Blog

44 posts

What will we build first?

How do we approach Blockchain in libraries as developers?  We can start small and replicate a function that is not done with Blockchain.  A demo or even a novelty would be good. In Raymond Dean’s web design class, we were assigned to put in various types of code such as JavaScript, along with our usual CSS and HTML5.  My goal is still to make it to […]

The Truth About Blockchain: 2 1/2 years later

This article by Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani came out in the January/February issue of the Harvard Business Review. The authors outline an adaptation cycle for Blockchain, which they predict will closely follow the trajectory of TCP/IP adaptation.  TCP/IP began as a single use application for ARPAnet messaging.  Before that, computers had to be connected to each other in order to communicate. From there, they […]

Register for Free MOOC: Blockchain & Decentralization for the Information Industries Mar 11 – Apr 21, 2019

ENROLL IN THIS FREE MOOC TODAY DESCRIPTION Blockchain technology is a trend on the brink of revolutionizing the public and private sectors, and it is on the radar of many who are curious about its global disruptive potential for accessing and sharing information among individuals, organizations, and governments. This MOOC will provide a background for individuals involved with libraries, urban planning, government agencies, publishing & other […]

Blockchain: It Landed in My Library and It Could be Coming to Yours by Megan Wong

I first learned that our community was interested in blockchain technology when the “Peninsula Digital Currency, Bitcoin, and Blockchain Meetup” – which regularly meets in our study rooms –  could no longer fit in the room, having unexpectedly overflowed with eager participants. Sensing a possible program idea, I reached out to the group’s leader, Aaron Wu (an attorney and digital assets entrepreneur) and asked if he’d […]

Blockchain: Apps and Ideas

The participants in the Blockchain National Forum represented a variety of libraries, information organizations, and related corporations.  They brought expertise and understanding of the ways that blockchain technology could or should not be used by the information professions. Each of the participants provided an Executive Summary that captures their ideas for the application of blockchain technology.  They discussed their views at the National Forum that was […]

Blockchain – Chock full of problems for medical data privacy by Jessica Berger, MLIS, CIPM

Readers are invited to challenge my position.  This technology is in its nascence and more is yet to come…. Blockchain undermines The Fair Information Practices Principle of Participation                   Computer based patient records have already caused millions of innocent patients’ private medical details to be breached and exploited.  These records should by right have remained offline.  Currently, I believe that it is a serious mistake for […]

Blockchain & Libraries from Carnegie Mellon – Qatar by Jason Griffey

  March 22, 2018 Blockchainblockchain, CMU-Qatar, decentralization, qatargriffey This past month I traveled to a place I wasn’t sure I’d ever visit…Doha, Qatar. I was brought to Doha for an awesome reason, to deliver the Gloriana St. Clair Distinguished Lecture in 21st Century Librarianship. The topic that I was asked to prepare remarks on was Blockchain (which I chose to broadly construe as decentralized technologies) and how it (they) might […]

Blockchain: It Landed in My Library and It Could be Coming to Yours! by Megan Wong

I first learned that our community was interested in blockchain technology when the “Peninsula Digital Currency, Bitcoin, and Blockchain Meetup” – which regularly meets in our study rooms –  could no longer fit in the room, having unexpectedly overflowed with eager participants. Sensing a possible program idea, I reached out to the group’s leader, Aaron Wu (an attorney and digital assets entrepreneur) and asked if he’d […]

Blockchain: Could libraries and open science benefit from this technology? (Jason Griffey)

  https://www.zbw-mediatalk.eu/en/2018/02/blockchain-profitieren-bibliotheken-und-open-science-von-der-technologie/ Jason is the founder and principal at Evenly Distributed, a technology consulting and creation firm for libraries, museums, education, and other non-profits, and he is an Affiliate Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University,.  More information about Jason can be found here.

Librarians Harness the Potential of Blockchain Technology—Get Involved

  Blockchain technology. It’s more than a buzz word, and it’s time librarians explore how it can be used to enhance the role played by libraries within their communities. Get involved in the research while the implementation of the technology is still in the infancy stage. With a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the San José State University School of Information is […]

Blockchain and libraries at IFLA

This is definitely a topic of interest with the international library community. Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (trends.ifla.org/node/428; trends.ifla.org/node/429) have been identified and reported on as emerging issues in the IFLA Trend Report 2016. The IFLA Committee on Copyright and other Legal Matters has also prepared a “Books in Blockchain” briefing on the topic in 2016 (goo.gl/nximQX).    The Manager, Policy and Advocacy at IFLA and I […]