《当代数码艺术》是介绍西方最新数码电影、图像及艺术作品的精选集，兼具批评、理论和历史的色彩。这些文章是高名潞和陈小文从二十世纪九十年代以来出版的多部重要英文数码理论文集中遴选而来。它们最初发表在这一领域最重要的英文出版物上，具有一定的代表性。它们有的侧重某一问题，有的比较宽泛，有的理论性强，甚至偏于自然科学理论，有的则偏重人文历史。读者可以从这些具有多样性的文章中发现一些非常敏锐和颇具前沿性的观点，并得到更多的启发。

In this book Lev Manovich offers the first systematic and rigorous theory of new media. He places new media within the histories of visual and media cultures of the last few centuries. He discusses new media's reliance on conventions of old media, such as the rectangular frame and mobile camera, and shows how new media works create the illusion of reality, address the viewer, and represent space. He also analyzes categories and forms unique to new media, such as interface and database.Manovich uses concepts from film theory, art history, literary theory, and computer science and also develops new theoretical constructs, such as cultural interface, spatial montage, and cinegratography. The theory and history of cinema play a particularly important role in the book. Among other topics, Manovich discusses parallels between the histories of cinema and of new media, digital cinema, screen and montage in cinema and in new media, and historical ties between avant-garde film and new media.