A talk I gave at the Edinburgh Open Knowledge Meet-up in June 2017 to introduce the basics of Blockchain technology and showcase some of our work from Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh.
https://www.meetup.com/Scotland-Open-Government-Meetup/events/240917583/
I am currently working on the ESRC funded research project After Money, check out our work on http://aftermoney.design
8. Distributed Ledgers
Building trust via distributed consensus
Anyone can join the transparent network
Exchanging value without need for trusted third
party
Security through multiple identical ledgers
ethereum.org
9. Transactions in the Blockchain
Blockchain
Individual Transactions
http://tabbforum.com/opinions/is-2016-the-year-of-the-
blockchain-in-financial-services?print_preview=true&single=true
10. Ledger
shared, digital, sealed, distributed, public, encrypted
Blocks
incremental storage of transaction as blocks to form an
immutable chain
Mining
Consensus confirmation of transaction activity
releasing new currency to be flooded into the system
to keep flow
Primary Principles
12. Money that could remember who used it
Money that could remember where it has been
Money that could store values
Money that could make choices
Money that could care
From dumb money to smart money
21. Any questions?
Thanks for listening!
bettina.nissen@ed.ac.uk
designinformatics.org
aftermoney.design
@bettinanissen
@designinf
22. Design Informatics Projects.
Bettina Nissen. University of Edinburgh.
bettina.nissen@ed.ac.uk
designinformatics.org
aftermoney.design
@bettinanissen
@designinf
23. Body Storming
• Engage with complex technological concepts through
experimental, playful, conceptual interventions
• Reconsider value exchange beyond monetary
transactions
• Not to solve problems but to challenge practices and
open up spaces for new discussion and inspiration
40. Body Storming with GeoCoin
Try GeoCoin by going to:
http://geocoin.site
geocoin.site/civicblocks
geocoin.site/geoaid
(Chrome works better than Safari)
Collect debit and credit coins while
considering how the different zones
affect your movement or flow through
the city and what layers or
parameters you could envisage to
guide geo-located smart contracts.
geocoin.site
Editor's Notes
Research Associate on After Money aiming to make complex fin technologies more accessible to wider audiences …
Design Informatics - University of Edinburgh
Push Pull economy changing economy from 20th to 21st century... --- Push economy – big businesses and manfuacturers producing products which are then pushed/sold through markets to the end consumer where as now in the new Pull economy model, the consumer and producer are becoming more intertwined (e.g. Airbnb model of exchange of services)
Push Pull economy changing economy from 20th to 21st century... --- Push economy – big businesses and manfuacturers producing products which are then pushed/sold through markets to the end consumer where as now in the new Pull economy model, the consumer and producer are becoming more intertwined (e.g. Airbnb model of exchange of services)
Setting the scene, from design practice, IoT, data, ubiqutous… and entangled, hybrid practices and interactions
Push Pull economy changing economy from 20th to 21st century... --- Push economy – big businesses and manfuacturers producing products which are then pushed/sold through markets to the end consumer where as now in the new Pull economy model, the consumer and producer are becoming more intertwined (e.g. Airbnb model of exchange of services)
Which now includes customers, companies and suppliers in more complex value constellations. Consumers are no longer the end of a long supply or value chains but more entangled and engaged at the point of value creation in a whole range of different relationships. And this less hierarchical model of consumers, suppliers and producers is further underpinned by the technology which we are aiming to explore today. To understand some of these development I’ll give a brief overview of the main terms >> blockchain, ledgers, smart contracts.
