016). His research has appeared in a number of international peer-reviewed publications, including Poetics, Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Digital Humanities Quarterly, the International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing, and Digital Studies/Le Champ Numérique.
As a creative writer, he has been published in numerous periodicals and anthologies, including The Stinging Fly, The SHOp, Cyphers, and Southword. Dr O’Sullivan contributes regular articles and features to a variety of periodicals, and has published in The Guardian, The Irish Times, and the LA Review of Books. He is Chair of the board of Sample-Studios, Cork's largest artist-led studio group.
Research Grants
| Project | Funding Body | Start Date | End Date | Award | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK-Ireland Collaboration in the Digital Humanities Research Grants Call’ C21 Editions: Editing and Publishing in the Digital Age | Irish Research Council | 01-AUG-21 | 01-AUG-24 | €269,873.00 | |
| Computational Analysis of Semantic Change Across Different Environments | Horizon Europe | 01-JAN-24 | 31-DEC-27 | €529,776.00 |
Publications
Books
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2019) | Towards a Digital Poetics: Electronic Literature & Literary Games. O'Sullivan, James (2019) Towards a Digital Poetics: Electronic Literature & Literary Games. London: Palgrave Macmillan. [DOI] [Details] |
Edited Books
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2023) | Technology in Irish Literature and Culture Kelleher Margaret; O'Sullivan, James (Ed.). (2023) Technology in Irish Literature and Culture Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Details] | |
| (2023) | The Bloomsbury Handbook to the Digital Humanities O'Sullivan, James (Ed.). (2023) The Bloomsbury Handbook to the Digital Humanities London: Bloomsbury Academic. [Details] | |
| (2021) | Digital Art in Ireland: New Media and Irish Artistic Practice O'Sullivan, James (Ed.). (2021) Digital Art in Ireland: New Media and Irish Artistic Practice London & New York: Anthem Press. [Details] | |
| (2021) | Electronic Literature as Digital Humanities: Contexts, Forms, and Practices Grigar, Dene; O'Sullivan, James (Ed.). (2021) Electronic Literature as Digital Humanities: Contexts, Forms, and Practices New York: Bloomsbury Academic. [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2016) | Reading Modernism with Machines: Digital Humanities and Modernist Literature Ross, Shawna; O'Sullivan, James (Ed.). (2016) Reading Modernism with Machines: Digital Humanities and Modernist Literature London: Palgrave Macmillan. [Details] |
Book Chapters
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2023) | 'Teaching Digital Humanities: Neoliberal Logic, Class, and Social Relevance' O'Sullivan, James (2023) 'Teaching Digital Humanities: Neoliberal Logic, Class, and Social Relevance' In: Croxall, Brian; Jakacki, Diane K (eds). What We Teach When We Teach DH: Digital Humanities in the Classroom. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. [Details] | |
| (2023) | 'Literary Games, Walking Simulators and the New Wave of Digital Fiction' O'Sullivan, James (2023) 'Literary Games, Walking Simulators and the New Wave of Digital Fiction' In: Ensslin, Astrid; Round, Julia; Thomas, Bronwen (eds). The Routledge Companion to Literary Media. London: Taylor & Francis. [Details] | |
| (2023) | 'Irish Digital Literature' O'Sullivan, James (2023) 'Irish Digital Literature' In: Kelleher Margaret; O'Sullivan, James (eds). Technology in Irish Literature and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2023) | 'Introduction: Reconsidering the Present and Future of the Digital Humanities' O'Sullivan, James (2023) 'Introduction: Reconsidering the Present and Future of the Digital Humanities' In: O'Sullivan, James (eds). The Bloomsbury Handbook to the Digital Humanities. London: Bloomsbury Academic. [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2021) | 'Publishing Electronic Literature' O'Sullivan, James (2021) 'Publishing Electronic Literature' In: Grigar, Dene; O'Sullivan, James (eds). Electronic Literature as Digital Humanities: Contexts, Forms, and Practices. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2020) | 'Text Is Dead, Long Live Text!' O'Sullivan, James (2020) 'Text Is Dead, Long Live Text!' In: Hegland, Frode Alexander (eds). The Future of Text. London: The Liquid Information Company. [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2019) | 'The Origins of Electronic Literature as Net/Web Art' O'Sullivan, James; Grigar, Dene (2019) 'The Origins of Electronic Literature as Net/Web Art' In: Brügger, Niels; Milligan, Ian (eds). The SAGE Handbook of Web History. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE. [Details] | |
