Anthony J. Pennings, PhD

WRITINGS ON AI POLICY, DIGITAL ECONOMICS, ENERGY STRATEGIES, AND GLOBAL E-COMMERCE

Spreadsheet Knowledge and Production of the “Modern Fact”

Poovey’s book provides a critical background and framework for understanding how certain forms of knowledge became authoritative and seemingly “objective.” She argued that the rise of double-entry bookkeeping and statistical sciences in the early modern period was not merely a technical advancement but a profound epistemological shift. These systems created a new way of seeing and organizing the world through numerical representation, presenting complex realities as quantifiable and manageable facts.

Digital Spreadsheets – Part 5 – Numeracy and the Power of Zero

The zero is an extraordinary cognitive invention that has been central to the quantitative workings of the spreadsheet. In conjunction with Indo-Arabic numerals and double-entry accounting techniques, the spreadsheet has been crucial to the rise of modern capitalism and that peculiar historical manifestation, the contemporary corporation.

Digital Spreadsheets – The Time-Space Power of Accounting, Part 1

The digital spreadsheet was designed as an electronic document in which data was arranged in the rows and columns of a matrix and could be manipulated and used in calculations. It combined listing, tabling, and other formulaic calculations to create a new imaginative technology that transformed modern finance and the management of organizations. While the spreadsheet handles various types of information, accounting information is some of the most effective and its power is accelerated by an organization’s information technology.

Lotus Spreadsheets – Part 4 – Symbols and Lists as Administrative Technologies

Spreadsheets like Lotus 1-2-3 were designed to facilitate organizational coordination and activity by setting up relationships between symbolic and material resources. Using a grid structure, spreadsheets achieve their efficacy by combining the following components: symbolic representation; lists; tables; cells and; formulas. In this post I will examine how the first two components, symbolic representations and […]

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  • 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

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    The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of my employers, past or present. Articles are not meant as financial advice.

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