Focus on Blockchain (not bitcoin) but here a brief overview of bitcoin/cryptocurrency’s benefits
Digital currency to be sent via email or generally over the internet, it’s underlying blockchain technology of a distributed, public ledger
Focus on Blockchain (not bitcoin) but here a brief overview of bitcoin/cryptocurrency’s benefits
Digital currency to be sent via email or generally over the internet, it’s underlying blockchain technology of a distributed, public ledger is the more important and interesting aspect, making digital value transaction possible and secure…
Now to understand how distributed ledgers differ, is that all the transaction information usually held by a third party is now stored in each node of the network, each ledger mirroring the other so that …. No third parties are needed… see above
The blockchain system is a distributed ledger… based on a transaction being send to a network of nodes which are validating the transaction via consensus and stores a number of transactions into a block, which is unique and based on previous blocks data….
Proof of work (computers work to solve crypto problem)
Now to maybe make more sense, I’ll return to the Blockchain and it’s valuable principles. With the lego workshop…
We hope in this workshop that we can open up a space where we move away from transactions of money towards broader exchanges of value and the flow of that.
Transaction history of ledger, blocks… and tracablity
Focus on Blockchain (not bitcoin) but here a brief overview of bitcoin/cryptocurrency’s benefits
Digital currency to be sent via email or generally over the internet, it’s underlying blockchain technology of a distributed, public ledger
Coding – what goes into a smart contract/what are the rules/triggers/
Ledger – similar to transactions, the smart contract is sent to distributed netwrok
Execution – Verification/Consensus driven processing of the result of the contract which will lead to it being updated in ledger
Traditional or current contract models are simple, linear transactions which are held and actioned by a centralised organisation
>> Originally contracts included financial data only but with increasingly complex scripting languages other data can be stored in so called smart contracts
In contrast, the new smart contracts are recorded in a replicated, shared ledger (records immutable and harder to hack) where transactions are not merely triggered but can be programmed to depend on a range of different events adjusting the value of the transaction and also storing the value and state of this transaction in a new record.
More specifically this is how potential code could work, specific conditions and parameters can be incorprated to ‘trigger’ a ‘transaction’
Ethereum is one the main smart contracting platform that allows developers to create their own distributed network and currencies… the goal of distributed systems is >> bitcoin to etherium (transactions in bitcoin is script, ehtereum more complex language)
In contrast, the new smart contracts are recorded in a replicated, shared ledger (records immutable and harder to hack) where transactions are not merely triggered but can be programmed to depend on a range of different events adjusting the value of the transaction and also storing the value and state of this transaction in a new record.
What could this be? Where is trust necessary and benefitial? --- Emergent Uses
Where can or has blockchain added value to previously centralised – not stored with governements or organisations but on a distributed ledger
List abbreviated from:
http://ledracapital.com/blog/2014/3/11/bitcoin-series-24-the-mega-master-blockchain-list
Pros and cons…
In design informatics we use these designs, prototypes as provocations to experiences with and bodystorm… as a way to engage different audiences .... etc
Research Associate on After Money aiming to make complex fin technologies more accessible to wider audiences …
Design Informatics - University of Edinburgh
In design informatics we use these designs, prototypes as provocations to experiences with and bodystorm… as a way to engage different audiences .... etc
From Research Project Design In Action !!!
Understand the power of the blockchain, not as fintech solution but in relationship with value transactions -- Loaded with economic or monetary transactions that it is difficult to see value transactions beyond that -- So this Lego workshop aims to unfold these issues, relationships and opportunities that blockchain can offer
What is of value to them? – discussions etc
Ethereum based but on test network, so not using actual currency/ether…
Workshop is there to support and unpack ideas around value and transactions…
Workshop is there to support and unpack ideas around value and transactions…
Unfinished software to engage audiences and inspire new ideas
Workshop is there to support and unpack ideas around value and transactions…
Workshop is there to support and unpack ideas around value and transactions…
Unfinished software to engage audiences and inspire new ideas
Workshop is there to support and unpack ideas around value and transactions…
Workshop is there to support and unpack ideas around value and transactions…
In design informatics we use these designs, prototypes as provocations to experiences with and bodystorm… as a way to engage different audiences .... etc
Workshop is there to support and unpack ideas around value and transactions…