| (2018) | 'Electronic Literature: Contexts and Poetics' Heckman, Davin; O'Sullivan, James (2018) 'Electronic Literature: Contexts and Poetics' In: Kenneth M. Price and Ray Siemens (eds). Literary Studies in a Digital Age. New York: Modern Language Association. [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2018) | 'your visit will leave a permanent mark: Poetics in the Post-Digital Economy' Heckman, Davin; O'Sullivan, James (2018) 'your visit will leave a permanent mark: Poetics in the Post-Digital Economy' In: Joseph Tabbi (eds). The Bloomsbury Handbook of Electronic Literature. London & New York: Bloomsbury Academic. [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2016) | 'Dissemination as Cultivation: Scholarly Communications in a Digital Age' O'Sullivan, James; Long, Christopher P.; Mattson, Mark (2016) 'Dissemination as Cultivation: Scholarly Communications in a Digital Age' In: Constance Crompton, Richard J. Lane, and Ray Siemens (eds). Doing Digital Humanities: Practice, Training, Research. London and New York: Routlege. [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2016) | 'Infrastructure for Open Access: Mechanics, Economics, Politics' Mattson, Mark; Pickle, Sarah; Gearhart, Andrew; O'Sullivan, James (2016) 'Infrastructure for Open Access: Mechanics, Economics, Politics' In: Kevin L. Smith and Katherine A. Dickson (eds). Open Access and the Future of Scholarly Communications. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] |
Peer Reviewed Journals
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2024) | 'Topic modelling literary interviews from The Paris Review' Greene, Derek, O'Sullivan, James, and Daragh O'Reilly (2024) 'Topic modelling literary interviews from The Paris Review'. Digital Scholarship In The Humanities, [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2023) | 'The born-digital in future digital scholarly editing and publishing' O'Sullivan, James; Pidd, Michael (2023) 'The born-digital in future digital scholarly editing and publishing'. Humanities And Social Sciences Communications, 10 [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2021) | 'The sociology of style: Writing and influence within literary families' O'Sullivan, James (2021) 'The sociology of style: Writing and influence within literary families'. Poetics, [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2020) | 'Who Wrote Wuthering Heights?' McCarthy, Rachel; O'Sullivan, James (2020) 'Who Wrote Wuthering Heights?'. Digital Scholarship In The Humanities, [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2020) | 'The Digital Humanities in Ireland' O'Sullivan, James (2020) 'The Digital Humanities in Ireland'. Digital Studies/Le champ numérique, 10 (1) [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2018) | 'Electronic Literature in Ireland' O'Sullivan, James (2018) 'Electronic Literature in Ireland'. Electronic Book Review, [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2018) | 'The Equivalence of Books: Monographs, Prestige, and the Rise of Edge Cases' O'Sullivan, James (2018) 'The Equivalence of Books: Monographs, Prestige, and the Rise of Edge Cases'. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, :1-10 [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2018) | 'Measuring Joycean Influences on Flann O’Brien' O'Sullivan, James; Bazarnik, Katarzyna; Eder, Maciej; Rybicki, Jan (2018) 'Measuring Joycean Influences on Flann O’Brien'. Digital Studies/Le champ numérique, 8 (1) [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2018) | 'The limits of distinctive words: Re-evaluating literature’s gender marker debate' Weidman, Sean G.; O'Sullivan, James (2018) 'The limits of distinctive words: Re-evaluating literature’s gender marker debate'. Digital Scholarship In The Humanities, 