Frank Baker passed this interesting cultural studies book my way, looks like an interesting and complicated look at "the perils and possibilities of photography in a digital age."
After Photography by Fred Ritchin
After Photography examines the myriad ways in which the digital revolution has fundamentally altered the way we receive visual information, from photos of news events taken by ordinary people on cell phones to the widespread use of image surveillance. In a world beset by critical problems and ambiguous boundaries, Fred Ritchin argues that it is time to begin energetically exploring the possibilities created by digital innovations and to use them to better understand our rapidly changing world.
Ritchin—one of our most influential commentators on photography—investigates the future of visual media as the digital revolution transforms images into a hypertextual medium, fundamentally changing the way we conceptualize the world. Simultaneously, the increased manipulation of photographs makes photography suspect as reliable documentation, raising questions about its role in recounting personal and public histories. In the tradition of John Berger and Susan Sontag, Ritchin analyzes photography's failings and reveals untapped potentials for the medium.
Fred Ritchin is the director of PixelPress and a professor of photography and imaging at New York University. He was named one of the 100 most important people in photography by American Photo magazine. He lives in New York City.
Book website is
http://www.afterphotography.org/