A far-reaching and strikingly original collection of essays on the"culture of software" by new-media critic Matthew Fuller. *Behind theBlip* looks at the many ways in which the ostensibly neutral userinterfaces, search engines, "intelligent agents," and word processorsthat are now part of our everyday life are actively reshaping the waywe look at and interact with the world."While most institutions are still trying to figure out what to dowith 'new media,' some of the best of new-media artists and theoristshave already moved on to the next paradigm: the study of softwareculture. Matthew Fuller's excellent collection is the first monographin this emerging field. Combining solid understanding of theory andmodern art history with the groundbreaking practical work in softwareculture, Fuller brilliantly analyzes the tools which we all useeveryday to interface with the world and each other: Web browsers,search engines, word processors. What Fuller gives us is not just ausual book of theory but rather a kind of software--a 'critical helpsystem' to help us understand what is really going on behind the menuand 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)
