Dr Orçun Can
Programme Director, Digital Economies MSc | Lecturer in Digital Economy
Orçun’s research and teaching examine the intersection of digital storytelling, media theory, and platform cultures. His work explores how narratives are shaped, distributed, and experienced within interactive and networked environments. He brings together perspectives from narratology, the creative industries, and the digital economy.
A current strand of his research investigates the cultures and practices of video game development. He is particularly interested in how production processes, devlogs, and collaborative design spaces give rise to new forms of narrative and play. Alongside this, he writes on internet television, streaming platforms, and the changing aesthetics and economies of screen media.
Combining academic and creative practice, Orçun also works as a writer for film, television, and literature. He uses these experiences to bridge theory and practice in his teaching and scholarship. As a professional dungeon- and games-master, he experiments with role-playing games as spaces for collective storytelling, world-building, and interactivity.
He has been recognised for his innovative teaching, receiving nominations for the King’s Excellence Award in 2021 and 2025. His modules engage students in critical debates on media theory, digital culture, and creative production. He encourages them to think about not just how media works, but how it is made.
Orçun’s expertise in digital storytelling and subscription-based streaming platforms has also led to public engagement work. This includes appearances on Turkish television discussing the regulation of internet broadcasting.
His publication, “The Bingeable Ms. Gilmore: A Comparative Structural Narrative Analysis Between Gilmore Girls and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life” (in Binge-watching and Contemporary Television, Edinburgh University Press, 2021), examines narrative form and televisual continuity in the era of streaming.
Research interests
Digital storytelling
Internet television and streaming platforms
Video game development and production cultures
Creative industries and the digital economy
Narrative form and media theory
Career highlights and qualifications
- PhD in Digital Economy and Narratology, with a focus on storytelling, media industries, and online platform cultures.
- Nominated for King’s Excellence Awards for teaching innovation (2021, 2025).
- Published in Binge-watching and Contemporary Television (Edinburgh University Press, 2021).
- Contributor to Turkish national media on internet television regulation and digital storytelling.