Our thinking is at a very early stage, but having explored the potential to develop a model to render libraries viable and sustainable into the future against a backdrop of significant cuts in the public funding they receive, and in keeping with the library ethos (i.e. providing ‘access to all’), we have begun to consider whether there could be a role for the blockchain in facilitating the exchange of knowledge and know-how online…
In particular, we’ve begun to question whether it might be valuable/feasible to introduce an ‘oracle machine’ that would refer knowledge producers and consumers to a ‘librarian’ to add value to what is otherwise readily accomplished by corporate search engines (save that they only provide you with partial search by virtue of their corporate underpinnings)…so, some way in which to re-introduce what we’re currently terming #humansearch - an ethical spanner to lob into the world of inhuman search…
OK - so, it’s only very “early” thinking, and we might have this completely wrong! So, that’s why we’d love to talk to some people who really ‘get’ this stuff - thanks, Annemarie
People in the know
I don’t understand what you are trying to accomplish. What is the basis for, say, a paper to accrue added value by being associated to a librarian?
But it does not really matter that I don’t understand, because I am no blockchain expert, far from it! In the Edgeryders space, the people who know most about it are probably @Smari and @hexayurt, probably in that order. Also @fortyfoxes, currently at the unMonastery, seems to have solid programming knowledge and I heard him making a passing reference to BitCoin once – not sure how deep he looked into it. Unfortunately, with the exception of the last one, they are not posting much these days.
Oracle machine
I’m interested @commonfutures. Are you thinking of micro-payments for human augmented search? Or are you looking at using the blockchain to store some sort of curated index or metadata? There are some moves to create reputation backed currencies based on bitcoin, and this direction may rove interesting. I’ve done some work on community libraries and crypto currencies in the past, and knowledge markets - so I’m an amateur enthusiast - please ping me more details?
Next Steps
The canvas is there - we’ve been workin with a mixed platform to facilitate borrowing/bartering/kit purchase/bespoke ordering - http://commonlibraries.cc/projects/#prettyPhoto[9]/0/ - but, the blockchain beckoned consideration of if/how to approach librarians and re-cast them as ‘miners’ in the first instance? The issue is, to some extent, how to have THEM add value and not how to justify the idea that #humansearch could overcome corporate search underpinnings/parameters. So, at this stage, we’re entirely open to suggestions and would welcome whatever ideas/input you’re able to contribute…
Many thanks - Annemarie