James E. Dobson is assistant professor of English and creative writing and director of the Institute for Writing and Rhetoric at Dartmouth College. His most recent books are Critical Digital Humanities: The Search for a Methodology and Moonbit.

"A key technology of our time, computer vision is embedded in both our professional and everyday lives in numerous ways-from helping doctors diagnose diseases to enabling organizations to obtain accurate information about remote natural disaster zones and refugee camps to allowing billions of people to capture better images with their phone cameras. Focusing on the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s, James E. Dobson offers the first book tracing the development of computer vision. Combining historical research and theoretical analysis, The Birth of Computer Vision is an invaluable contribution to the fields of media theory, software studies, and algorithm studies."-Dr. Lev Manovich, author of Cultural Analytics"In this timely and eye-opening book, James E. Dobson provides a penetrating analysis of the opportunities and challenges of facial recognition and other computer vision technology by excavating its formation from the sediment of history, tracing its connections to the military industrial complex of the Cold War, and critically examining the notable successes and failures of embryonic research efforts and prototypes."-David J. Gunkel, author of Deconstruction

James E. Dobson is assistant professor of English and creative writing and director of the Institute for Writing and Rhetoric at Dartmouth College. His most recent books are Critical Digital Humanities: The Search for a Methodology and Moonbit.

"A key technology of our time, computer vision is embedded in both our professional and everyday lives in numerous ways-from helping doctors diagnose diseases to enabling organizations to obtain accurate information about remote natural disaster zones and refugee camps to allowing billions of people to capture better images with their phone cameras. Focusing on the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s, James E. Dobson offers the first book tracing the development of computer vision. Combining historical research and theoretical analysis, The Birth of Computer Vision is an invaluable contribution to the fields of media theory, software studies, and algorithm studies."-Dr. Lev Manovich, author of Cultural Analytics"In this timely and eye-opening book, James E. Dobson provides a penetrating analysis of the opportunities and challenges of facial recognition and other computer vision technology by excavating its formation from the sediment of history, tracing its connections to the military industrial complex of the Cold War, and critically examining the notable successes and failures of embryonic research efforts and prototypes."-David J. Gunkel, author of Deconstruction