We recommend: Dr. Sebastian Gießmann “Die erste App: kleine Geschichte der Kreditkarte”

In the article “The first app: a brief history of the credit card” on ZEVEDI eFin & Demokratie blog, Dr. Sebastian Gießmann traces the development of the credit card as a central medium of consumer society. Starting from its beginnings in the early 20th century as a charge plate, which was particularly widespread in the USA, the transformation of the credit card into a global payment method is described, which embodies both socio-economic prestige and technological innovation.

Sebastian Gießmann shows the developments in media technology and society that have made the credit card an indispensable part of modern capitalism and how the physical credit card has been continuously adapted to the requirements of an increasingly digitalized world – despite and also because of the rapid development of mobile payment services and app-based financial technologies.

➞ Full Article (only available in German)

Together with Prof. Dr. Valérie Schafer, Dr. Sebastian Gießmann heads the sub-project A01 – “Digital Network Technologies between Specialization and Generalization” in the SFB 1187 “Media of Cooperation” and is Academic Senior Councillor for Media Theory at the University of Siegen. His Kreditkarten-Buch: Geschichte und Theorie des digitalen Bezahlens will be published in 2025 by Kadmos Verlag, Berlin.

The blog of the discourse project Demokratiefragen der digitalisierten Finanzwirtschaft eFin & Demokratie of the Centre for Responsible Digitalization (ZEVEDI) of the Technical University of Darmstadt publishes articles that observe and discuss the digital transformation in the financial sector, the state and in everyday life. The aim is to promote and understand discourse and thus actively participate in democracy.