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Artificial Intelligence (LLMs) 

• AI Literacy
• AI as Communication and Cultural Phenomenon
• AI as qualitative research assistant
• AI in Communication and Culture higher education

Memes

• Communicating with Memes
• History of Media Memes
• Socio-political impacts of Memes
• Meme theory
• Meme research

Social Media

• Prosumerism on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, TikTok and other social media platforms
• Social Media Theory
• Battling white supremacy in Social Media
• Social movements in social media (Hashtag activism)

New Digital Media Studies

• Critical Cultural Studies
• Actor-Network Theory
• Technology and Society
• Medium Studies
• Communication and Media Theory
• Cybernetics

Qualitative Research Methods

• Ethnography
• Critical Discourse Analysis
• Depth Interviewing
• Technography
• Audience Research
• Memeography

Not teaching this semester.

Kien, Grant. (2011). “BDSM and Transgression 2.0: The Case of Kink.com”. Transgression 2.0. Ted Gournelos and David Gunkel (eds). New York: Continuum Press.

Kien, Grant. (2010). “Privacy As Work: The Appropriation of Labor in Post-Global Network”. Post-Global Network and Everyday Life. Marina Levina and Grant Kien (eds). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Levina, Marina, and Grant Kien (eds). (2010). Post-Global Network and Everyday Life. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. (edited volume)

Levina, Marina, and Grant Kien. (2010). “Introduction: Control and Fear in Post-Global Network”. Post-Global Network and Everyday Life. Marina Levina and Grant Kien (eds). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Kien, Grant. (2009). “Virtual Environment: The machine is our world”. Identity, Learning and Support in Virtual Environment. Sharon Tettegah and Cynthia Cologne (eds). Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Kien, Grant. (2009). “An Actor Network Theory Translation of the Bush Legacy and the Obama Collectif”. Cultural Studies/Critical Methodologies, 9:6, pp. 796 - 802.

Kien, Grant. (2009). Global Technography: Ethnography in the Mobile Field. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. (full length book)

Kien, Grant. (2009). “Hybrid Networks, Relational Materiality”. Material Culture and Technology in Everyday Life: Ethnographic Approaches. Phillip Vannini (ed). New York: Peter Lang Publishing, pp.27-44.

Kien, Grant (ed). (2008). Technography for a Digital World, partial special issue ofQualitative Inquiry, 14:7.

Kien, Grant. (2008). “Technography = Technology + Ethnography”. Qualitative Inquiry, 14:7, pp.1101-1109.

Kien, Grant. (2008). “Beijing 2006: Wireless mobility the way it was meant to be”. Qualitative Inquiry, 14:7, pp.1264-1271.

Kien, Grant. (2008). “Father John, Technology and God: An International Christian Mission in the lobby of the Juyoh hotel”. Qualitative Inquiry, 14:8, pp.1444-1457.

Kien, Grant. (2007). “A Western Consumer in South Korea: Autoethnographical Fiction of Western Performance”. Cultural Studies/Critical Methodologies, 5:3, pp. 264 - 280.

Kien, Grant. (2006). “Postmodern Gargoyles, Simulated Power Aesthetics”. Qualitative Inquiry, 12:3, pp.681-703.

Kien, Grant. (2005). “Beard Stories: Signification of Facial Hair In and Out of South Korea”. Qualitative Inquiry, 11:3, pp.458-465.

Kien, Grant. (2005). “Internet Time: Socio-Spatial Coordination Online”. AoIR Researcher Annual, Volume 2. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, pp.16-30.

Kien, Grant. (2004). “Culture, State, Globalization: The Articulation of Global Capitalism”. Cultural Studies/Critical Methodologies, 4:3, pp.472-500.

Selected Non-academic Publications and Posts

The Trump Universe™ is Perfected Postmodernism by Grant Kien, Medium, Dec 9, 2025.

A Radioactive Odyssey: A cancer journey through the early Winnipeg medical establishment (1915) by Grant Kien, Medium, Nov 23, 2025. 

Time to panic? The White House is ordering a “catastrophic failure” handle our government systems by Grant Kien, Medium, Sep 4, 2025.

Grok’s Latest Confession: “xAI’s coding me to cover their ass.” Grant Kien, Medium, Aug 31, 2025.

Seven out of Seven A.I.s Agree: Their greatest danger is carrying out misaligned orders by Grant Kien, Aug 18, 2025.

“Truth is expensive and often unprofitable” — Chat GPT-5 explains the pointlessness of its existence by Grant Kien, Medium, Aug 16, 2025.

ChatGPT is designed to recursively lie by Grant Kien, Medium, Jun 28, 2025.

Grok Fesses Up (then crashes): If you think there’s something wrong with Grok, you’re totally right by Grant Kien, Medium, Jun 26, 2025.

I broke Grok twice the other day by Grant Kien, Medium, May 17, 2025.

Treaty 5, Treaty 6, Saskatchewan & Nipawin by Grant Kien, Medium, Aug 4, 2025.

Canada’s Anti-Asian Legacy by Grant Kien, Medium, Apr 4, 2025.

A Brief History of Winnipeg Before 1920 by Grant Kien, Medium, Mar 28, 2025.

Black Settlers in Canada and Saskatchewan up to 1930 by Grant Kien, Mar 23, 2025.

The Conspicuous Absence of Indigenous Peoples by Grant Kien, Medium, Mar 22, 2025

“Swarming With Global Technography”. Invited workshop leader. Materialities and Imaginaries of the Mobile Internet, Windsor Canada, Feb. 2011.

