Stablecoins, Blockchains, and the Semiotic-Telecom-Computational Stack of Spreadsheet Capitalism
This post continues the spreadsheet capitalism framework, focusing on crypto stablecoins as a further manifestation of the semiotic-symbolic gridmatic technologies that synthesize writing-as-substitution with computation-as-symbolic-action. Yet, unlike Excel and other spreadsheets, crypto blockchains add irreversibility, temporal structure, and global accessibility. It is a semiotic-computational system with historical memory and real-time synchronization, providing the international grid […]
Spreadsheet Formulas and the Temporal Imperatives of the Leveraged Buyout Economy
The IBM PC and its compatibles (Compaq, Dell, DEC Rainbow 100), powered by Intel’s microprocessors, provided the hardware platform for the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet to thrive in the 1980s. The spreadsheet’s features, combined with Intel’s 8088’s processing power, made it a versatile tool for financial professionals. This post analyzes the digital spreadsheet’s capability to use […]
Visual Rhetoric Analysis of Social Media: YouTube Channels and Memes
What makes a successful YouTube channel? What meaning-making practices are used to make a channel interesting, or informative, or enjoyable? What story is being told, who is telling it, and how is it being told? How are people making money from it? These are some of the main questions we address in the final project […]
Lotus 1-2-3, Temporal Finance, and the Rise of Spreadsheet Capitalism
One of the books I read during my PhD years was Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco (1989), about the $25 billion leveraged buyout (LBO) of the iconic conglomerate (tobacco/snacks/) by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR). An LBO is the purchase of a company using large amounts of short-term debt and […]
AI and the Rise of Networked Robotics
We use the first two chapters of Kaku’s book on the “Future of the Computer: Mind over Matter” and “Future of AI: Rise of the Machines” as part of my Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society course. Both chapters address robotics and are insightful in many ways, but they lacked focus on networked intelligence. The book was published on the verge of the AI and robotics explosion that is coming from crowdsourcing, webscraping, and other networked data collection techniques that can gather information for machine learning (ML).
Digital Disruption in the Film Industry – Gains and Losses – Part 3: Digital FX Emerges
“To succeed predictably, disruptors must be good theorists.” – Clayton Christensen I had a chance to attend a special showing of The Wrath of Khan (1982), the second Star Trek movie, with my daughter a few years ago at the University of Texas in Austin. It included a live appearance by William Shatner, who starred […]
How Do Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Use APIs and Web Scraping to Collect Data?
In both AI and Big Data applications, data networks are fundamental to the efficient gathering of information. High speed communications enable the seamless transfer of data between different sources, applications, and cloud locations, contributing to the overall effectiveness of AI models and Big Data analytics. APIs and web scraping are two techniques that are used to gather information from data networks.
Deep Packet Inspection of Internet Traffic and Net Neutrality
Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) is a network technology used to inspect and analyze the contents of data packets running through the Internet. It is a critical component of many network security, monitoring, and optimization solutions. DPI can be used in ways that violate these principles, such as by throttling or blocking specific types of content, services, or applications. In such cases, DPI is directly at odds with net neutrality.
« go back — keep looking »Referencing this Material
About Me
Professor (full) at State University of New York (SUNY) Korea since 2016. Research Professor for Stony Brook University. 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 global political economy
You can reach me at:
anthony.pennings@gmail.com
apennings70@gmail.com
anthony.pennings@sunykorea.ac.kr
About me
Writings by Category
- artificial intelligence
- automatrix
- blockchain
- books and films
- characteristics of digital media
- creative cities
- creative industries
- crisis communications
- cryptocurrencies
- 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
- disaster risk management
- 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
- public administration
- science and technology studies
- sensing technologies
- smart new deal
- social media
- space systems
- spreadsheet logic
- 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
