Times Square’s Luminescent News Tickers and Public Spaces
Evan Rudowski argues he was sending tweets long before Twitter emerged in 2007. In 1986, Rudowski got a job scanning the newswires like AP and UPI and entering short 80-character news briefs into what has been called the “Zipper”, a five feet high and 880 feet long electric display providing breaking news and stock prices […]
“Run to Goshen Regardless of Opposing Train”
When I was growing up, on a summer night, with the bedroom windows open, I could often hear the far off whistle of a train warning of its approach to a nearby road crossing. The trains were leaving or entering my hometown of Goshen, New York; a small community known for its regional government center, […]
Black Friday and Thomas Edison’s Stock Ticker
This post continues the story about gold and the greenback dollar and how their trading dynamics led to the invention of some early electro-mechanical technology to indicate financial prices. During the height of speculative activity in 1869, a young telegrapher named Thomas Edison came to Wall Street and made a fortune. He didn’t make it […]
America’s Financial Futures History
In his book, Nature’s Metropolis, (1991) William Cronen discussed the rise of Chicago as a central entrepot in the formation of American West. The city was strategically located between the western prairies and northern timberlands and with access routes by river and the Great Lakes. As a dynamic supplier of the nation’s food and lumber […]
Railroads and Western Union Connect a Continent
This is a section from my upcoming book Telegraphy, Tabulation, and Time-Space Power: Information Technologies and Financial News in Early America. The geographic expanse and rugged terrain of the American West presented major challenges to overland transportation and the expansion of telegraphic communication. Attempts to conquer these obstacles would shape the American frontier for years […]
Gold, Greenbacks and Invention of Electric Indicators for Financial News
Discovered first at Sutter Creek, California, the precious metal introduced a new flow of currency and capital into the US economy. The challenges brought on by the new wealth set in motion technological changes as well. The telegraph was bringing in a new age of electrical innovation, and one of its first creations was the gold indicator.
Telegraphic Communications and the Emergence of Wall Street
This is from an ongoing side project I’m about to publish Telegraphy, Tabulation, and Time-Space Power: Information Technology and Financial News in Early America. Capital markets have long sold themselves as vehicles for capital movement and liquidity. They aggregate wealth from a wide geographical area and make it available at a fixed locale. They also […]
The Fedwire Network and Open Market Operations of the Federal Reserve
I’ve been studying financial technology since I did my masters degree on global money and telecommunications networks. One of the most intriguing examples is the US Federal Reserve’s Fedwire network. Probably the most secure data network in the world, it has been designed to provide a wide range of services for financial institutions such as […]
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About Me
Professor and Associate Chair at State University of New York (SUNY) Korea. Recently taught at Hannam University in Daejeon, South Korea. Moved to Austin, Texas in August 2012 to join the Digital Media Management program at St. Edwards University. Spent the previous decade on the faculty at New York University teaching and researching information systems, media economics, and strategic communications.
You can reach me at:
anthony.pennings@gmail.com
anthony.pennings@sunykorea.ac.kr
