The Lasting Impact of ALOHAnet and Norman Abramson
The success and influence of ALOHAnet proved that multiple devices could share the same communication medium effectively, ultimately helping shape the modern landscape of wired and wireless networking.
All Watched over by “Systems” of Loving Grace
Adam Curtis’ documentary series, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, delves into the relationship between technology, political ideologies, and human agency. Inspired by Richard Brautigan’s poem, Curtis explores how technology shapes our governance systems and worldview. In “The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts,” Curtis critiques the adoption of natural systems thinking in political and technological contexts, tracing the origins of ecological systems thinking back to the work of figures like Jay Forrester, Norbert Wiener, Buckminster Fuller, and the Odum brothers. These ideas, initially intended to describe natural ecosystems, were later applied to human societies and governance, conflating nature with machine intelligence. Curtis raises concerns about how these systems-based frameworks reduce humans to mere nodes in networks, challenging the Enlightenment view of humanity as autonomous and separate from nature.
Curtis also explores the legacy of systems thinking through the work of the Club of Rome and its 1972 publication Limits to Growth, which used computer simulations to model the Earth as a closed system. The documentary raises questions about the consequences of seeing human and natural systems as mechanistic, potentially leading to a distorted understanding of complex, dynamic realities.
AI and Remote Sensing for Monitoring Landslides and Flooding
Invited remarks prepared for the 2024 United Nations Public Service Forum ‘Fostering Innovation Amid Global Challenges: A Public Sector Perspective.’ Songdo Convensia, the Republic of Korea 24 -26 June 2024. Organized by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), Republic of Korea. Thank you very much for this opportunity to address how science and […]
Remote Sensing Technologies for Disaster Risk Reduction
Sensing technologies can provide valuable information about potential hazards, assessing their impact, and supporting response and recovery efforts. This information can support decision-makers and emergency responders before, during, and after disasters. By providing high-resolution maps and imagery (either real-time or archived for analysis over time) they can identify vulnerable areas and monitor changes in the environment, such as changes in land use, crop health, flooding, deforestation, and urbanization.
Technostructural Stages of Global ICT for Development (ICT4D)
This post explores and outlines the following stages or phases of economic and social development utilizing information and communications technologies. The ICT acronym has emerged as a popular moniker, especially in international usage, for the digital technology revolution and is often combined with “development” to form ICT4D.
The Expanse: Cyberpunk in Space
The 4 Cs of Cyberpunk is a framework to conduct a genre inquiry and build knowledge by addressing the categories and letting them discipline the investigation. I’ve been using it more to develop a socio-technical analysis develop a socio-technical analysis of various tech products in areas such as AI, energy, biochemistry, nanotechnology, robotics, and even space travel. Still, in this case, I’m using it for traditional genre analysis to get a sense of where science fiction is guiding our imagination. What is it saying about who we are and where we are heading as a civilization?
Starlink and the Return of Satellite Internet Service
In this post, I look at a new satellite system being put into place by Elon Musk and his SpaceX operations and how it can reach remote locations traditionally underserved by Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
The Landsat Legacy
“It was the granddaddy of them all, as far as starting the trend of repetitive, calibrated observations of the Earth at a spatial resolution where one can detect man’s interaction with the environment.” – Dr. Darrel Williams, Landsat 7 Project Scientist The Landsat satellite program is the longest-running program for sensing, acquiring, and archiving of […]
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About Me
Professor at State University of New York (SUNY) Korea since 2016. 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, digital economics, and strategic communications.
You can reach me at:
apennings70@gmail.com
anthony.pennings@sunykorea.ac.kr
About me
Writings by Category
- artificial intelligence
- automatrix
- books and films
- characteristics of digital media
- creative cities
- creative industries
- crisis communications
- cultural Industries
- data analytics and meaning
- democratic political economies
- digital coordination
- digital destruction
- digital geography
- digital media economics
- digital media management
- digital monetarism
- digital spreadsheets
- disruption
- dystopian economies
- educational innovations
- electric money
- enabling frameworks
- enterprise systems
- financial news
- financial technology
- food policy and security
- futurists
- geopolitical risk
- global communications
- global e-commerce
- health IT
- how IT came to rule the world
- intellectual property
- journalism
- meaning makers
- meaningful play
- media strategies
- mobile technologies
- multimedia
- political economies in sf
- political economy of media
- science and technology studies
- sensing technologies
- smart new deal
- social media
- space systems
- strategic communications
- sustainable development
- technologies of meaning
- technology management
- telecom policy and net neutrality
- telegraphic political economy
- telelearn/telework
- the cold war
- the smith effect
- uncategorized
- visual literacy and rhetoric