Digital Contagions: A Media Archaeology of Computer Viruses (Digital Formations)
«Inspired by the work of Paul Virilio, Friedrich Kittler, and Gilles Deleuze, this book chronicles the contemporary digital landscape through the menagerie of email worms and computer viruses that infect and define it. A self-described media archeologist, Jussi Parikka is both theoretically nuanced and technically detailed, a welcome relief coming on the heels of dotcom hysteria over digital hygiene. The result is a becoming-viral of today’s technological culture. It is essential reading for anyone infected by the digital contagion.» (Alexander R. Galloway, Assistant Professor, Department of Culture and Communication, New York University; Author of ‘Protocol and Gaming’)«‘Digital Contagions’ is the first book to look at the computer virus as a historical and cultural phenomenon, rather than simply as a technological issue. It brilliantly recounts the history of the emergence of such viruses in the context of other epidemics, and how these different kinds of contagions are ineluctably bound together in our technologized, digital culture. The book is an essential text for helping us come to terms with the massive changes this emerging culture is bringing about.» (Charlie Gere, Reader in New Media Research, Lancaster University; Author of ‘Digital Culture’ and ‘Art, Time and Technology’)