33 (2):374-390 [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2018) | 'Introduction: Digital Humanities as Dissonant' O'Sullivan, James (2018) 'Introduction: Digital Humanities as Dissonant'. Digital Studies/Le champ numérique, 8 (1) [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2017) | '“The Dream of an Island”: Dear Esther and the Digital Sublime' O'Sullivan, James (2017) '“The Dream of an Island”: Dear Esther and the Digital Sublime'. Paradoxa, 29 :314-326 [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2017) | 'Structure over Style: Collaborative Authorship and the Revival of Literary Capitalism' Fuller, Simon; O'Sullivan, James (2017) 'Structure over Style: Collaborative Authorship and the Revival of Literary Capitalism'. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 11 (1) [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2017) | 'Reactions to Imagery Generated Using Computational Aesthetic Measures' Gade, Prasad; Galvin, Mary; O’Sullivan, James; Walsh, Paul; Murphy, Órla (2017) 'Reactions to Imagery Generated Using Computational Aesthetic Measures'. Leonardo, 50 (5):453-460 [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2017) | 'A Tale of Two Internships: Developing Digital Skills through Engaged Scholarship' Hswe, Patricia; LaLonde, Tara; Miffitt, Kate; O’Sullivan, James; Pickle, Sarah; Piekielek, Nathan; Ross, Heather; Rozo, Albert (2017) 'A Tale of Two Internships: Developing Digital Skills through Engaged Scholarship'. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 11 (3) [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2017) | 'Modernist Intermediality: The False Dichotomy between High Modernism and Mass Culture' O'Sullivan, James (2017) 'Modernist Intermediality: The False Dichotomy between High Modernism and Mass Culture'. English Studies, 98 (3):283-309 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2016) | 'Collapsing Generation and Reception: Holes as Electronic Literary Impermanence' Allen, Graham; O'Sullivan, James (2016) 'Collapsing Generation and Reception: Holes as Electronic Literary Impermanence'. Hyperrhiz: New Media Cultures, (15) [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2015) | 'The Emergence of the Digital Humanities in Ireland' O'Sullivan, James; Murphy, Orla; Day, Shawn (2015) 'The Emergence of the Digital Humanities in Ireland'. breac: A Digital Journal of Irish Studies, [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2015) | 'Programming in the Digital Humanities' O'Sullivan, James; Jakacki, Diane; Galvin, Mary (2015) 'Programming in the Digital Humanities'. Digital Scholarship In The Humanities, 30 (1):142-147 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2014) | 'The New Apparatus of Influence: Material Modernism in the Digital Age' O'Sullivan, James (2014) 'The New Apparatus of Influence: Material Modernism in the Digital Age'. The International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing, 8 (2):226-238 [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2014) | 'Finn’s Hotel and the Joycean Canon' O'Sullivan, James (2014) 'Finn’s Hotel and the Joycean Canon'. Genetic Joyce Studies, (14) [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2014) | 'Time and Technology in Orlando' O'Sullivan, James (2014) 'Time and Technology in Orlando'. ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, 27 (1):40-45 [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2013) | 'The Anxiety of Change: Man’s Fear of Obsolescence as Expressed in Science Fiction' O'Sullivan, James (2013) 'The Anxiety of Change: Man’s Fear of Obsolescence as Expressed in Science Fiction'. Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, 42 (115):7-13 [Details] | |
| (2010) | 'Collective Consciousness in Science Fiction' O'Sullivan, James (2010) 'Collective Consciousness in Science Fiction'. Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, 39 (110):80-85 [Details] |
Articles
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2023) | AI and the Editor. Whittle, Sophie; O'Sullivan, James; Pidd, Michael (2023) AI and the Editor. Articles [Details] | |
| (2023) | Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation speech was not all about her. O'Sullivan, James (2023) Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation speech was not all about her. Articles [Details] | |
