Behind the Blip

Software actively shapes the way we know, see, and do things in the world. In Behind the Blip, a far-reaching and strikingly original collection of essays on the "culture of software," new-media critic Matthew Fuller sets out some of the ways in which people are opening this process up to greater d [...]
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Software actively shapes the way we know, see, and do things in the world. In Behind the Blip, a far-reaching and strikingly original collection of essays on the "culture of software," new-media critic Matthew Fuller sets out some of the ways in which people are opening this process up to greater debate and experimentation. Behind the Blip brings together insights from social studies of science and philosophies of technology, with accounts and ideas from hackers, artists, inventors, programmers, and other users of software. Behind the Blip surveys the potential grounds for software criticism and proposes some currents in software that call for new ways of thinking about the subject. It also offers numerous case studies taken from Fuller's own experience participating in the production of a popular experimental web browser; a site parasiting search engines to hack racism on the net; and a large-scale disassembly of the world's "favourite" writing machine, Microsoft Word. Behind the Blip refuses to stop asking questions or settle for what's served up on the desktop. Along the way, fundamental possibilities for technology, computers, and culture are set loose.'While most institutions are still trying to figure out what to do with 'new media,' some of the best of new-media artists and theorists have already moved on to the next paradigm: the study of software culture. Matthew Fuller's excellent collection is the first monograph in this emerging field. Combining solid understanding of theory and modern art history with the groundbreaking practical work in software culture, Fuller brilliantly analyzes the tools which we all use everyday to interface with the world and each other: Web browsers, search engines, word processors. What Fuller gives us is not just a usual book of theory but rather a kind of software--a 'critical help system' to help us understand what is really going on behind the menu and the windows of our computer screens.' --Dr. Lev Manovich, Visual Arts Department, University of California, San Diego; author of *The Language of New Media* (MIT Press) 'A compelling hybrid of sci-fi style merged with hard-edged software criticism from the perspective of a very dissatisfied customer. This book is your chance to ingest the venom and bile of Bill Gates's evil twin.'--Critical Art Ensemble