Searching for Trust: Blockchain Technology in an Age of Disinformation

Description

Searching for Trust explores the intersection of trust, disinformation, and blockchain technology in an age of heightened institutional and epistemic mistrust. It adopts a unique archival theoretic lens to delve into how computational information processing has gradually supplanted traditional record keeping, putting at risk a centuries-old tradition of the 'moral defense of the record' and replacing it with a dominant ethos of information-processing efficiency. The author argues that focusing on information-processing efficiency over the defense of records against manipulation and corruption (the ancient task of the recordkeeper) has contributed to a diminution of the trustworthiness of information and a rise of disinformation, with attendant destabilization of the epistemic trust fabric of societies. Readers are asked to consider the potential and limitations of blockchains as the technological embodiment of the moral defense of the record and as means to restoring societal trust in an age of disinformation.

Victoria L. Lemieux is Associate Professor of Archival Science at the University of British Columbia's School of Information and Founder of Blockchain@UBC, UBC's blockchain research and education cluster. Her research interests include risks to the availability of trustworthy records and how these risks impact transparency, financial stability, public accountability, and human rights. The numerous awards for her contributions to the field of archives, records management, and cybersecurity include a World Bank's Big Data Innovation Award in 2015, a 2020 Blockchain Ecosystem Leadership Award, and recognition as one of Canada's Top 20 Women in Cyber Security in 2020 by IT World.

'At this critical moment when blockchain technology is going mainstream, Lemieux has written an indispensable study of the key social and political questions that this technology raises. The book is skeptical when it needs to be, socially nuanced and intellectually rigorous. Lemieux argues that blockchain technology needs to be viewed in the context of broader trends and debates about the validity of information, the reliability of data, and the trustworthiness of the organizations responsible for its storage and dissemination. She addresses these issues with great clarity and insight. It is a brilliant and compelling piece of scholarship.' Nigel Dodd, London School of Economics 'In this fascinating book, Dr. Lemieux brings a vital perspective - that of the veteran archivist - to the work of blockchain building. She provides a taxonomy of trust useful to cross-disciplinary discussions of this transformative technology, and she identifies the barriers to the trustworthiness of blockchain-based records that thoughtful innovators are working to overcome.' Don Tapscott, Blockchain Research Institute 'In Searching for Trust, Victoria Lemieux introduces a third major use of blockchain: recordkeeping and the long-term preservation of authentic records, a very important domain in an age of increasing disinformation and institutional distrust. The book explains how to relate blockchain to the long tradition of recordkeeping, as well as how to connect blockchain to the theories, principles, and methods of archival science - the science underpinning recordkeeping. Searching for Trust should be read by anyone interested in the long-term future of blockchain in a major domain that has so far not received the proper attention.' Irving Wladawsky-Berger, MIT Sloan School of Management