| (2020) | Text Is Dead, Long Live Text!. O'Sullivan, James (2020) Text Is Dead, Long Live Text!. Articles [Details] | |
| (2023) | The golden age of video games is over. O'Sullivan, James (2023) The golden age of video games is over. Articles [Details] | |
| (2023) | Are the Clintons actually writing their novels?. O'Sullivan, James (2023) Are the Clintons actually writing their novels?. Articles [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2021) | The Brontës, the Shelleys, Kingsley and Martin Amis: new research suggests literary relatives share similar writing styles. O'Sullivan, James (2021) The Brontës, the Shelleys, Kingsley and Martin Amis: new research suggests literary relatives share similar writing styles. Articles [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2020) | Who Wrote Wuthering Heights?. McCarthy, Rachel; O'Sullivan, James (2020) Who Wrote Wuthering Heights?. Articles [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2020) | We are failing young people if we can’t teach them common decency. O'Sullivan, James (2020) We are failing young people if we can’t teach them common decency. Articles [Details] | |
| (2019) | Literary Cork. O'Sullivan, James (2019) Literary Cork. Articles [Details] | |
| (2019) | Good literature can come in digital forms – just look to the world of video games. O'Sullivan, James (2019) Good literature can come in digital forms – just look to the world of video games. Articles [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2019) | The humanities have a ‘reproducibility’ problem. O'Sullivan, James (2019) The humanities have a ‘reproducibility’ problem. London: Articles [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2018) | The Place of Literature in a City Rising. O'Sullivan, James (2018) The Place of Literature in a City Rising. Los Angeles: Articles [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2018) | Forget the ivory tower - lecturers are working class too. O'Sullivan, James (2018) Forget the ivory tower - lecturers are working class too. Articles [Details] | |
| (2018) | We need to talk about the digital humanities job. O'Sullivan, James (2018) We need to talk about the digital humanities job. School of Advanced Study, University of London: Articles [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2018) | Places We Actually Go’: Three Irish Poets’ Debuts. O'Sullivan, James (2018) Places We Actually Go’: Three Irish Poets’ Debuts. Los Angeles: Articles [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2018) | Universities have become like Ikea – just follow the instructions. O'Sullivan, James (2018) Universities have become like Ikea – just follow the instructions. Articles [Details] | |
| (2018) | Edge cases as academic possibility. O'Sullivan, James (2018) Edge cases as academic possibility. School of Advanced Study, University of London: Articles [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2018) | Bill Clinton and James Patterson are co-authors – but who did the writing?. O'Sullivan, James (2018) Bill Clinton and James Patterson are co-authors – but who did the writing?. Articles [Details] | |
| (2017) | Electronic Literature’s Contemporary Moment: Breeze and Campbell’s “All the Delicate Duplicates”. O'Sullivan, James (2017) Electronic Literature’s Contemporary Moment: Breeze and Campbell’s “All the Delicate Duplicates”. Articles [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2017) | The realities of independent publishing in Ireland. O'Sullivan, James (2017) The realities of independent publishing in Ireland. Dublin: Articles [Details] | |
| (2017) | Why you don't need to write much to be the world's bestselling author. O'Sullivan, James (2017) Why you don't need to write much to be the world's bestselling author. Articles [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2017) | Publishing Holes. O'Sullivan, James (2017) Publishing Holes. Cork: Articles [Details] | |
| (2017) | Computing differences in language between male and female authors. O'Sullivan, James (2017) Computing differences in language between male and female authors. Articles [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2016) | Regarding the Joyce word dictionary. Chenier N.;O'Sullivan J. (2016) Regarding the Joyce word dictionary. Articles [DOI] [Details] |