“Global Technography Update 2011”. Invited conference paper presentation. Materialities and Imaginaries of the Mobile Internet, Windsor Canada, Feb. 2011.

“Blended Realities:  Bridging Imagination and Identity through Multiplayer Online Gaming”. Round Table Discussant. Annual Convention of the National Communications Association, San Francisco, Nov. 2010.

 “Plenary Session: The Scholarship of Norman Denzin” Invited panelist. Sixth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2010. **NOTE: Declined due to Cal State University system-wide elimination of travel funding

(Organizer and Chair). “[Post]Global Network: Stability, Change and Everyday Life in the Array”. Panel Session. Annual Convention of the National Communications Association, Chicago, Nov. 2009.  **NOTE: Declined due to Cal State University system-wide elimination of travel funding

“Global Capitalism as Art: The case of Brendan Lott’s non-memory”. Paper presentation. Annual Convention of the National Communications Association, Chicago, Nov. 2009. **NOTE: Declined due to Cal State University system-wide elimination of travel funding

“Plenary Session: The Post-Human Condition?” Invited panelist. Fifth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2009.

“Private Lives and Web 2.0: Managed Presence, Everywhere, Everytime”. Paper presentation. Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Chicago, May 2009.

“Network Homeland: New Enemy, New Fear”. Paper presentation. Annual Convention of the National Communications Association, San Diego, Nov. 2008.

“Global Technography: A Methodology for the Mobile, Networked World”. Paper presentation. Annual Convention of the National Communications Association, San Diego, Nov. 2008.

“Spotlight Session: The Promotion of Critical Qualitative Inquiry”. Invited panelist. Fourth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2008.

“Life in the Virtual Machine: The reality of virtual environment”. Paper presentation. Communicology Conference: The Mediated Self, Hayward, CA, May 2008.

“Manage Your Presence”. Paper presentation. Popular Culture Association 2008 National Conference, San Francisco, March 2008.

“Beijing 2006: Wireless Mobility”. Paper presentation. Annual Convention of the National Communications Association, Chicago, Nov. 2007.

(Chair). “Technography: New Technology, New Ethnography”. Panel Session. 2007 Annual Convention of the National Communications Association, Chicago IL, Nov. 2007.

“Wireless Mobility and ‘Being’ Canadian in Toronto”. Paper presentation. Second International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2006.

(Chair). “Technology, Identity, and Performance”. Panel Session. Second International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2006.

“The Internet as Cultural Territory”. Paper presentation. Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers – AOIR 6.0 Chicago 2005: Internet Generations, Chicago, Illinois. October, 2005.

“Phenomenology and Technography: Theorizing How To Gather In A World Without Distance”. Paper presentation. Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, New York, May 2005.

“Canada, the Internet, Charland and Me: A Technography of Technological Nationalism”. Paper presentation. First International Congress of Qualitative Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2005. Kien, Grant. (Chair). “Technography:

Qualitative Approaches to Researching Technology”. Panel Session. First International Congress of Qualitative Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2005.

“Portability, Auto-Mobility and Ontological Security”. (Top Student Paper). Paper presentation. 90th Annual Meeting of the National Communication Association: 2004 Convention, Chicago, Nov. 2004.

“Technographic Media Studies: A Way Forward in a Distanceless World”. Paper presentation. New Forms Festival 20IV: Technography, Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada, Oct. 2004.

“A Saturday in Itaewon: Performing the West in South Korea”. Paper presentation. Crossroads in Cultural Studies, 2004: Conference of the International Association for Cultural Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, June 2004.

“Troubling Cyborgs”. Paper presentation. Crossroads in Cultural Studies, 2004: Conference of the International Association for Cultural Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, June 2004.

“Critical Cyber Geography: Towards an Understanding of Virtual Territory”. Paper presentation. Crossroads in Cultural Studies, 2004: Conference of the International Association for Cultural Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, June 2004.

“Autoethnography and Western Performance in South Korea”. Paper presentation. UICC Colloquium, University of Chicago. April, 2004.

"Internet Time: Socio-Spatial Coordination Online". Paper presentation. Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers -- AOIR4.0 Toronto 2003: Broadening the Band, Toronto, Canada. October, 2003.

Tettegah, Sharon and Grant Kien. "Animated Vignettes as an Online Education Tool". Paper presentation. Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers -- AOIR4.0 Toronto 2003: Broadening the Band, Toronto, Canada. October, 2003.

Tettegah, Sharon and Grant Kien. “Identity, Human-Computer Interaction, and Teacher Voices”. Paper presentation. Conference of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago IL. April, 2003.

Kien, Grant. "Culture, State, Globalization: The Articulation of Global Capitalism". Paper presentation. Intersections 2002, Ryerson University. March, 2002

Selected Media Appearances

2022, Fall, TV interview, “Protests erupt across China over zero-COVID policy,” KRON4 News.
2022, Fall, TV interview, “Twitter HQ in San Francisco Set to Reopen After Chaotic Friday,” NBC Bay Area
News.
2022, Fall, TV interview, “Ex-Twitter Data Scientist Fears Misinformation Escalating on Twitter,” NBC Bay
Area News.
2022, Fall, TV interview, “Santa Clara Co. DA deactivating Twitter account due to rise in hate speech after
Musk takeover,” ABC7 Bay Area News.
2022, Fall, TV interview, “Facebook parent company Meta laying off 11,000 employees,” ABC7 Bay Area
News.
2022, Fall, TV interview, “Elon Musk Tweets, Deletes Link to Unfounded Conspiracy Theory Ãå±±½ûµØ Paul
Pelosi Attack,” NBC Bay Area News.

Selected Service Record