M White:

Hello, my book on Internet and computer spectatorship--The Body and the Screen: Theories of Internet Spectatorship--was just published by MIT Press. I thought that it would be of interest to other Rhizome readers because it has chapters on such things as the interface, net art, digital imaging, and how avatar production is conceptualized as painting. It also has a brief consideration of the debates that occurred around Rhizome membership. I am including full publication details and the table of contents below. I would be happy to answer any questions.

All my best, Michele

White, Michele. The Body and the Screen: Theories of Internet Spectatorship. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. ISBN 0-262-23249-9

The Body, the Screen, and Representations: An Introduction to Theories of Internet Spectatorship

1. Making Internet and Computer Spectators Introduction Rendering Liveness, Materiality, and Space Notions of the Empowered User Addressing the Spectator Stabilizing Identity Erasing the Interface Conclusion: Active Users by Design

2. Visual Pleasure through Textual Passages: Gazing in Multi-user Object-oriented Settings (MOOs) Introduction MOOs The Look and the Gaze Character Creation and Attributes in MOOs The Look and the Gaze in MOOs Gendered Gazing in MOOs Graphical MOOs Conclusion: Between Multiple and Coherent Identity

1. Too Close to See, Too Intimate a Screen: Men, Women, and Webcams Introduction Feminism and Spectatorship Critical and Journalistic Considerations of Webcams Webcams Women and Webcams Regulating the Spectator Women Webcam Operators and Authority Visibility and Webcams Making Texts Real Some Problems with Webcam Viewing Just a Guy Conclusion: The Politics of Being Seen

   4. The Aesthetic of Failure: Confusing Spectators with Net Art Gone Wrong Introduction Aesthetics and Net Art Net Art An Aesthetic of Failure Jodi Peter Luining Michaël Samyn Conclusion: The Limits of Failure and Repetition

   5. Can You Read Me? Setting-specific Meaning in Virtual Places (VP) Introduction Virtual Places Avatars Painters and Avatar Galleries Owning Texts Criteria for Originality Theories of Internet Authorship Gender, Race, Sexuality, and the Avatar Making Differences in Virtual Places Conclusion: Authorship in Other Internet Settings

   6. This Is Not Photography, This Is Not a Cohesive View: Computer-facilitated Imaging and Fragmented Spectatorship Introduction Making the Digital Imaging Spectator Photography Digital or Post-photography The Scanner as Camera Carol Selter's Animalia and Punctum Susan Silton's Self Portraits and Images of the Partial Self Ken Gonzales-Day's Skin Series and the Cut The New Media Grid Conclusion: The Morphed Spectator

   Afterword The Flat and the Fold: A Consideration of Embodied Spectatorship Introduction Carol Selter, Susan Silton, Ken Gonzales-Day, and the Fold The Body Folded and Evacuated Hierarchy and Control The Spectator in Pain The Fat and the Fold Men and the Weight Loss "Challenge" Erotic Folding Conclusion: A Technology of Waste