Professional Activities
Committees
| Committee | Function | From / To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial Intelligence Task & Finish Group | Member | 2024 / | |
| Committee for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, School of English & Digital Humanities | Committee Member | 2023 / | |
| University Leadership Team’s Sub-committee for Research-Innovation Strategy & Impact, University College Cork | Committee Member | 2023 / | |
| Future Humanities Institute, University College Cork | Board of Directors | 2022 / | |
| School Executive Management Committee, School of English & Digital Humanities | Committee Member | 2022 / | |
| Digital Cultures, New Media, & Cultural Analytics, Future Humanities Institute, University College Cork | Convener | 2022 / | |
| Social Research Ethics Committee, University College Cork | Reviewer | 2022 / | |
| Expert Referee Panel, Research Council of Norway | Subject Expert | 2022 / 2022 | |
| 1st Symposium on Digital Art in Ireland, Sample-Studios & University College | Chair | 2022 / 2022 | |
| Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies, University of Bergen | External Examiner | 2021 / | |
| Board of Directors, Sample-Studios | Chairperson | 2020 / | |
| School of English & Digital Humanities, University College Cork | Director of Research | 2020 / | |
| Inclusion Steering Group, University College Cork | Committee Member | 2022 / 2023 | |
| National Science Centre, Poland | Expert Referee | 2019 / 2021 | |
| DH2020 Program Committee, University of Ottawa & Carleton University | Committee Member | 2019 / 2020 | |
| Research & Innovation Committee, College of Arts, Celtic Studies & Social Sciences, University College Cork) | Committee Member | 2018 / | |
| Advisory Committee, Public Poetry Project, Pennsylvania Center for the Book | Committee Member | 2015 / 2016 | |
| Center for Humanities and Information, Pennsylvania State University | Advisory Board | 2014 / 2016 | |
| European Association for Digital Humanities | Communications Fellow | 2014 / 2016 | |
| Strategic Working Group for Advancing University Research, Pennsylvania State University | Committee Member | 2014 / 2015 | |
| Digital Humanities Summer Institute, University of Victoria | Associate Director | 2013 / 2018 |
Employment
| Employer | Position | From / To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| University College Cork | Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities | 01-JUL-23 / | |
| University College Cork | College Lecturer in Digital Humanities | 03-JUL-17 / 01-DEC-23 | |
| University of Sheffield | Digital Humanities Research Associate | 25-JAN-16 / 03-JUL-17 | |
| Washington State University, Vancouver | Adjunct Professor | 01-JAN-15 / 01-JAN-16 | |
| Pennsylvania State University | Digital Humanities Research Designer | 01-JUL-14 / 22-JAN-16 | |
| Cork Institute of Technology | Adjunct Lecturer in Computing | 01-JUL-11 / 01-DEC-16 |
Education
| Year | Institution | Qualification | Subject | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education | Continuing Professional Development | Universal Design in Teaching and Learning | |
| 2023 | University College Cork | Continuing Professional Development | Fostering Academic Integrity in Learning and Teaching | |
| 2023 | Epigeum | Continuing Professional Development | Epigeum Research Integrity Training (Core & Specialist) | |
| 2021 | Munster Technological University | Certificate | Counselling Skills | |
| 2019 | University College Cork | Postgraduate Certificate | Teaching & Learning in Higher Education | |
| 2016 | University College Cork | Doctor of Philosophy | Digital Arts & Humanities | |
| 2013 | University College Dublin | Master of Arts | Modernity, Literature & Culture | |
| 2012 | Cork Institute of Technology | Master of Science | Computer Science | |
| 2011 | University College Cork | Higher Diploma in Arts | English | |
| 2010 | Cork Institute of Technology | Bachelor of Sience | Information Technology |
Contact details
-
Senior Lecturer in Digital Arts & Humanities - james.osullivan@ucc.ie
- Digital Humanities, 2.22 O’Rahilly Building
University College Cork
College Road, Cork
Ireland - www.jamesosullivan.org